Ever wrinkled your nose at the distinct stench wafting from your feline’s fishy, meaty canned fare? Those powerful odors come from natural ingredients and oils crucial for cat nutrition. Still, the smell may overwhelm humans. This article explores why cat food produces such pungent aromas.
Why does cat food smell so bad? When you open a can or bag of cat food, you might think it stinks! The strong smells come from good things inside like fish, meat, or oils that cats need to eat. Even if it makes your nose wrinkle, your cat loves it. The icky smell means real ingredients, not fake ones. So even if people don’t like how it smells, it’s good for your cat. The smells are part of healthy food for cats.
The unappealing smells given off by ingredients in cat food like fish, meat, and fat come from high-quality animal components rich in proteins and nutrients felines need. So while the odors may overwhelm human senses, they appeal to cats’ evolutionary appetites and indicate quality ingredients that provide vital nutrition for energy, muscle growth, and long-term health.
Cats Have a Strong Sense of Smell
Cats can smell very well. Their nose works better than people’s noses. They have a big part of their brain just for smelling. It is way bigger than the smell part in human brains. When cats smell food, they think it smells strong. Their noses pick up way more scent than ours do. Smells we think are bad smell good to cats. Their nose like all the protein and fat scents.
So cats don’t think their food smells bad like people do. Their brain tells them yummy food smells good. Fish, chicken, beef, and other meats smell very interesting to a cat’s nose. Even if you wrinkle your nose, your cat’s brain is saying yum about their smelly food! A food that makes your nose unhappy makes your cat’s nose very happy.
Smells Come from Natural Ingredients
| Natural Ingredient | Smell |
| Lavender | Floral and soothing |
| Citrus fruits | Fresh and zesty |
| Cinnamon | Warm and spicy |
| Peppermint | Cool and refreshing |
| Vanilla | Sweet and comforting |
| Eucalyptus | Minty and invigorating |
| Pine | Woody and earthy |
| Rosemary | Herbal and aromatic |
Good cat foods use real meat. Chicken, tuna, beef, and turkey make cat food smell bad to people. The smells come from good things like proteins. Proteins help cats build muscle and be healthy. The ingredients are just real meat and fish. Real food often has strong odors.
Cat food also uses animal fat and oils. Fish oil and chicken fat can stink. But these fats have vitamins cats need. Ingredients like fish, fat, and meat make real cat food smell bad. The smells show the food comes from animals, not plants. Smelly ingredients make cat food good for cats. So it’s okay for cat food to have a bad smell.
Fish Cat Food is Particularly Pungent
Fish flavors make cat food extra stinky. Tuna and salmon carry strong odors. I’ve noticed that some cat foods, especially ones with a lot of fish, can smell so bad to my nose. When considering what is the worst cat food, you may want to avoid options with very pungent fish flavors, even though cats love them. The oils in fish are very pungent to people’s noses and I have to wonder if the extreme fish flavors are part of why some cat foods smell so bad. But cats often love seafood textures and tastes. So many cat foods have extra fish bits or flavors.
When you pop open a can of fish cat food, the smell says it all. Pungent fish oils give an ocean-like odor. Up close, the smells are very strong and can even smell so bad to us. But with a superior sense of smell, cats zero in on those fish components. The stinky fish smells signal yummy, natural flavors to cats. So potent fish food smells good to cats, even though we might think it smells so bad.
Oils and Fats are Smelly but Healthy
Cat food uses animal fats to be nutritious. Chicken fat or salmon oil gets put in many kinds. These fats give cats very good nutrients. But they make strong, bad smells too.
Oils and fats are important vitamins for cats. Vitamins A, E, D, and more are in there. Good fatty acids also help cat fur and skin be healthy. So while the greasy fats make food smell back to us, they have great stuff inside. The horrid food smells just mean it is full of things cats need to eat. Smelly oils make the food better for our cats.
Wet Food Smells More Than Dry Kibble
Wet canned cat food is very smelly. The moist food mixes fish, meat, broths, and oils. All these wet ingredients make worse smells. Opening the can lets out very bad odors.
Dry kibble does not smell as bad. Baking it removes some smells. But it still has meat, fish, and fats inside it. Close to the bag, you can notice odors. It just does not smell as strong or gross as the wet foods. Cats nibble on the dry bits, so the smell stays inside. Both wet and dry foods provide nutrition. But wet styles create far more stench.
Spoiled Food Smells Even Worse
Bad foods can smell rotten. As meat-based cat food gets old, it goes bad. Spoiled fats and proteins make toxic smells. The expired food gets covered in yucky germs.
People would find spoiled cat food horrific to sniff. But a cat’s sensitive nose minds it even more. To cats, the rank stench of bad food is revolting. It makes their noses cringe in disgust. Cats know to turn up their nose at tainted foods. So if your cat won’t eat their older food, don’t fight it. Toss out smelly spoiled cat food right away. Give them only fresh foods without any funky odors.
FAQS:
1. Why does pet food smell bad?
Pet food contains real, meaty ingredients that have strong natural odors that appeal to pets’ evolutionary senses even if unpleasant to humans.
2. How do I make my cat food smell less?
As unpleasant as strong cat food smells are to humans, there’s no way to make it less pungent without removing the healthy animal proteins and fats cats need, so aim to store open food in sealed containers in well-ventilated areas.
3. Does dry cat food smell?
Yes, dry cat food retains some odor from its meat, fish, and fat contents, though baking dulls the smell so kibble doesn’t stench up rooms as intensely as canned wet foods do.
4. How do I get my cat to eat without a sense of smell?
For cats who have lost their appetite or sense of smell, try warming up aromatic, potent canned foods or adding strong broths, new toppings or meat baby food to spark interest and make up for lacking olfactory qualities.
Conclusion:
Cat food often has a very bad smell. People think the strong odors are gross when they feed their cats. But cats have different senses than humans. Their noses and brains are made to like intense smells from meats and fish.
Even if the stench makes you hold your nose, these real food smells are good signs. They mean quality animal ingredients that provide what cats need. The smells may overwhelm our noses, but they make cats eager to eat the nutritious mix. So let your cat enjoy their stinky but healthy canned fish and poultry formulas in peace! The smells might be nasty to you but just right for your feline’s appetite.
