Super, overwhelming stinky cat poo

So, we just switched our cat over to Evo cat/kitten. He was eating the Eukanuba "equivalent" for a long time, and since we switched him, I've seen his energy levels sky rocket, literally within days. Both Chris and I were impressed and figure the $40 price tag (for 12 lbs) was worth it. He was already a psycho, but now it's like he's on speed. He is just super happy all the time.


However, it had been about a week since he was completely switched over, he came into the living room just REEKING. I couldn't believe just HOW terrible HE smelled, the litter box was worse. Going into the room with the litter box was absolutely nauseating and overwhelming. I have never in my life smelled such terrible poo odor!

Anyways, anyone have any ideas? Evo is supposed to be a great diet. He is going in for his booster shots soon anyways, so I can ask the vet, but I wanted to hear any one else's experiences.

Did I not introduce it slow enough???

How slowly did you switch him over to his new food? Generally the time frame is over about a week and a half, but I tend to tell people to try to push it closer to 2 weeks just in case you have a sensitive kitty on your hands....

Also, what are the main ingredients in the new food? Sometimes the food itself can make the cat a little on the stinky side..

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Originally Posted by thatkindofgirl

How slowly did you switch him over to his new food? Generally the time frame is over about a week and a half, but I tend to tell people to try to push it closer to 2 weeks just in case you have a sensitive kitty on your hands....

Also, what are the main ingredients in the new food? Sometimes the food itself can make the cat a little on the stinky side..

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It was over a week I switched him over, but I'm beginning to think it just wasn't slow enough?


Well, top 5 ingredients are... (from website)

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Turkey is the clean combination of flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, derived from the parts or whole carcasses of turkey or a combination of thereof - exclusive of feathers, heads, feet, and entrails.

Turkey is an excellent source of highly digestible protein. Natura uses high-quality turkey in many of our formulations.

The turkey Natura uses is tested to be free of hormones, antibiotics and pesticides, as well as chemical preservatives such as BHA, BHT and ethoxyquin. This is an important distinction because manufacturers are not required to list substances that are present in the ingredients when they go into the pet food.

Chicken meal is the dry rendered (cooked down) product from a combination of clean flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, derived from the parts of whole carcasses of chicken -- exclusive of feathers, heads, feet, or entrails.

Chicken meal is considered to be the single best source of protein in commercial pet foods. Natura uses high-quality, low ash chicken meal extensively. This ingredient is very digestible, very palatable, and very expensive.

Chicken is the clean combination of flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, derived from the parts or whole carcasses of chicken - exclusive of feathers, heads, feet, and entrails.

Chicken is an excellent source of protein.

The chicken Natura uses is tested to be free of hormones, antibiotics and pesticides, as well as chemical preservatives such as BHA, BHT and ethoxyquin. Natura does not add these harmful ingredients, and they are not present in the ingredients we use. This is an important distinction, because manufacturers are not required to list substances that are present in the ingredients when they go into the pet food.

Herring meal is the clean, rendered (cooked down), dried ground tissue of undecomposed whole herring or herring cuttings, either or both, with or without the extraction of part of the oil.

Herring meal is a good source of Omega 3 essential fatty acids. Natura uses the whole herring including the oil from this excellent food fish in our cat and dog food products.

Chicken fat is obtained from the tissues of chickens in the commercial process of rendering or extracting.

Chicken fat is the highest of all animal sources in linoleic acid (over 23%), an important element for skin and coat health. Because Natura uses such high-quality chicken, this is a high-quality source of fat.

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I don't have any suggestions but had to say I had the same issue with my cats and Evo. I think it was just too rich for their systems to handle. What I have ended up doing that seems to be working great is 1/3 Evo and 2/3 Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diet.
Oh and the wet Evo made it 100% more stinky if that was even possible :weirdface

I'd consult a vet about food changes.
Just like humans, animals can sometimes have digestive systems that react differently to certain ingredients.

Like someone mentioned above, compare the ingredients list on both products.
You say the former was an "equivalent" so hopefully you'll be able to rule out what it is that's reacting so harshly with kitty.

In the mean time, get arm and hammer odor control kitty litter and pack the litter box room with baking soda air freshener boxes :)

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Originally Posted by Pandora

I'd consult a vet about food changes.

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Yea, already stated my Vet will be talked with. :gj:

If you grind up fresh beets and add it to a dog or cats food, it will make for a solid and less smelly stool.

I think just the food change, but it could be permanent. We switched our cats food twice in the last 6 months or so to combat knock-out quality stench. I think they eat a Eukanuba naturals or something now....too lazy to get up :) This has the least smelly poo that we have found, and it is a decent price, so I think we are going to stick with it.

