Stinky bum... new rescue kitty

[KTD27]

We brought home a delightful little girl today after losing our big old boy earlier this year.
She is super friendly and Inquisitive and purring like a trooper happily but... she stinks.
She’s used the litter tray once and oh my good lord. Definitely soft poop and stunk to high heaven. I’m a bit annoyed at the rescue centre as she said she had some intestinal issues last week and I was very clear I didn’t want to take another cat who was medically not fit after our boy had FIV and was so poorly at the end and my two kids missing him so much.
What do you think I should try in terms of her tummy? Leave it a while and hope it settles or bring her to the vets.
We have 4 weeks free insurance but I’m frustrated to start down a path already after everything we went through before.
Might be anxiety talking so I’m appealing to more rational minds.

Oh and pic for cat tax. Her name is truffle.

[KTD27]

@ExcellentSquiggles it’s been consistent diarrhoea now since we got her. 4.5 in the poo scale out of 5. Sometimes with blood.
@FurryGiraffe I think that is what we will try now! Please god it works

[WirKindervomBahnhofZoo]

Google TF in cats and pray to God that your cat hasn't got it. Mine did and it was awful but was treatable when we finally got the diagnosis.

[KTD27]

@WirKindervomBahnhofZoo it certainly seems likely looking at symptoms. We have asked the vet for a further sample -
I think she has been tested for it but I want them to do a sample there and then instead of relying on a litter contaminated one. Will see if it brings anything up

[Elisandra]

If the vet doesn’t find anything, If try Purine Fortiflora, probiotics for cats. I’ve found it helps with kitten diarrhoea.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Does her food contain cereals? I had to make mine cereal free.

[InglouriousBasterd]

Mine had a food intolerance last summer and I switched to sensitive food and gave her regular doses of prokolin (I put it on her paw so she had to lick it off as she hates the taste!) - the prokolin is a game changer.

Also she can get stress diarrhoea so I have a feliway diffuser going in the background.

You have my full sympathy, mine is long haired and she’d get it absolutely everywhere as it would get stuck in her furry trousers. Its awful I know.

[TiddleTaddleTat]

We had months of this with our rescue cat. After much changing of diets, poo on the carpet and as a result having to limit his movements around the house, the vet did a poo sample and diagnosed giardia.
Then he kept drinking from the pond -it returned.
Covered the pond and a second round of stronger medication and (fingers crossed) poo is back to normal.
Giardia is v common at catteries and rescue centres.

[TiddleTaddleTat]

Oh yes agree with PP - prokolin is great stuff. But if it is a parasite will only solidify her poo (not solve the problem)

[KTD27]

She tested negative for giardia too. But I will defo stress another test necessary. I think if they managed to get a sample they’d have a better chance of seeing something. From what I’ve read anything litter contaminated is a bit shit. (Excuse the term.)
We have also tried the probiotic it’s what she was given at the rescue as we picked her up. And that’s the other issue. Given their very late disclosure of a sensitive tummy - literally the morning we rescued her - it’s something our insurance won’t cover us for.
We will pick up another food the vet has suggested today and he said if it works it should sort her out in a few weeks so fingers crossed. Yet more poo on the (rental house) carpet this morning which my two year old trod in. Husband getting very stressed.

[claireb7rg]

Oh no 😢 our kitten is still doing really stinky farts (though less than when we got her) and her poo smells horrible.

She's been on our food now for 11 weeks with not much change. I bought some Pro kolin yesterday in the hope it helps

What dry food is your cat on now?

[TiddleTaddleTat]

It's so stressful isn't it.
Definitely get a better sample. For giardia you need several days worth of poo because of its life cycle. We had to keep our cat inside (usually goes out) so that he would poo in the litter tray and we could get samples. Very stressful. He had alternating semi normal and very watery yellow poos, lots of farts smears etc.

We moved our cat onto a treatment dry food as well just to take out food issues as a possible variable

[Notaroadrunner]

We have the same smelly issue. Vet said some cats are just smellier than others. He's on dried food. The entire downstairs stinks as soon as he uses the litter tray. I can't wait til he's neutered as he'll be moved out to the shed with our older cat then.

[KTD27]

@claireb7rg

Oh no 😢 our kitten is still doing really stinky farts (though less than when we got her) and her poo smells horrible.

She's been on our food now for 11 weeks with not much change. I bought some Pro kolin yesterday in the hope it helps

What dry food is your cat on now?

@claireb7rg she’s on royal canin sensitive kitten. They’ve given us another alternative pro kolin too. This one is a capsule which we split and shake. The other was a sachet. And we have tried the syringe too

[KTD27]

@TiddleTaddleTat that’s interesting. I asked about a better sample today and vet will ring me tomorrow he said. Shall see what they say

[claireb7rg]

Can you try grain free food? Grains are the most common cause of stinky cats as they can't digest them

[purdypuma]

Another vote for the butchers classic tins! My young male absolutely stank the house out but the butchers is grain free with a high meat content & it certainly helps! Tins are recyclable so environmentally friendly.
I also give them Harringtons dry which they love.

[dewisant2020]

My guess is giardia my little dog had it a few years ago, she was really quite poorly, lots of diarrhoea, passing wind, it absolutely stunk and it was also yellow with blood in it.
A few days with treatment and she was back to her normal self, the vet said it's really common in dogs but more in cats particularly cats who have been in a shelter or catteru.

[KTD27]

Back to ask for advice again. So we are a few months on and she has had every single test possible. Nothing.
She is regularly choosing (I believe now) to poo in our spare bedroom. She did it last week after my best friend came to stay the night. Snuck in while she was in the loo in the morning and left her a gift.
Again this morning - for no reason I can fathom. The poo isn’t amazingly solid and still has blood. Vet figures she has some inflammation but not sure why. Still unconcerned and we have spoken with a different vet who agrees.
I don’t know how much longer I can cope with the poo thing. We are about to swap bedrooms and move our daughter into the bigger room and I don’t know how she (the cat) will respond!
She is so friendly and affectionate. A prolific hunter. We love her I just don’t know where and when she will poo next. I don’t know how to proceed!

[MrsSkylerWhite]

No sensible advice, sorry. What a beauty, though. Those eyes! Hope you get her sorted.

[CornedBeef451]

It's worth checking out how much continuing the same insurance will cost you as sometimes the free cover offered is very expensive once you start paying for it.

Any new insurance doesn't kick in for 2 weeks and doesn't cover pre existing conditions so make a decision now before you find out any other conditions.

I got caught out with a new rescue cat, the vet found a heart murmur before the new insurance kicked in and so she's not covered for it and if she ends up needing medicine in the future it will cost me a fortune!

Very cute kitten, definitely get her checked out but possibly wait until you've decided on insurance, unless she seems ill that is.

One of mine had a stinky bum for a while so I cleaned her with damp kitchen roll. Usually one the bum fur is wet they start cleaning themselves anyway. Kitten poo does stink though, I think it's their immature gut, it does settle down eventually.

[KTD27]

We got insurance after the two weeks was up. I don’t think we will be covered for any stomach issues even though the vets have reassured us there isn’t actually anything wrong. We have paid for every treatment so far except for her emergency hernia repair which she got after being spayed by the rescue.