Cat with smelly poo issues...

I no longer know who to turn to or what I can do for my cat named Peeker. Since she was a kitten she has had the worst diarrhea, and worst smelling poo I've ever seen come from a cat. She's now a year and a half old and has been switched from all kinds of foods from prescription foods to cheap junk foods to high quality expensive foods to raw. She has been tested for worms and other bugs along being put on antibiotics to see if that would help. Nothing has helped her at all. 98% of the time she had liquid diarrhea that smells so bad it will make you gag and clear out of the room. The other 2% of the time she has "normal" poo that doesn't smell as bad but still is bad smelling for a cat.

Like I said this has been going on for well over a year now and I've always just put up with it and clean out the litter box as much as I can daily. Now that I live in a finished basement of a house that we rent with 3 other room mates, they now are starting to get tired of having the entire basement smell of the cats poo & litter box. Like I said I clean it as much as I can daily and change out the little every 3 or 4 days, but there is always still a bad oder. My roommates are growing tired of the smell and keep telling me to "do something about it". I've tried everything I can think of with different foods and taking her to the vet and getting my vet in on it too. It's just that nothing ever seems to work or help her out. I know the entire basement smells of her and she too stinks just like the litter box. I give her a bath at least once a week because she smells so bad. I no longer know what to do and I know it's coming down to my roommates wanting me to get rid of her, but that just isn't going to be a option.

Has anyone ever seen or heard of this. Have you had a cat with issues like this? If so WHAT DID YOU DO?!
I need some help, my vet has pretty much given up and just tells me that she has a super sensitive stomach and I'm just going to have to live with a stinky cat and litter box. :frustrate

I would get a second opinion... try another vet with a good reputation?

I don't have a cat like that but my dog is somewhat like that.

Not sure if this will help or not. Look back at everything you have been feeding her and see if there is ANY chicken in it at all.

My dog is highly allergic to chicken, she gets goopy eyes, horrible runny watery poop, and is just miserable.

I switched her to herring and potato, or venison and rice. She has made a 100% turn around.

With everything that goes into the meat now a days, beef, chicken and lamb are the most common allergens in pet food.

It may be worth a try.

SO look for something with herring, or anything without poultry or chicken.

Have you thought about shopping at any health food stores? I know my aunt feeds her dogs 100% organic food. I think it's all lamb and rice stuff in a can. It might be worth a shot?

When I worked at the shelter, it became very obvious when a kitty had coccidia by the awful smell coming from their stool. Strong stool odors can be caused by excess bacteria in the stool. I'd have her veterinarian do a fecal and check for Coccidia and parasites.

Another thing you can do is switch her to a high quality cat food (I feed my cats Chicken Soup) and leave her on it. Continually switching her food to solve the problem, could be causing the problem.

Also, try adding Benebac or Petdophilus to her diet. It does wonders. :)

There are quite a few minor intestinal parasites that are fairly uncommon and that don't show up on regular fecal panels. Examples would be giardia (rarely seen on floats), coronavirus, cryptosporidium, etc. If your vet has not yet sent out a fecal culture (this is not normally run in-house), then he should.

Have they discussed Inflammatory Bowel Disease with you? You would need an intestinal biopsy to confirm that, meaning an abdominal surgery. It's not uncommon in cats...look it up.

And of course, good old food allergies, while uncommon in a young kitten, could be a possibility and would require an exclusion trial on something like Hill's z/d Ultra with no other food sources.

You should also consider a consult with an internal medicine specialist. Ask your vet for a referral.

If they are not pursuing this agressively, find someone that will. Not all vets are equal, and there are way more diagnostic options than just running a fecal float and shotgunning antibiotics in the hope that one will work.

Good luck.

Thank you all for the comments. Both of my cats are on Wellness cat food right now and have been on it for a few months. I've tried the organic foods and no improvement in her. My vet has run test for ciccidea on her and that came back -neg. I guess I will be looking around for another vet to get a second option. I've always taken my dogs and cats to this one vet since I was a kid and have never had a problem.

I'd look around and get a second opinion done hon. Not only to try and deal with the smell and all that entails but it just cannot be healthy for any animal to pass stools like that all the time. Poor kitten, sounds awful for her, awful for you and awful for the other cat that lives with her stinky potty buddy.

Does she have any sort of disease that speeds up her metabolism? I know from -ahem- personal experience that very strong-smelling fecal matter is sometimes forced out too early; the same is true of greenish feces. Of course this is in humans, and from my research into chronic, um, "upset stomaches." This could be due to a bacterial infection speeding up digestion.
Unless cats can have IBS?

I will find out more tomorrow. I called my aunt who is a rag doll cat breeder and got a few good vet #'s from her. I called and made an appoitment with her favorite vet for tomorrow morning. I will let you all know how that goes.

They took some blood, took a few x-rays and wanted to do an ultra sound tested but will wait till tomorrow, also they tested a fecal sample I brought in and they decided that they are keeping her over night. >.< They want to see for themselves what she is doing in the litter box.

Other then that they said she looks to be in great health. So I'm crossing my fingers whatever is wrong with her is fixable.

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Originally Posted by lillyorchid

They took some blood, took a few x-rays and wanted to do an ultra sound tested but will wait till tomorrow, also they tested a fecal sample I brought in and they decided that they are keeping her over night. >.< They want to see for themselves what she is doing in the litter box.

Other then that they said she looks to be in great health. So I'm crossing my fingers whatever is wrong with her is fixable.

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seems already better than your old Vet! good luck allison! I know those pockets are screaming right now, hold on girl!

