my cat's pee smells really bad

[Twonewcats]

We've had the cats 4 weeks. In the past few days I've noticed the smell of pee being really strong, like perming lotion (ammonia?). However I've read that some cats just do have really strong smelling pee.
He's started having a lot more water in his diet than previously (I add water to his food), so there's a lot more pee in his tray. He's also been eating a different brand of pouch food. SO could all these factors be why it is noticeable now? He doesn't have any other symptoms - he isn't peeing more often, and doesn't seem to struggle or be in pain while peeing. X

Has the cat been neutered? I think this sometimes effects the 'potency' of the wee!

Yes he's neutered.

Can I ask what kind of litter you're using? And how often is his tray cleaned?

It's clumping asda litter. I'm scooping out clumps once or twice a day but tend to have to empty the lot out once a day cos there are so many clumps in it. I spray it with cat litter tray antibacterial spray when it's empty. We tried the non clumping stuff but I had to tip the lot out more than once a day and it seemed a very expensive way to do it

I was just wondering whether it was actually the pee which was smelling strongly or whether your routine (plus the summer heat) was making it seem so. Also whether he was actually using his tray or whether he was occasionally having an accident near/on the edge of the tray which was lingering in the air?

Is it only the one tray you have for two of them? If so, you should really have at least one more. (The general rule is one per cat plus one so at least two are really needed.)

It needn't be that much more expensive - trays are pretty cheap (eg Poundland-type shops have them usually) and if you're using clumping litter you shouldn't need to toss the lot every day. (I use natural earth clumping but Seniorboy prefers Sainsbury's and Co-op and I'm OK with those: they're a little more expensive (not a whole lot) but they also clump better than the others so it's a win-win for both him and my purse.)

He could have an infection but I think I would look at tray issues first - having said which, if he's switched food, what kind are you feeding them?

Thanks for the info. They do have a tray each. It doesn't smell so bad today. The past few days I've been out for a few hours so it possibly was the heat and humidity making it worse. The smell is definitely from the tray because it is only noticeable when i start hacking out the clumps. We tried the clumping Catsan stuff too, but it was so expensive and we were having to refill the trays pretty much every day with it too