What would make cat poo stinky?

[soloequestrian]

My young male cat has got a bit whiffy. He came to me having been a stray and was extremely thin. He had terrible diarrhoea and wind for quite a while until I found Royal Canin Gastrointestinal food and he was on that for about 9 months until everything settled and he gained weight. Over about the last four months I've weaned him off that and onto normal cat food - ad lib biscuits and a big meal last thing at night of Sheba posh stuff. He doesn't get on with my other cat so he spends the night shut in one of the bedrooms so she can have free access to the house. The big meal means that he just sleeps right through. He LOVES his wet food - bounces into his room at night to have it served.
In the past week or so he has been doing smellier poos again - normal consistency but definitely smellier (he could choose to go outside rather than use the litter tray, but he doesn't). He had stopped farting, but he has gassed me a couple of times recently.
I think he has been on the normal food long enough for it not just to be a straight relapse so any ideas what else could cause this?

 

[Theocat]

Biscuits can cause smelly poos: stick to grain free (something like Lily's kitchen). If you still have smelly poos, try getting rid of biscuits altogether (generally better in any case) and feed grain free wet food only.

 

[ponyparty]

Had this issue with my OH's cat. Switched her to Applaws - wet food tins and biscuits, but grain free. Not cheap but my god it's worth it. It's gone from the stench hitting you like a brick wall 3 rooms away, to barely being able to smell it even at close quarters. Deffo recommend!

 

[FubsyMog]

Our cats are on (mostly) dry food, grain free. The only time we had a real stink problem was with a brand of food that was grain-free but included potato starch - the smell was heinous, and a lot of noxious gas. Disappeared as soon as we stopped feeding that particular food.

Is there any particular reason you want the cat to be on 'normal' food rather than the gastrointestinal stuff? Price-wise, I don't find there to be a massive different between the vet-type food and 'normal' tbh. Any small extra cost is well worth it to not have the original problem IMO.

 

[soloequestrian]

Thanks, I'll try him on grain-free biscuits to start with. He's on Purina and I assumed it was grain free but checking the ingredients it's not. He was going off the gastrointestinal food and with having to shut him in for the night, it's quite important that he likes his dinner!

 

[FubsyMog]

Honestly I would not touch anything made by Purina - all their stuff has grain and things in it. Pets At Home stocks several grain-free brands, but you do have to inspect the ingredients closely as it's not always clear what's in it - some of the bags imply they are great stuff but inspection of the ingredients indicates otherwise!

One of ours gets fussy the odd time - then I will give him some of the Webbox cat yoghurt (think they're called Lick-e-Licks or something) over the top as an appetiser - it's a treat food, but he doesn't get much, just enough to get his interest. Or a bit of tuna mixed in.

 

[Quigleyandme]

And there was me thinking that cat poo always smells atrocious

 

[ponyparty]

Oh it does, but there are varying levels of atrocious.
As an aside, the dog tucked into our cat's poo again last night :'(
I came downstairs and smelt a faint whiff, and there were just two tiny nuggets in the tray. The main log was missing.
He was lying in his bed looking all innocent; do not ask me why I did this, as I KNEW he'd done it already, but i put my head down and smelt near his mouth to check. Why, WHY did I? Bleurrrrgh.
Dog is banished from the rest of the house, slept downstairs last night and kisses are a thing of the past (until the traumatic memory fades and I forget about it, ha).