# Reducing the odor of cat poop

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-the-odor-of-cat-poop/81263>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 13, 2001, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-the-odor-of-cat-poop/81263 "2001-09-13T04:19:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-the-odor-of-cat-poop/81263/21 "2001-09-23T13:56:53Z")

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Before: Cat ate wet food & pooped into Hartz (big orange bag) litter. Stank.

Now: Cat eats only dry food and poops into Fresh Step clumping litter (huge 25 pound box from PetSmart for $10). No stink at all, even during a cat diarrhea crisis.

Oh, and **divemaster** , used to like tootsie rolls.

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**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-the-odor-of-cat-poop/81263/22 "2001-09-23T14:09:38Z")

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We took in a stray last year (much to the chagrin of our triplets) with a bad case of worms. His shit stank to high heaven till those little buggers worked their way through his system.

And a quick hijack: A friend of mine thinks its cruel to have all four of my kids using the same box. It’s huge (holds 28+ pounds) and I clean it twice a day. The cats don’t seem to mind, in fact, on the occasions when I have to put them all in the cellar (when company comes for the day) there are two or three boxes down there for them; they all use the same one.

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**Author:** ![coosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@coosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coosa)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-the-odor-of-cat-poop/81263/23 "2001-09-24T00:40:24Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by postcards \*  
> \*\*And a quick hijack: A friend of mine thinks its cruel to have all four of my kids using the same box. It’s huge (holds 28+ pounds) and I clean it twice a day. The cats don’t seem to mind, in fact, on the occasions when I have to put them all in the cellar (when company comes for the day) there are two or three boxes down there for them; they all use the same one. \*\*

I would stick with whatever the cats are happy with. Well, you can hardly _force_ them to use an extra litter box if they don’t want to, can you?

If it’s any help to you, most cat-care books and the inspection forms for cattery approval from various registries recommend 1 litter box for every 2 cats. That may be where your friend is getting his information. But individual cats have different preferences - your cats may feel more secure when using a litter box that already smells like their ‘friends’.

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**Author:** ![bwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@bwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bwk)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reducing-the-odor-of-cat-poop/81263/24 "2001-09-24T03:25:39Z")

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Don’t feed tuna flavored food, it isn’t good for them anyway, and it makes some majorly stinkoid poo.

Some cats are just stinkier than others, in my experiences. But if you notice a change from not too bad to unbelievably stinky, you might want to take kitty to the vet.

If a cat has worms its doody will stink worse than anything. When I first got one kitty she needed several dewormings to get rid of all of hers. You might want to check this out.

Oh, and if you don’t want cat hair on anything, and you don’t want to deal with litterboxes, or allergies, and all you want is a mouse killer, you don’t really want a cat. My advice to you is not to put your cat outdoors only – it is to find a new home for your cat with someone who does actually want a cat.

Then call someone in pest control management.

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