# Really stinky pee



## lehaley (Jun 25, 2011)

Felix has been home in my apartment since last Monday. I have his cage set up in my bedroom and for the past few days I've been having some problems with odor. I've pretty much determined that the smell is coming from Felix's pee. It seems like if I don't change his liner every other day, my bedroom absolutely reeks. Spot cleaning the cage just doesn't seem to do it.

I get migraine headaches that are sometimes triggered by smells, so I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for keeping the odor down that doesn't require me to change his liners multiple times a week. (Although if that is really my only option, I'll do it.) Could there be something wrong with his diet or wrong with him? I am currently feeding him Innova low fat, and I'm planning on adding at least two other foods to make a mix. I wanted to make sure the Innova worked out well first. He usually gets some sort of treat every night when I have him out. So far he's tried boiled chicken, mealworms, and watermelon. Is there anything I can feed him to cut down on the stinkiness?


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## ShutUpAndSmile (Mar 7, 2011)

Does his food have a type of fish in it? I heard that could make things smelly. Maybe you've added or changed to many things to fast and it upset his tummy. I'm sure nancy or someone else will come along and have a more detailed answer. Good luck


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## lehaley (Jun 25, 2011)

"Herring" is listed as the 7th ingredient, and "herring oil" is also listed even farther down than that. It doesn't seem like it contains a ton of fish, but that could definitely be part of the problem.


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## CourtneyFaye (Jul 31, 2011)

Is he drinking enough? Dehydrated pee smells really bad


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## lehaley (Jun 25, 2011)

There seems to be quite a bit of water missing from his bowl every morning, but I guess it's sort of tough to tell whether he actually drank it or if he was just playing in it. I switched him from a water bottle to a bowl last week, and I made sure that I physically saw him drinking from it for a few days before I removed the bottle. I assume that he is still drinking normally, but I'm going to keep an eye on him tonight just to make sure.


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## nationofamanda (Jan 19, 2010)

get an air purifier. it works like a miracle.


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## Pooki3 (Jun 10, 2011)

as far as I know smelly pee is sometimes the sign of not getting enough water..but the fish in cat food does make things reallyyy smelly...do you put any flax seed oil on his food? sometimes that makes berkos pee smell and I have to space out the oil to like 3 times a week instead of everyday


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## lehaley (Jun 25, 2011)

I haven't been giving him any flax seed oil. Physiologically, not getting enough water makes sense. If he's dehydrated, his urine would be very concentrated and therefore would smell stronger. I think I'm going to put his water bottle back in the cage and see if that improves the smell at all. I would prefer that he keep using the bowl, but I'm more concerned with him being properly hydrated.


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## CourtneyFaye (Jul 31, 2011)

If it is a problem with the bowl, is the bowl low enough that he can easily drink?


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## lehaley (Jun 25, 2011)

I've seen him drink out of the bowl quite a bit, so I don't think it's a problem with the bowl. He doesn't need to climb or stretch too much to get access to the water. I'm going to watch the water levels in the bowl and the bottle and see if they change overnight. If he seems to be drinking normally, dehydration probably isn't causing the stinky pee. He hasn't been acting any differently and he woke me up wheeling and loudly liner diving all night.


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## CourtneyFaye (Jul 31, 2011)

lehaley said:


> I've seen him drink out of the bowl quite a bit, so I don't think it's a problem with the bowl. He doesn't need to climb or stretch too much to get access to the water. I'm going to watch the water levels in the bowl and the bottle and see if they change overnight. If he seems to be drinking normally, dehydration probably isn't causing the stinky pee. He hasn't been acting any differently and he woke me up wheeling and loudly liner diving all night.


It's always good to rule it out


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

It may just be him. Some of them do have very strong smelling urine and nothing is wrong and they do drink enough. My Smokey was like that and he would trigger my asthma if I didn't clean his litter box every day. Thankfully he was totally pee trained so it was quick and easy to change his paper towel. My Gladys also has strong smelling urine but not as bad as Smokey was. 

You could try a different food that might help a bit but I'm betting it is just him. Some people find that air purifiers help.


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## Guest (Sep 14, 2011)

Nancy said:


> It may just be him. Some of them do have very strong smelling urine and nothing is wrong and they do drink enough. My Smokey was like that and he would trigger my asthma if I didn't clean his litter box every day. Thankfully he was totally pee trained so it was quick and easy to change his paper towel. My Gladys also has strong smelling urine but not as bad as Smokey was.
> 
> You could try a different food that might help a bit but I'm betting it is just him. Some people find that air purifiers help.


Alpha Male thing in studies of animals if I am not mistaken their urine can be more potent to show dominance over others in their species even in solitary creatures I would presume thats possible.


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## lehaley (Jun 25, 2011)

Nancy, I agree. It's definitely better to rule it out for sure. However, I can accept the possibility that Felix might just be a little stinker. :lol: If that's the case I can definitely work around it. I made him plenty of liners, so I can just change them more frequently. I might also look into getting a small air purifier.


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## soapradream (Aug 31, 2011)

Since we are on the subject, what air purifiers would you guys recommend?


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

TWCOGAR said:


> Nancy said:
> 
> 
> > It may just be him. Some of them do have very strong smelling urine and nothing is wrong and they do drink enough. My Smokey was like that and he would trigger my asthma if I didn't clean his litter box every day. Thankfully he was totally pee trained so it was quick and easy to change his paper towel. My Gladys also has strong smelling urine but not as bad as Smokey was.
> ...


The strong urine smell is not unique to boy hedgies. What I've found over the years is it's certain hedgies and I always seem to have 1 or 2 who have the strong urine. I would say the majority have been boys but not all and my current smelly one is Gladys. :lol:


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

nationofamanda said:


> get an air purifier. it works like a miracle.


I agree 100%!  I use this one http://www.walmart.com/ip/Therapure-HEP ... er/9189156


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