Since last Tuesday, I’ve been smelling something fetid in my garage. I assumed it was the garbage, so after trash day on Thursday, I was creeped out to find the garage still had the weird smell. I read enough (& watch enough tv) to know rotting bodies give off a “putrid, sweet odor”, so Bobo the cat and I spent quite a bit of time rustling up dust and spiders, looking for dead animal carcass in and under garage items. Nothing. Nada. Still on topic... during pandemics, it’s wise or at least time-saving to let packages sit “outside” a few days if not needed right away. At any given time, I have at least one Amazon box or one bag of NON-PERISHABLE food in garage, waiting for entry into the castle. Aha! Had I overlooked a piece of fruit or a pork chop in my grocery delivery bag?? Nope... just canned tuna and drink mix. Fast forward a few hours. Litter box was low on litter, so I went to garage to bring in the large but “lightweight” white and black cardboard box of Purina Tidy Cats LightWeight 4-in-1 Strength Clumping Cat Litter, delivered earlier in the week. It sat in the opened Amazon box (usually have to at least open the box because I forget what I ordered), and as I approached it, the putrid smell engulfed me. “Oh no! An animal fell in and was trapped somehow... and died. Did a rat get packed in at the warehouse? Surely it would have chewed through the box and gained freedom!” I put on a mask and approached again...closer and closer I crept. Then -- a horrifying thought stopped me in my Skechers. “Should I post on FB what is happening, in case I succumb to this toxic cloud of death funk? Otherwise, nobody will find my body until the neighbors smell an even worse sweetly sick odor emanating from my garage. And my cats get HANGRY... so they might be forced to eat my body if left with no crunchies for days and days.” Surprisingly to all who know my “TMI” habits, I opted to keep this experience to myself, as it unfolded. Mask on, (wonderful b’day gift from my sister) deadly sharp limb clippers in hand, I nudged the litter box as it sat in the Amazon box. Nudged again. Approached and poked - and poked again - and poked ... a hole in the litter container. And some spilled out. And more putrid smell. OMG... was an animal packaged inside with the litter??? I dumped it all out of the cardboard container, and into the Amazon box. I plucked up the now empty litter box and shook it. NOTHING!!! But the stench was stronger. My God!! What wretched gates of hell had I unwittingly opened??!!? And now I had loose litter in an oversized Amazon box, and a kitty litter box inside that still needed filling. I pulled a heavy duty trash bag out and started filling it with the litter... I was getting accustomed to the rotting scent of demon vomit. After taking care of the litter box inside, now full of fresh litter and seasoned with Abigail the cat’s poop (she must christen the box every time there’s fresh litter), I returned to garage sitting with a cup of coffee. After several minutes, I realized the garage smelled ABSOLUTELY FINE! Had I completely acclimated to the smell? Bringing my now empty mug back into the kitchen, I was struck by a familiar, entirely unfriendly stench. For the love of Pete!!! Am I the stench? I sniffed myself where I could reach (honeysuckle and hand soap greeted me). I approached the litter box and leaned down to scoop Abigail’s bountiful box donation and...EUREKA!... mystery 100% solved. The kitty litter itself smells awful. It can best be described as a potpourri of roadkill carcass, rancid beef liver left to defrost in an easterly facing window in summertime Arizona, old lettuce from the back of your fridge, cherry jello smell, and a small bouquet of lavender from a French garden. However, it does scoop much better than the other litter by Tidy cat, so... I highly recommend it.
