Why would my cat smell of urine?

Post date: 2020-11-24 14:30:42

For the last couple of weeks my cat has smelled of pee. I need some help focusing on a cause.

In the past I would've brought her to the vet sooner, but with the new "handoff outside" protocols, I need to think this through so I can explain it to the vet as tersely as possible.

Adelaide is about five years old. She's a little tubbier now than in her picture, but not massively so. She's always been a healthy cat, clean in her habits. She's spayed, goes outside in the back yard a little, but doesn't wander.

She last saw the vet about a year ago for shots and checkup and received a clean bill of health.

I keep her litterbox clean both for her benefit and mine.

A few weeks ago she had a little respiratory trouble â€“ wheezing fits. I was on the verge of taking her to the emergency vet, but waited a little and they subsided. I couldn't tell if she'd inhaled something or had picked up an infection, but she was eating and otherwise behaving normally and in a few days that problem cleared up completely and hasn't recurred.

Not long after, I noticed when I was petting her that she smelled a little pissy. Since that time it's become more noticeable. A couple of times I've dampened a paper towel in warm water and wiped her down under her tail, and it seems to help, but then it recurs.

She isn't urinating anywhere outside her box, but today she slept on my bed for awhile and I noticed afterwards that the pee smell had transferred to the duvet where she'd been, although it's not like she soaked it. Cat pee is pungent stuff. She's using her litterbox normally and there's nothing to report from there.

She eats kibble, by choice. The only other factor I can think of to mention is that I changed her kibble a few weeks ago, to give her some variety. Last couple of days I've reverted to the previous brand, but if the food change is the problem I probably haven't given the old food enough time to reassert itself in her system to make a difference.

She hasn't been under stress, unless having me home a lot this year counts. She's a quiet, non-neurotic cat normally, I haven't moved house or changed anything in the living setup. I'm only mentioning the brief wheezing and the food change because they're the only unusual factors at all.

What am I not thinking of?

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