However...one of our cats wont eat it...she prefers the dog food...and of course the dogs like the cat food.

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Originally Posted by dsirkle

If you grind up fresh beets and add it to a dog or cats food, it will make for a solid and less smelly stool.

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Stool is solid, just stanky!

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Originally Posted by ThyTempest

I think just the food change, but it could be permanent. We switched our cats food twice in the last 6 months or so to combat knock-out quality stench. I think they eat a Eukanuba naturals or something now....too lazy to get up :) This has the least smelly poo that we have found, and it is a decent price, so I think we are going to stick with it.

However...one of our cats wont eat it...she prefers the dog food...and of course the dogs like the cat food.

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Yea, it was a Eukanuba naturals I think. But this food is incredibly higher in meat and protein (50%!). Where the Eukanuba still had some grains and like 30% protein. :/

Our cats get supplemented escaped ASF weaners...yaaaayy escaped rodents!!

But seriously...I hate these lab tanks. At first they were awesome, then we had a few escapes, no big deal, the lid wasnt on all the way, our fault. Now we have had escapes on 2 occasions just because the little buggers squeeze through bounding for freedom.....luckily the fall to the superior skills of ....

Meredith
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...atstuff010.jpg
Madison
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...t/Kitty012.jpg
Myrtle
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...t/Kitty009.jpg
Jabba aka Doody
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...t/Jabba014.jpg
and....Gizmo the Master Hunter
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...t/DSCN0209.jpg

The herring probably has a lot ot do with the smell in the poo. But any rich food will smell worse. I'd suggest mixing it with another food, or adding in blended veggies perhaps?
Cat poo is bad enough as normal, really horrid cat poo is a punishment.

Chicory root extract helps reduce the smell of the stool.

I would switch. Evo has proven to just be too rich for most cats. Try Nature's Variety. It also has 50% protein, 23% fat. I mix the rabbit dry and the chicken dry together, half and half, and my boy is very happy. Poo is solid and small and doesn't have a "gag-a-maggot" smell, LOL.

It also has more variety of ingredients in it. You can go on their website and get a buy one get one free coupon for a bag of food. Good deal. Their 12 lb bags are generally around $30, down here anyway.

www.naturesvariety.com

Our cat gets nature's variety raw medallions and wet food. He's super healthy and energetic and his poo doesn't smell very much at all...

I tried him on evo when he was younger, but it seemed to be too rich for him and made for some hellaciously stinky poo that was runny too (even after a very slow transition).

Have you tried any odor eliminating litter or anything of that nature?

Or - perhaps now is a great time to invest in an automatic litter box cleaner...one the cleans the litter and sucks up all that mess into your toilet so you can flush it.

I LOOOVES my auto cleaner :P... it's a cheaper one, one that doesn't do all the toilety goodness that I just mentioned - but still, it works quite well :)

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Originally Posted by Nate

Have you tried any odor eliminating litter or anything of that nature?

Or - perhaps now is a great time to invest in an automatic litter box cleaner...one the cleans the litter and sucks up all that mess into your toilet so you can flush it.

I LOOOVES my auto cleaner :P... it's a cheaper one, one that doesn't do all the toilety goodness that I just mentioned - but still, it works quite well :)

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Well, I mean it's fresh step litter LOL. I seriously considered getting an auto cleaner!

But, (big butt lol) the stank follows the cat when he just gets done doing his business. Oh, it's so horrible!

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Originally Posted by katiadarling

Our cat gets nature's variety raw medallions and wet food. He's super healthy and energetic and his poo doesn't smell very much at all...

I tried him on evo when he was younger, but it seemed to be too rich for him and made for some hellaciously stinky poo that was runny too (even after a very slow transition).

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I would love to put him on a raw (if what you mention is raw) and wet food diet, but he doesn't like it! What a picky cat. :P He loves the Evo though. Sooooo frustrating.

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

I would switch. Evo has proven to just be too rich for most cats. Try Nature's Variety. It also has 50% protein, 23% fat. I mix the rabbit dry and the chicken dry together, half and half, and my boy is very happy. Poo is solid and small and doesn't have a "gag-a-maggot" smell, LOL.

It also has more variety of ingredients in it. You can go on their website and get a buy one get one free coupon for a bag of food. Good deal. Their 12 lb bags are generally around $30, down here anyway.

www.naturesvariety.com

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I want to give him two months on the Evo, just to rule out any additional system conditioning is still the main reason for stinky poo. But I had gone around reading the cat forums and it seems that most people like to mix evo with the Nature's variety or wellness as well, and that works for them.

