Ashamed to admit this

[Greensleeves]

I have two beautiful, perfect little nine-week-old kittens. I am totally in love with them, their personalities are so different, they are sparky and comical and cuddly and everything you could want in a pair of kittens. I am NOT considering rehoming them, I adore them and they are already part of our family.

However I do have a problem which I am struggling with. I have a phobia of bad smells (it's not a joke!) and have been known to run out of the room in tears if someone does a really bad fart. I sit on trains gagging and breathing shallow. And the litter tray smells are KILLING me, kittens shit constantly and kitten food effing stinks. I am frequently having to run out of the room because one of them has shat (and we have a covered litter tray and Catsan litter)

I've been getting away with it because we've all had a horrific dose of flu and been off work and school, so dh has been coming to the rescue cleaning it up as soon as they do it and febrezing the room, changing the litter etc. But he's going back to work tomorrow and I will be here on my own (I work three days a week but am here until Friday now)

How am I going to cope with it without crying and vomiting and hidng in my bedroom? I am furious with myself, I had a stiff word with myself before we committed to getting them and I knew I was going to have to be brave about poo and smells. Our older cat goes outside so doesn't use a litter tray. At the moment the kittens, their litter tray/toys/food bowl/bed etc are all in the lounge and we've barricaded the door, because our older rescue cat is nervous so we are introducing them slowly in the evenings, she still has her own space in the rest of the house to eat etc without the little ones freaking her out.

Just to repeat, rehoming the kittens is NOT an option. We love them too much.

It will get better once you’ve been unable to avoid it a few times. I’m similar, especially with wet cat food, and was dreading starting my current job where I face all sorts of human smells and waste products... but you just get on with it after a little while.

I'm v sensitive to smelllstoo. I think it gets better, either adult cat shit/wee smells less than kitten or I just got used to it.

Cleaning out the trays first thing in the morning & before going to bed, I never smell cat litter anywhere at all. The more often you clean the less things will smell.

Thank you I hope it will get better! At the moment every poo is immediately removed and the whole tray changed twice daily, but every time they do it it fills the room and makes me panic and gag. I feel so pathetic they really are the most beautiful little boys

In return for helping me, here is a picture of my little angels

Try a different litter. I use intersand, and it doesn't smell at all, even with two indoor cats using it.

Kitten poo is the worst smell in the world.

Short term could you use liners and or disposable trays?

There is a self scooping litter tray. At least that way you don't have to scoop out.

Can you try putting Vicks under your nose when you have to scoop?

They are lovely.

Do you plan on letting them out? If so, then you can hopefully get rid of the litter tray side of things.

Also, I guess they're still on kitten food. Obviously they've got to be willing to eat it, but you can be able to find a food that isn't so smelly when they move onto adult food. My two both had conditions when they got older that meant it was important they got the maximum amount of liquid in them (cystitis and kidney disease) so do try and keep them on wet food (which I know smells more) as being on just dry they don't make in enough liquid even if they're good drinkers.

Thank you :) yes, still on wet kitten food which they adore, with the odd treat and a bit of cat milk.

Vicks is a genius idea, I am going to try that.

Also they definitely will be going out when they are older, but not very soon as they are very little and we live on a fairly busy road (older cat never goes out the front, she sticks to the gardens out the back, so hopefully they will follow suit once relations between her and them are a bit less frosty)

I found catsan to be smelly. Are you really changing the whole tray twice a day!! I'd maybe try one of the eco clumping litters as you can scoop pee and poo out and it's safer for kittens than other clumping litter. Do you give any dry food? What kitten food is it as some have grains/cereals and can cause smelly poo? Ideally look for food with high meat content that is grain free

Thanks pixie (love your name!) they aren't having any dry food, we were told the wet food was better for tiny tummies, we've got Whiskas and Felix which they seem to love, but it definitely has some sort of cereal in it. It smells like rancid weetabix . I will look for a meatier one and try a different litter. With that and the Vicks I feel like I have a battle plan

You need to get them on a grain free diet. Our little overlord did horrible smelly farts etc using her rescue place Whiskas diet. We changed it and "bang, the smell was gone". Not saying her Litter Tray doesn't smell at all but it is much better.

