this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2025
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Sort or related question, is that why their piss reeks like concentrated jenkem?
That’d be ammonia, a metabolic byproduct of their carnivorous diet.
Not trying to be that guy, but it's urea, which breaks down to ammonia due to microbial action once it's out of the cat. If a cat is pissing ammonia, it has big problems and needs to see a vet.
Other contributors to awful cat piss smell are mercaptans, the same compounds responsible for the scent of skunk spray, and pheromones and fatty acids released when the cat is spraying versus normal urination. It's all compounded by cats being adapted for arid environments so their urine is much more concentrated than human urine.
I love cats but they're gross little fuckers sometimes.
this is why it's ideal to befriend a neighbourhood cat, all the positives without the negatives
Dehydration is a common cause for cats to be 'ill' and brought to the vet,* so it could be that their piss reeks because they are having to concentrate it so much in the first place.
*source: a dimly remembered conversation with a vet friend when I asked her why she was adding water to the already wet food for her cat. She said her cat could never be encouraged to drink enough, so it was her way of staving off the annoyance of giving iv fluids to her own animal someday.
It's absolutely a thing, I've had several cats in my life look nearly on the brink of death before basically forcing them to drink or eat turned them around completely. They can be very stubborn. Fountains help a lot because in nature moving water is typically cleaner than standing water, so if your cat always refuses to drink, get a $10 cat fountain on Amazon, it works!
also stop giving them dry-ass pellets with a bunch of grains in them, nut up and live with the smell of wet food and buy some chicken innards for them every now and then.
That makes sense, I wonder if it's the case and how common it is. I'll have to ask a vet tech that I know.
Isn't all Jenkem concentrated?
I'm under the impression that the basic product itself isn't a concentration, but more of a fermented brew.
Wait is Jenkem the... Substance or is Jenkem the fumes that come off of the... Substance 🤢
The substance itself, in the same way that the smoke coming off a cigarette isn't tobacco.