Cat poo smell: we hate it but cats need it

Cat smells we remove from our home

Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles: Toxic to cats | Dangers to cats

It seems to me that there is a natural conflict of preference between the domestic cat and his human caretaker with respect to the pervading scent or smell in the air in the home. Are some of our homes too sterile from the standpoint of cat smells to be ideal places for the cat to live in?

Cats like their own smell and the smells they create. They are not squeamish about it as are humans. Cats deposit their scent on parts of the home through the glands on their cheeks and the sides of their body. We can’t smell it but it is important to them.

Cat poo and pee create stronger smells. Domestic cats mark territory with cat pee and to lesser extent poo. The smell makes a statement that that this is their place. It reassures them.

When a cat is insecure you might see them resting and remaining in their litter box. You’ll see this sometimes at cat shows. The smell of their poo or pee which has been removed from the litter box by us lingers and reassures them. It is a zone that belongs to them and in which they feel more relaxed.

Domestic cats often, but not always, bury their poo in the litter box. This is a submissive or subservient action. Perhaps the more insecure the cat, the more determined they will be to bury faeces. They don’t want to impose their signature on the territory “owned” by the dominant cat (or us). However, the smell lingers. There is this natural odour that reassures the domestic cat.

Cats rely a lot on scent. I suppose we see our home and feel it is our place. An Englishman’s home is his castle. This is based on human sight. We see it as our home and feel safe and relaxed in it.

Cats receive the same feeling from scent because their ability to smell scent is much more finely tuned than ours and far important in their lives.

As a consequence they probably need the scent of their poo and pee if they are insecure. We remove these scents as best we can because to us they are obnoxious and an embarrassment.

I wonder if this diametrically opposed attitude towards odour is detrimental to the welfare of domestic cats and something that we overlook.

Is it possible that our homes and particularly the homes of the house proud individual are too sterile in respect of scent and odour to be ideal places for a domestic cat to live in.

We can buy Feliway, an artificial pheromone, to calm cats. I wonder if something similar could be achieved if we were less fastidious about cleaning the litter box? Note: I am not suggesting we don’t clean litter boxes. I am just suggesting that we, as different species, have different lifestyles which in some ways are incompatible.

Photo by Melissa Wiese (modified as allowed)

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38 thoughts on “Cat poo smell: we hate it but cats need it”

  1. As I am quite casual (lazy) when it comes to sterilizing my home (our home – my cats and I) as far as subtle odors go. I believe domestic cats have altered their habits to adjust to communal living with us, so I’m not OCD about clean up, just hygienic, and my felines love their home just fine. That’s the ultimate test for me. I can tell when they’re uncomfortable about something, and even I am uncomfortable with scented cat litter as it wreaks of what I call “laundry detergent smell”. And if that’s more repulsive to me than a wif of cat poo or pee, then it must be to them as well. My cats’ home is theirs’ too.

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  2. What I wake up to every morning at 2AM is atrocious. I always announce, “You guys eat too well.” And, “How can anyone miss a great big box like this?” (I have 10 litter boxes total).
    But, that’s the way it is.
    Some cover poo; some don’t. Often there are poo tracks across the kitchen floor from one having stepped all over the uncovered.
    The smell is attractive, and I will see a cat lying or even rolling around in a box sometimes.

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    • My cousin had a little dog named Dasher who would routinely roll in cow manure. We thought he was just weird, but he had a bit of a herding dog in his nature, and I guess the cows accept the dog better if he smells like a cow instead of a dog. So there was a reason, in his little brain, some instinct that was telling him to conceal his scent. Once on a long walk in the woods with Dasher tagging along I tinkled behind a tree. After I finished Dasher rolled around in my pee. I was 13 or 14 at the time and I only know it happened because I recorded that little incident in my journal.

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      • Our late dad had a German Shepherd who loved to roll in cow platts every chance she got, she would come happily home from her walk wagging her tail while ponging to high Heaven lol

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        • As my aunt would say of Dasher, “Then he wants you to pet him!” I don’t know what breed Dasher was– just a mutt, I suppose. German Shepherds are my favorite breed.

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  3. Wow never thought I’d see a topic like this. I cant struggle with the Smell. I noticed Jasmine is much happier when I have cleaned out her Litter box. Have noticed though she doesn’t really seem to need it as much now, which is always a good thing. I just keep it for her just in case. She seems to like to hide it well. She is a very Super Confidently Kitty. She has struggled a lot as Have the other, as have people in the house now for 4 weeks Sigh. Don’t think she has really liked it which is no surprise, but I hope she will be ok when I will be moving in the nxt month or so- have found a cat friendly Home.

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        • Monty loves pooping in leaves outside. Jeff put all the leaves from our back yard in big piles in the back against the fence. Monty loves using the leaf piles as a litter box. If we don’t put some leaves for him along the edge where no one walks he will go in the middle of the yard. Jeff tries to keep the yard itself clear of leaves for this reason.

          A few years ago we noticed that it looked like gnomes had raked our yard, leaving many small piles of leaves. Jeff cut the grass for the last time of the year and then the truth was revealed. Under every little pile of leaves had been a small pile of poo.

          When he was very small Monty never pooped outside, but would ask to go in to use his litter box. I would tell him, “You are an animal. Animals can poop outside.” He finally figured it out. It saves on cat litter.

          Is this weird? I love watching him do his thing out there. I’ll look out the window to check on him, and if he’s obviously getting ready to “use it” (as the kids where I used to teach would say) then I will stand and watch the entire operation, from initial sniff, to tentative digging, perching, sniffing, digging, perching again, right through to the end as he spends sometimes two or three minutes sniffing, burying and sniffing some more.

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  4. I some times feel/smell my free roaming friends have the smell on their body but I never hated that. My daughter Khadija often keep a nasal mask but I have never. She also wears gloves to handle the feral colony but I never did. I just clean the poop and so do Khadija my daughter. She sometimes hate the smell of poop but maybe I have become TARZAN, I don’t care. 😉

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    • You have become cat-like in your behaviour and preferences. You’re a bit like me in that respect. 😉 I can imagine that the feral cat in Pakistan could smell a little unpleasant possibly sometimes compared to the pampered and preened domestic cats in the UK. This is sad but, like you, it would not in any way put me off handing them where possible or being with them.

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      • Thank you Michael <3 and I love you very much in this respect that you are a true cat lover and have spent your entire life in understanding cats. My heart goes for you as I always feel that you can understand my spiritual feeling about cats. Thank you again <3 <3 <3

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        • In all my years living with, working with and volunteering with cats I’ve never worn masks or gloves, apart from assisting vets with surgery of course.
          Here I am 67 years old and in very good health, never caught anything from cats in my life, living proof that a peck of dirt hasn’t hurt me lol nor have a few bites and a few dozen scratches 😉

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          • There is an argument that a bit of dirt and exposure to germs is good for us. Modern society probably values a sterile environment too highly. People should learn to be less squeamish about cat poo and pee.

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