Why does my kitten smell so bad?
We have a four month old kitten who is adorable, but doesn’t smell so cute. The bath we gave him yesterday only kept the stink at bay for about 18 hours. His breath also smells terrible, but he is losing his baby teeth. We feed him Science Diet kitten. Any ideas?
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
Answers
There may be a significant amount of odor from his mouth while he is shedding his baby teeth but I wouldn’t think that it would make him smell overall. If it is his teeth, it should resolve as the “wounds” heal after his adult teeth grow in.
Does it seem to be related to his trips to the litter box? Science diet is a good quality food that tends to reduce stool odor if he’s on the dry formula. Canned diets tend to produce wetter, smellier poops. Does he spend a lot of time in the litter box scuffing around and trying to cover everything? Some kittens that are still unsure of their litter box habits are overly concerned about getting everything covered to their satisfaction. He may be getting soiled during those efforts.
My only other thought would be some sort of skin infection that could cause odor. Check his coat, between his toes – any skin folds. A bacterial infection can cause an odor, but I would think that you would have noticed something if that was the case.
Sometimes little boy kittens have a musky smell. My vet calls it “male cat smell.” It’s a pheremone thing. With my Ziggy (he’s my six toed cat) it got somewhat better after I had him fixed. I have no idea about the breath thing.
Are you kidding? A tiny baby like that should never smell bad. Take him to the vet.
it should be because baby kittes go to the toilet alot!!!!!!!!!!
Our kitten stinks to high hell. Probably because he spends half his time farting or pooping and eating wet food… which seriously contributes to the breath stink.
I definitely think it’s litter box related…at least the external smell. He seems to be getting better the older he gets. Breath is still bad, but isn’t that common with cats?
No, noticeably bad breath in cats (unless they’ve just finished eating canned food or licking their butts) is an indicator of health issues (bad teeth in need of dental prophylaxis or kidney disease, for example).
Cats get bad breath when they’re losing their teeth. (I learned this as my kitten was losing his teeth).
Answer this question 
)
| asked November 12th, 2007
| 9 responses
| “Great Question” (3
Topics:
