I find that some flavors of food are smellier than others, particularly ones with fish. I use Wellness no-grain canned food and the chicken flavor isn't too bad.

 

It might also be that their systems are getting used to it.
When I switched from Authority to Kirkland (Costco), the poop smelled for about a month or so (and yes, I did the proper transition with mixing Costco in with the other food gradually increasing).

During the summer when Xanthe goes outside and eats the feral food, which is cheap junk full of corn (can't afford to feed ferals, so I get it donated by the local rescue group, from the donations -they- get), and she comes in to use the litter box, it stinks... during the winter when she gets straight Costco, it doesn't smell at all after a couple weeks.

 

The two have been on that food for as long as I can remember. Every time someone poop it's like I need to hit an evacuation button.

 

Is it dry or canned? My cats' stools were way smellier on dry, even grain-free dry. It's more bearable on canned (but admittedly still not as good as on raw).

 

They are all on the dry food. I'd like to switch to wet food instead of feeding them in the evening. I am just really worried about their teeth on the wet food.

 

Dry food cleaning teeth is actually a myth that some vets still cling to but most are discarding as nonsense. It's fairly brittle ans shatters on impact so it provides very minimal abrasion to teeth. Not to mention, I believe the extra the carbs in dry food can actually promote plaque development. It'd be like trying to keep your own teeth clean with crackers. If a cat is genetically prone to tooth and gum problems and doesn't get regular teeth cleanings, dry food isn't going to help that. The barely negligible effect dry food might have on their teeth is far outweighed by the other problems associated with dry (kidney problems, obesity, digestive irritation, urinary tract infections, to name a few).

The best two options for preventative tooth care are getting your cats used to having their teeth brushed by you (using pet-safe toothpaste), or feeding them a more abrasive diet containing raw bone. Since you don't want to do raw, I'd recommend looking into the toothbrush plan! It's much easier to get them used to it as kittens.

But yeah the dry food could most definitely be the culprit. I'd recommend trying them on a grain-free canned food for a few weeks to see if it improves.

 

Leelu's poops are actually "good" compared to when she was on Chicken Soup and RC. You can only smell if you are right there scooping or if you are there while she's pooping but it fades fast.
I had her on Nature's Variety Instinct Duck dry and now on day 4 of switching to Orijen (I switch dry foods every bag, so every 2-3mths). And the only canned food she'll eat Natural balance LID Venison and pea (ugh I hate only feeding one food but after all the diarrhea issues I had had and the wasted cans I'm scared to try another!)

 

Some cats develop gum problems because of genetics. I've found "Nature's Dentist", a powder supplement that's mostly probiotics, has been effective in reducing the amount of plaque and freshens their breath (an added bonus!). Both my cats love the taste of it too. My cats had their first dental cleaning at 6 y.o. and even then the vet said it was "moderate with no gum disease", like gingivitis.

Nature's Dentist - Canada - Tartar and Plaque Control

 

There could be a single ingredient in it that their systems don't agree with. I remember that my cats did better on a food using rice as the carb than a food using potato as a carb (poop wise). However now on wet food their poops rarely smell at all...although sometimes they do. I bet one of the foods in our rotation causes the problem, likely one of the veggie heavy ones but I haven't paid enough attention to it to find out. The more of the food the cat's body can use, the less waste is going to come out and the less stinky the poop will be. The commercial foods with the least extra is always going to be a grain free, veggie/fruit free, and low carb wet food as they will always have less carbs than even the highest quality dry food (and there are a few wet foods like this out there!! wellness core and before grain come to mind).


So my recommendation is if possible switch to a rotation of high quality wet foods or do a raw diet.

If that's not possible just try switching to a dry with a different protein source or carb source and see if after a couple of months things have gotten better.

 

Currently I have my kitties on Purina One Advanced. The ingredients are a lot better than most of the cat foods out there, but I really prefer using Taste Of The Wild or Orijen for them. However, their stools aren't terribly smelly with this stuff, and they haven't had any runny episodes, so they're doing okay on it. Two of them would probably fare better on a raw diet, especially Arwen, but for now we're feeding dry, and giving them greenies.

 

So, are smelly poops necessarily a bad thing? I've never really thought about Niles's level of poo-smelliness and whether that reflects his overall health or the quality of his diet. I mean, in humans, smellier poops don't necessarily mean bad diet--sometimes a healthy diet can produce more smelliness. Is it different in cats?