I'll have to check out the nature's variety next time I'm there! :gj:

Thanks everybody!

Btw, I'm going to use "gag-a-maggot" from now on. :P

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

I would love to put him on a raw (if what you mention is raw) and wet food diet, but he doesn't like it! What a picky cat. :P He loves the Evo though. Sooooo frustrating.

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That's funny that he doesn't like it! My cat will eat almost ANYTHING, he's a piggy. I don't like feeding him dry food because he doesn't really chew it and from what I've read the carbs in most dry food (although obviously not evo) aren't good for cats...

Oh yea, he mews and rubs my legs like crazy when I'm cutting meat for dinner, but when actually given a small bite, he acts like a snob and walks away.

Same thing with canned. I don't know where he picked it up, since he was a rescue though it very well could have been the shelter, but he comes running when he hears me open a can of food, but once I give it to him, he snobs that too!

I would say stick with the Evo as it is a really good food and see if his body doesnt adjust to it. Changing of proteins and the percentage usually has a stinky effect. With the dogs we changed them to Solid Gold it was a buffalo type and they did fantastic on the food but it made them stink. We went out and got the Beano capsules. You just sprinkle a bit on the food and it helped a lot. We ended up swicthing over to a raw diet and it worked even better. Cats are harder as they are very picky. I would try your hardest to get him to eat some kind of moist food though. It really does make a big difference in kidney health later on in his life as most cats done get enough water for the kidneys to age normally. Fresh tuna or other kinds of fish is a good way to start it. Also mincing the meat you are offering helps a lot too as most cats dont like to get dirty or have to chew much. I know people who supplement with live rodents. I used to work at a cats only vet clinic and I would hear some crazy stories.

Hm, I have a kitty like this too. Both kittens have been on the same food (Natural Balance http://www.naturalbalance.net/catformulas/UltCat.html ) since I got them, and one of the kittens (almost a year old) always stinks the place up. It's not like that at all with my other cat. You can tell from the other room who is in the litter box....and then the stink follows him! It's not a food change issue or anything, as they have been on a mix of the wet and dry versions of that food since Oct. at least. I'm at a loss, and my cat stinks! :P Let me know if you get your kitty to stop stinking!!

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Originally Posted by pitbulls4me

I would say stick with the Evo as it is a really good food and see if his body doesnt adjust to it. Changing of proteins and the percentage usually has a stinky effect. With the dogs we changed them to Solid Gold it was a buffalo type and they did fantastic on the food but it made them stink. We went out and got the Beano capsules. You just sprinkle a bit on the food and it helped a lot. We ended up swicthing over to a raw diet and it worked even better. Cats are harder as they are very picky. I would try your hardest to get him to eat some kind of moist food though. It really does make a big difference in kidney health later on in his life as most cats done get enough water for the kidneys to age normally. Fresh tuna or other kinds of fish is a good way to start it. Also mincing the meat you are offering helps a lot too as most cats dont like to get dirty or have to chew much. I know people who supplement with live rodents. I used to work at a cats only vet clinic and I would hear some crazy stories.

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Thanks, we've talked with our vet and she recommend keeping him on it for at least 4 more months.

We are working to get him off of dry kibble, but he loves it sooo much, it's pretty difficult.

I actually thought about how easy it would be to toss him a dead rat, but I think the mess would be too much!!! LOL

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Originally Posted by tweets_4611

Hm, I have a kitty like this too. Both kittens have been on the same food (Natural Balance http://www.naturalbalance.net/catformulas/UltCat.html ) since I got them, and one of the kittens (almost a year old) always stinks the place up. It's not like that at all with my other cat. You can tell from the other room who is in the litter box....and then the stink follows him! It's not a food change issue or anything, as they have been on a mix of the wet and dry versions of that food since Oct. at least. I'm at a loss, and my cat stinks! :P Let me know if you get your kitty to stop stinking!!

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I don't know about the ingredients with Natural balance, but if it has any veggie matter, they may have issues with it. Try switching to a diet without any veggies for 4 months (my vet recommends at least that long) and see how it goes.

It may end up being your cat is like mine and the stink gets worse!!! :8:

But I am really devoted to working with him to get him to a at least partial raw / wet diet. He is only a year and half old, but he is already snubbing any wet food, so it will be some time.

Pretty much following the advice of this site: http://www.catinfo.org and www.catnutrition.org

Baron's breeder has been feeding a supplemented ground raw diet(chicken and other varieties such as emu, turkey, rabbit, etc) along with whole pieces including bones(poultry mainly) as well as a high quality kibble, so as to make it a complete diet, for 15 years. She has never had a cat get urinary calculi or bladder infections. Even she doesn't recommend Evo or Wellness though. Too rich :) The canned Wellness and Evo is okay though.

It's good to hear that the Evo and such can be too rich. I was feeling a little bad that I couldn't really afford to feed the cats the *really* high quality foods, but knowing that they aren't always the best option does make me feel a bit better.

A good kitty food is one that doesn't have many or any carbs, such as plant and grain matter. Iams indoor can be a good food if you're on a budget. Do not get Royal Canin, full of crapola and has been making cats vomit/diarrhea/close to death in some cases.

Blue Buffalo Wilderness is a decent food too. Petsmart has it.

I know the foods may seem more expensive, but comparing the cost to how little they have to eat, it's actually cheaper than the less expensive brands. Higher quality equals less fecal matter, less health problems, more lean muscle mass and happy kittehs :)

I'm happy to hear of others' experiences with EVO before I bring my kitty home and doom us all to uber-smelly stankbombs in the litter box. I was considering the EVO, but after hearing so many people mention extra stink and the richness of it I may just look elsewhere or try the blend as mentioned. I would like to stick with the least amount of grain possible.

Does anyone have experience with Orijen? That one's also high on my list of foods I'd like to try.

Have you gotten the kitty's poo tested for parasites? Sometimes this can lead to very stinky poo. It might be a good idea to get done just in case.

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Originally Posted by Shadera

Does anyone have experience with Orijen? That one's also high on my list of foods I'd like to try.

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Don't know if this helps, but I've read about Orijen when I was searching for stinky kitty poo, and it seems from the few I read that people like it.

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Originally Posted by aaramire

Have you gotten the kitty's poo tested for parasites? Sometimes this can lead to very stinky poo. It might be a good idea to get done just in case.

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Yes, twice, he's clean. The switch was the direct influence of his stinky poop.



The vet told me that she likes to keep cats on a new diet for at least 4 months before giving up, just to make sure that his system is completely used to it.

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

A good kitty food is one that doesn't have many or any carbs, such as plant and grain matter. Iams indoor can be a good food if you're on a budget. Do not get Royal Canin, full of crapola and has been making cats vomit/diarrhea/close to death in some cases.

Blue Buffalo Wilderness is a decent food too. Petsmart has it.

I know the foods may seem more expensive, but comparing the cost to how little they have to eat, it's actually cheaper than the less expensive brands. Higher quality equals less fecal matter, less health problems, more lean muscle mass and happy kittehs :)

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My cat hated Blue Buffalo. It's a very fishy smelling food too.

On the same topic, what exactly is too "rich" about Evo?

I see it mentioned a lot with people who turn to it, and they mention, "It's too rich for my cat". What does that mean, what specifically is too rich?

Too rich in protien? Meat? Fat? Calories? Just wondering, because if a kibble is too rich, then wouldn't a raw ground diet be too rich as well?

If anyone has any insight, I'd appreciate it.

I mean, his activity is much improved, his fur is super silky /no dandruff, he loves the food, his stool is not too soft, but not too firm and smaller (he eats almost half of what he used to, about 1/3 cup daily, IF that)...

It's just a stink! LOL :P

Hey Connie, ever been to a zoo and close up to the bigger cats? After cleaning enclosures at our zoo, tiger poo is very comparable to what our domestic cats' poo smells like when they're on a high quality, high meat diet.

Some of the canned food I've used have made horrific poo. I will never use science diet canned again, ever. BLEH. Made his poo green and smell just awful.

Baron just gets the canned for the calories, since he has the metabolism of about 3 cats, haha. He's really been liking the Newman's Own, Sheba(nice high quality), Blue Buffalo Wilderness chicken/turkey, friskies selects, fancy feast selects, etc. I try to have a variety laying around.

I will try to find you the recipe that Rebekah(baron's breeder) uses for her ground chicken raw diet. It's a bit different than some of the published ones.

Personally, i feed my two Blue Buffalo spa selects or wilderness, whichever is on sale when i'm shopping (i buy the 15 pound bags, they last a while). They get supplemented with wet food (i buy proplan) they really dont eat a lot of wet food, if i give them too much they leave it in the bowl. I do add warm water, or wet food into their kibble to change it up a few times a week and to make sure they're getting the water they need.

I don't notice extra stinky poo with the BB, but some cats wont eat it because it dosen't have a lot of the crap added that gives lower quality foods their attractive flavor.

With my cats, and the BB, i can switch around the flavor and type without any consequence so I can give them something new (new flavor) that is good for them, and they eat heartily. I wish i could free feed them, but one of them doesnt understand the concept.