Wow. I hope that it turns out ok for her, and that you get answers. I wanted to say, you're a great owner for supporting her through all of this.. there are too many "owners" out there who would not be willing to do that and would probably just adopt her out or surrender her without disclosing her issues. I wish you all luck!

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

Wow. I hope that it turns out ok for her, and that you get answers. I wanted to say, you're a great owner for supporting her through all of this.. there are too many "owners" out there who would not be willing to do that and would probably just adopt her out or surrender her without disclosing her issues. I wish you all luck!

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I agree 100%:gj:

Good luck to your kitty, I hope they find out what is causing all this, and that it isn't something serious.

Can't wait for an update!

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Originally Posted by lillyorchid

I no longer know who to turn to or what I can do for my cat named Peeker. Since she was a kitten she has had the worst diarrhea, and worst smelling poo I've ever seen come from a cat. She's now a year and a half old and has been switched from all kinds of foods from prescription foods to cheap junk foods to high quality expensive foods to raw. She has been tested for worms and other bugs along being put on antibiotics to see if that would help. Nothing has helped her at all. 98% of the time she had liquid diarrhea that smells so bad it will make you gag and clear out of the room. The other 2% of the time she has "normal" poo that doesn't smell as bad but still is bad smelling for a cat.

Like I said this has been going on for well over a year now and I've always just put up with it and clean out the litter box as much as I can daily. Now that I live in a finished basement of a house that we rent with 3 other room mates, they now are starting to get tired of having the entire basement smell of the cats poo & litter box. Like I said I clean it as much as I can daily and change out the little every 3 or 4 days, but there is always still a bad oder. My roommates are growing tired of the smell and keep telling me to "do something about it". I've tried everything I can think of with different foods and taking her to the vet and getting my vet in on it too. It's just that nothing ever seems to work or help her out. I know the entire basement smells of her and she too stinks just like the litter box. I give her a bath at least once a week because she smells so bad. I no longer know what to do and I know it's coming down to my roommates wanting me to get rid of her, but that just isn't going to be a option.

Has anyone ever seen or heard of this. Have you had a cat with issues like this? If so WHAT DID YOU DO?!
I need some help, my vet has pretty much given up and just tells me that she has a super sensitive stomach and I'm just going to have to live with a stinky cat and litter box. :frustrate

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I thought this was normal. My kitten is 5 months and can clear a room with her poo. She doesn't habe that diarrhea problem, only a blue moon.

Peeker is back home now and I still don't have any answers as to what is wrong with her.
They wanted to do an ultra sound on her, but I declined since they already took a few x-rays on her and nothing was out of the normal and the vet said an ultra sound won't show to much more then a xray. They *think* it may be IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) but can't be for sure that is the case unless they do surgery on her and do a biopsy on her colon & intestine. I asked what else we could do before having to do that to her since I truly do not trust vets since I've lost a few very much loved pets from them messing up, so putting her in surgery will be the last thing I do. He said that he'd like to see her be put on a hypoallergenic diet to see if that helps her out. I told him that I'd like to take that route first and he agreed and ordered me a bag of Eagle Pack Holistic Select® Anchovy, Sardine & Salmon Meal Formula and ordered me a thing of Digestive Remedy called Holistic Solution that is supposed to help cats with stomach problems. So I have to go pick them up on Tuesday when they come in.

So I'm crossing my fingers that this food and powder work for her!!!

i hate to hear things like that goin on with your cat hope everything turns out all right.
but till you find out whats wrong i'd use lots of baking soda in the litter, a hooded box with flap door and put it in a room vented to the outdoors, the poop will still smell but wont travel the whole house

It never stops it seems. So far Peeker is doing well on the food and no more runs as of yet since lastnight.

Now this morning I wake up to Peekers eye being glued shut with puss and my kittens eyes are all runny, along with her nose dripping and she can't stop sneezing.

I could scream! I bet you Peek picked up some kind of illness at the vet while she was then now both of my cats are sick. ARGH!

Off we go to the vet again tomorrow. I'm NOT happy.

Allison, its very possible that you are just feeding her cat food with a higher protein content which could be contributing to the extra potency ^_-

I noticed this when my two boys were younger, and changing foods ( gradually as changing food suddenly can upset their stomachs) made a big difference.

Also, are you feeding wet or dry food? maybe a mix? Less wet food for kittens if you want a more friendlier stink....:rofl:

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Originally Posted by lillyorchid

It never stops it seems. So far Peeker is doing well on the food and no more runs as of yet since lastnight.

Now this morning I wake up to Peekers eye being glued shut with puss and my kittens eyes are all runny, along with her nose dripping and she can't stop sneezing.

I could scream! I bet you Peek picked up some kind of illness at the vet while she was then now both of my cats are sick. ARGH!

Off we go to the vet again tomorrow. I'm NOT happy.

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Sounds like it could be a respiratory infection.

Has anyone tried just treating the diarrhea? I don't have ANY experience with this and I'm on my second cat, but in horses, when they have diarrhea, we give them Pro-Bios and that tends to solve the problem. (I really don't know much about what it contains, but maybe they have something like that for cats?)

In this case, diarrhea is a symptom of another problem. So to treat the diarrhea is just covering up the actual problem. This cat may have some very severe allergies to food, or it may have IBD. Hopefully this new diet can help the cat, and ease the noses of her roommates. :)

I'm sorry, I can't really blame the vet for the eyes and sneezles, they keep things as clean as they can but cross contamination is not always 100% avoidable.