House always smells bad

[TScarv]

One of my cats doesn’t like to go outside so he always uses his litter tray. He only poos during the night so I can’t pick it up until the morning, by that point the whole of the downstairs stinks. I scoop out his tray every day and do a full clean once a week. But I feel like the house always smells of dirty litter.

his tray is under the stairs so there is a door with a cat flap, however he will not use the cat flap at all so unfortunately I have to leave the door slightly open so that he can get in. I also changed litter to a clumping one, I used to get the stone type litter but now this one has a texture like sand and clumps really well. But my house always stinks. What can I do? Does anyone have any suggestions?

Then you may just have to accept that smelly poo is an unfortunate side effect of his stomach issues. As PP said, a litter robot might be a good solution though they're not cheap. We use Amazon own brand corn litter which is good.

Firstly if your cat is exclusively using litter tray then needs to be fully emptied/cleaned more often than once a week. Meaning fully emptying the tray, thoroughly cleaning the tray (not just liner) and area where it is. I do mine once a week roughly and my cat predominantly goes outside but just to keep it fresh there’s no way it would be okay if they were just using the litter tray. I also use the wooden pellet type cat litter and find it much much better for containing smells but also just to use you don’t get dust, if you need to empty a poo much easier because it hasn’t all clumped etc. so would also try that.

Change litter daily indoor cats make houses smell if you don’t, you’ll be nose blind but visitors aren’t.

Do you know if I would have to kind of transition him to a different litter? He was ok going from catsan to the new sand texture, but not sure if he would understand that the pellets are litter?? Or am I underestimating him lol

I’m not even nose blind, I smell it!

I’m definitely considering investing in this. He is scared of absolutely everything. He’s scared of his cat flap, doesn’t go outside because he’s scared of noises and other cats etc, scared of the fan, plastic bags, anything that moves or makes a sound, I’m not sure if he would get in it or if it would scare him lol but definitely an option to consider, thank you

Have you tried Scrumbles? Mine is a night pooper as well and most of the time I don’t smell it. She also has wet fishy food though so there’s sometimes a stink. I change it once a week, Sanicat clumping, I don’t think it smells until then as all the wee is scooped and the poo is pretty dehydrated.

Is there another room the litter tray can go in with a window that can be open a bit (thinking eg upstairs bathrooms normally have windows)?

I find pets at home clumping litter very good and use a litter liner with it. Change if every three days.

Like @flowersdiscount I've changed to Fitlitter, it really is amazing and can last up to a month before a complete change.

I say up to a month because i get about 10 days from a bag, but as I have arthritis in both hips cleaning the tray was getting more and more painful for me.

Now I just scoop the poop each time he goes, stir the litter and it's as a
Good as new.

Even when I empty the tray there's hardly any residue left, so easy to clean. It's maybe a wee bit more expensive for me especially only getting 10 days but worth every penny!

I went straight for it...cold turkey! I clean out wee clumps and poos daily, top up and only need a complete empty, wash (with Lidl bio powder) monthly. When I do the.monthly empty the tray is odourless. All you can smell is a wheat type whiff.

We've used a variety of litters, wood pellets catsan another i can't remember, for us cats best is the best fit.
I feel for you with a cat you can't alter the diet of but this forms clumps really well and smell for us.
It says its flushable but we don't as we follow the 3 p's rule.

I know loads of people aren’t a fan of clumping litter but game changer for me or I’m nose blind 😂 but zooplus tigerino clumping litter is really good. I only do a full swap every few weeks and scoop daily. But it really does clump the wees - comes out as a solid lump

my foster cats have the wood pellets and i think they are pretty stinky especially when they have pooed. The upstairs where they are stink sometimes. I change the litter every single day full swap.

Just don't use plugins to cover up the smell, it gets on their fur and then they lick it off and it's horrible stuff. Can also cause respiratory issues for them.

I don't know if you are still reading but my rescue had terrible diarrhoea which stunk. It was so bad she used to cry when she went and the vets couldn't find out why. This thread was the answer to our prayers and even now her poops are still normal, not smelly, and best of all she no longer cries in the tray despite dropping the hairball. Worth trying imo although we never managed to do more than 50/50 with her usual food. Still worked though!
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_litter_tray/5207258-ive-discovered-a-miracle-cure-for-chronic-cat-diarrhoea?reply=150262115

If you could possibly make a safe space for him to go outside it would help a lot.A catio allowing him to poo in a flower bed would mean he can dig and bury the poo . He would be less stressed and the smell would stop.

Another vote for wood pellets, and a covered litter tray, you can take the flap off it if he is scared of it