I feed my two raw food - luckily they were weaned on raw food and I just continued. It makes their poo less stinky. Ever so often I give them a tin of cat food and their poo reeks. Try it - loads of info online.

THank you all so much for not telling me I am pathetic

Don't feed Whiskas. Our cat is from a breeder ( no judgement please) and is fed on raw minced beef and turkey and cooked chicken with some of that dry Royal Canin kitten food. His breath and poo barely smell. We ran out and dh bought some GoKat and the poo smell was horrific. You can buy better quality cat food and the poo will smell better.

We gave her Animonda Carny from zooplus when we switched from Whiskers. For our ease we switched to Applaws dry - with Applaws wet for snacks.
Cats' digestive systems are entirely designed for meat. Omniate carnivores. Raw food is best of all but not a road we have gone down.

Oh but look at them! Surely something that cute doesn’t have poo that stinks!

I’ve read that cat milk, even though its designed for them can still have a similar effect as normal milk. Whenever we gave our first kitten cat milk at first she would get diarrhoea so we stopped. She did have a sensitive tummy anyway. Could you try replacing the milk for water?
And as a treat, maybe get them those cat yogurts instead?

Do you use clumping litter and do they know how to cover up the poo properly?

One of ours doesn’t know how to cover it up (though she tries) so she does stink out the house at times, but the other two I never notice when they’ve poo’d. I’ve been using clumping litter for a while and noticed a big difference. It’s also much easier to clean.

I use this one at the minute www.kennelgate.co.uk/item/Intersand/Intersand-City-Classic-Unscented-Clumping-Cat-Litter-7kg/G91

And it’s by far the least noticeable. It clumps very well, so once scooped out the rest of litter remains very clean.

When our first one was a kitten, we also fed her natures menu kitten food only, and it really seemed to make a difference for her sensitive tummy. ‘Normal’ wet food seemed to give her really smelly and sometimes watery poos. But the vets weren’t concerned about the diarrhoea being related to health issues so we do think it was down to food.

Madrose, what exactly are you feeding them? I wanted to try the raw food diet but there have been a lot of articles about how the food you can buy (not ordinary human grade food) can cause parasites and upset tummies.

www.pethealthnetwork.com/cat-health/cat-diet-nutrition/dangers-a-raw-diet-your-cat

I was also told by the breeder not to give my kitten cat milk. Although he usually has his face in my dd's cereal in the morning anyway!

I found worlds best cat litter for multiple cats is the most effective at managing smells. http://m.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/catlitter/worldssbestcattlitter/136599?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5rLru6jw2AIVq7DtCh2laQdUEAQYBCABEgJsYDD_BwE

I've tried more litter than I care to count and found Catsan really bad! The best so far I've found is Felipure, it's clumping so you scoop out the wee clumps and the poo.

We also feed raw - balanced 80% muscle meat,10% bone, 10% organ. The smell is greatly reduced, both the food itself (wet cat food stinks!) and the digested deposits! Our kitten has a tray in our bedroom at the moment and when we first had her she was fed in our room too.

I am sensitive to smell and couldn't sleep because of the raw. Switched her to raw after a few days and the change was almost instant. 👍

I've attached a photo of her cuddling with one of our older cats!

Where do you all get your raw food? Do you just buy supermarket meat?

Careful with clumping litter for kittens. The little dears might eat it and it would clump in their tummies.

They arrived fully litter trained at just eight weeks, they are as good as gold! I was really surprised. They bomb around like mad things for an hour, eat, then patiently take turns to use the litter tray, then curl up together for a sleep, then wake up and repeat