Blue goes for about 26.00 for the 15 pound bag around here, sometimes i can get it for 21 i think. depending on the sales. What i like about it is taht i can go to petsmart to get it, not a specialty food store.

I am not understanding why people are saying the Evo is too rich either. It is like a raw diet in kibble form. There is nothing else added other than the meat products. So how is more rich than a chicken raw diet?

A couple people have swicthed their cats over by offering the minced/ground meat a couple times a day and not offering anything else. By the end of day 2 your cat will be more interested in the raw food because it doesnt have the option of the kibble. Then you have to be concerned that if you want to do a combo diet of kibble and raw that they may hold out for only kibble if they like that more.

I just go by what quite a few people who have been doing this for 20+ years have said. NV doesn't seem to have the effects that EVO does. I don't know why, they both have 50% protein and 23% fat, just NV has alot more ingredients and tapioca as the one teensy carb(no allergy reactions with tapioca known).

Wellness also seems to be very rich, but I'm sure it all depends on the cat.

I guess I just have a weird cat. He will eat anything and everything, like a dang dog. He got some raw salmon the other day and ate the whole thing, skin and all.

Oh! I just thought about this yesterday, but we've been stink free for almost two weeks now. Unless he's going when we don't know it, I think his digestion is finally all groovy. :sunny:

Awesome! (I'm jealous! :P )

Well, we gave it the old college try! My cats 12lb bag of EVO was finished last night.

I admit the smell did improve some, but I also have a feeling he started using the toilet in the middle of the day when we are not home. I was really convinced his body got used to it after a few months of use, but once in a while, we would smell his stink floating from his litter pan, so I have to admit defeat.

Trying to get him over to wet food has been a battle. I've been reading and using methods described on catinfo.org, and it seems right now the major problem is getting him used to the wet texture. He does not like EVO wet, wellness wet, but he does eat the Fancy Feast wet?? I buy the small portion cans that contian the least amount of carbs, some still have rice and wheat in them, I avoid those ones. No fishy stuff either.

So, in the mean time, I am going to pick up some Nature's Variety on the recommendation from Becky and others, and see if he likes their canned food, (do they have canned?).

I just have to say, EVO did wonders for his fur, his energy and build, but caused such distatrous poo odor, that I would not recommend it to others unless their cat happens to not have the same issue. This is coming from a snake owner here, I am used to stink, but this is just the worst I can barely handle.

We just switched to Taste of the Wild from Natural Balance. Poo was stinky and soft on the NB. Good luck Connie! I know what a pain this is :weirdface

I've used the EVO canned with good results. NV has alot of good canned food, as does Wellness. None of these have caused any difference in poo smell-age. ;)

If you want to try raw stuff, get a cornish hen. Cut it up into quarters and let him go at it. Baron loves the cornish hens and they're perfect size for one cat.

For a good meal, you want one boney piece such as a thigh or drumstick or two wings(thigh preferably, normal size chicken), necks are good, 1-2 egg YOLKS(NO whites), 1 liver, 1-2 gizzards, a half a gelcap of Vitamin E(good for skin and heart), and a sprinkling of either Missing Link supplement or (I'm sorry, I'm having a brain fart) another one that I use. I leave dry NV out all the time, it's a mix of 50/50 Chicken and Rabbit. Baron gets half a can or sometimes a whole can(5oz) of wet food, generally NV, EVO, Wellness or whatever I have on hand at the moment. I use L-Lysine, half a tablet, if Baron will be going to a show. Helps the immune system function better in times of stress.

I'll get the name of the supplement I use when I get home and PM it to you. They really like the stuff. Looks like ground up jerky, haha.

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Originally Posted by catawhat75

I don't have any suggestions but had to say I had the same issue with my cats and Evo. I think it was just too rich for their systems to handle. What I have ended up doing that seems to be working great is 1/3 Evo and 2/3 Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diet.
Oh and the wet Evo made it 100% more stinky if that was even possible :weirdface

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My cat got super stinky also plus I read that Evo is not so good for older cats .So now they eat Natural balance L.I.D. Canned and the smell is no longer able to make me run out of the litterbox room with my nose plugged . :omg: :bleh::puke: This happened with blue buffalo wilderness dry also .

Ah! Great info as usual Becky. :)

He seems to be getting used to canned food. Although, if I walk anywhere near his food dish, he meows incessently begging for food, even though he usually has a half a can of wet food still there. :rolleyes:

I'm going to cut up some raw chicken breast hopefully soon and see what he thinks. I still think he willl snob it at this point, but maybe he'll take some cooked, and I can wean him onto raw, or lightly blanched. ;)