New Food/Stinky Poops

I have had my two cats for 3 years now, and have been feeding them Science Diet regular adult food. I buy it by the BIG bag (I think it's 20 lbs.), and have been very happy with this brand.

About a month ago, though, I discovered that Costco carries IAMS cat food in large bags, so after giving it some thought, decided to give it a try. This was, of course, a decision made for MY convenience, since I go to Costco anyway, and to a lesser degree because it would end up being less expensive. Of course, if it didn't work out, I knew that I would switch back to the Science Diet and call it a day.

So I began by mixing the new food in with the old, just as they say you should, and gradually increasing the amount of new food and decreasing the amount of the old food. Blah, blah, blah, right?

All I can say is, Holy Stinky Bathroom, Batman!!! For some reason, these boys were making the stinkiest poops EVER!!! I didn't change their litter, so I know it wasn't that. For some strange reason, their poops suddenly became deadly! I mean, sometimes, when they went in there to use the "facilities", I could smell it out here in the living room! AND, sometimes they wouldn't even cover it up!!! :eek: I'm thinking, maybe they couldn't even stand it themselves!!! LOL

Other than that, though, I haven't noticed any other change in them. I mean, IAMS is an excellent brand; I guess maybe it just didn't sit well with these two, I don't know. They have been "going" normally, no change there, it's just the SMELL!!!! WOW!!

So now I have decreased the amount of the new food and increased the amount of the old food, and sure enough, there's a difference! After about 3-4 days, I began noticing that the poops were no longer as offensive as they had been, and all is well.

For the sake of happy noses and sweet-smelling bathrooms, I'm definitely switching back to the old food, but I have not yet decided if I'm going to keep working in just a little bit of the new food until it's gone, or if I'm going to just forget about it and go straight back to the old food.


Has anyone else experienced anything like this when trying to switch foods?

All I know is that my cats poops stink horribly too. With sixteen kitties, I try to buy the least expensive food that has Chicken listed as the first ingredient ... so I know it's good quality. As of late that has been Purina One. However, because of the caustic fumes that also come from our litterboxes, and what you have just experienced, I am thinking on saving my pennies for the real good stuff ... Science Diet all the way!;)

Kim

I know Julie has some extremely less than ladylike poops! Whew!!!!!! She also doesn't always get them covered well when they are particularly bad. She eats the same thing all the time, no wet food, no people food, not even any kitty treats...she won't touch anything but her dry food and her cat grass. I don't know what causes the smell to change greatly from one day to the next. I have noticed though, that when I have fresh cat grass for her to eat the poops are a lot more bearable.

I haven't tried Iams. Ours eat Science Diet also. But, I did notice that when we adopted Cammie she could clear the room until her "system" got used to Science Diet. She was used to a cheaper brand they have at the shelter. We adopted Pepper from the same shelter and she did not experience the same smelly problem. Guess all kitties are different.

We swtiched to Nutro after Allen had a series of REALLY stinky poops as a kitten. I swear by the stuff. My SIL switched too after she was talking about stinky poops... and she continually thanks me.:) ;)

SD Light stunk up our rooms :(
Nutro really made an improvement. Well worth the monies :)

I was surprised to find that Nutro is even more expensive than SD though here! :rolleyes:

I'll have to open a catfood savings account!!! :eek: :D

Kim