This Animal’s PEE Smells like Popcorn?! (2023)

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This Animal’s PEE Smells like Popcorn?!? ›

Binturongs owe their popcorn-like scent to a chemical compound in their urine that also happens to be the major aroma compound in toasted bread and cooked rice. Photo courtesy of Carolina Tiger Rescue. The bearcat. The binturong.

Researchers have ferreted out why the binturong, a threatened Southeast Asian mammal also known as the bearcat, smells like popcorn. The culprit is 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, or 2-AP, the same molecule that gives cooked popcorn its aroma. Researchers led by Christine M. Drea of Duke University and Thomas E.

When a person eats a lot of protein instead of carbohydrates, their body uses protein and stored fat for energy instead of using carbohydrates as it would usually do. As a result, the ketone level in the blood will rise. When these ketones leave the body in the urine, the urine may smell sweet or similar to popcorn.

Next time you visit the Zoo, make sure to visit the Binturong Habitat and say hello to our very own two bearcats: Baloo and Bramble. And maybe if you're lucky (or perhaps unlucky if you think too much about it), you'll get a whiff of warm, buttered popcorn.

Another trivia? Tiger urine's smell is similar to that of popcorn.

Color - Opossum urine is yellow in color, like pretty much all mammal urine. But when it stains through from the attic onto your ceiling, the stain will look darker, because of the nature of drywall. Odor - It does have an odor, and it smells like most other wildlife pee, maybe a little more pungent.

The odor of bobcat urine, if you ever get a chance to take a whiff, is unforgettable — like rotten meat combined with sweat, with something indescribably feral underlying it. To humans, it's just nose-wrinklingly disgusting. But to mice, it smells like one thing: danger.

If your dog smells like corn chips or popcorn, that might be a sign of bacteria build up in their gut. But don't worry, a doggy probiotic supplement can help. Just add it to their daily routine.

A good quality fresh dog urine should be pretty odourless and a strong ammonia smell suggests infection.

The sweetness comes from sugar in your urine and is a sign your body is trying to get rid of extra sugar in your blood. Some people say their pee smells like Cheerios, which might be a sweet smell that you should tell your doctor about.

Why do I randomly smell popcorn? ›

An olfactory hallucination (phantosmia) makes you detect smells that aren't really there in your environment. The odors you notice in phantosmia are different from person to person and may be foul or pleasant. You may notice the smells in one or both nostrils.

Binturongs, or bearcats, are neither bears nor cats. These Southeast Asian mammals are actually related to small forest predators like fossas, civets, and genets. They also happen to smell like hot buttered popcorn.

Your House Smells Like Popcorn

You're not going to like the answer to this one, but you may want to get in touch with a pest control company to have your home checked for mice. Mouse pee can have an odor like popcorn or ammonia, but it takes a lot of mice to secrete so much urine that the average person can smell it.

Musk Ox. These furry, horned mammals that inhabit the Arctic produce a smelly 'musk' from their urine. It is only produced by the males and is used to mark their territory during mating season.

It turns out the Lesser Anteater is five to seven times smellier than the infamous skunk. The Lesser anteater uses its stench to ward off any unwanted visitors and predators.

Like the urine of other rodents, rat urine has a strong ammonia-like smell. Rat urine is brimming with nitrogen. As the nitrogen breaks down in the presence of oxygen, it forms ammonia, which has a strong odour. It also leaves behind a chalky residue when it dries because of its high calcium content.

Raccoons have a very strong smelling urine that is can sometimes be detected from within the house, not to mention their feces, which is also very foul and strong smelling. They tear through insulation, matting it down, and causing energy loss.

Rat urine is made up of protein, uric acid and urea, making it one of the strongest smells known to man. The high uric acid content causes ammonia to form when the urine dries, making it even stronger.

Most people know what cat urine smells like: A noxious, everlasting scent that reeks of ammonia no matter how much you clean it. Mouse urine is different — it smells a bit like popcorn and isn't entirely unpleasant — but it's not an odour you want lingering in your home.

Coyote urine smells very much like a domestic dog's, and members of the weasel family often have musky-smelling urine, though a recently-sniffed fisher marking had very little scent. Naturally Curious is supported by donations.

Does coyote urine stink? ›

Such glands also exist on other parts of the body. Scent glands often become more active when the animals meet. The coyote's urine Page 2 Coyote 2 has a very strong smell and is used to mark out its territory. Trappers use the secretions when they set traps to attract the coyote.

The mere whiff of cat urine and litter is often enough to scare the mice away. According to research, mice are conditioned to turn in the opposite direction when they smell cat urine.

Similar to how there are good bacteria and bad bacteria, yeast is not inherently bad and it makes up a part of your dog's natural flora. Yeast loves to thrive in warm, wet environments. And so does the bacteria called Pseudomonas, which emits an odor that many people interpret as popcorn.

Proteus bacteria, known for their "sweet, corn tortilla smell" (?!), may be responsible for the popcorn scent of your dog's feet.

Dogs smell like corn chips because of the bacteria and yeast that make up their microbiomes. Owners can mitigate the smell by bathing dogs more regularly and practicing fold care. A strong, abnormal smell could be from an infection or other condition that needs veterinary aid.

Frequent bathing can help control odor. Arthritis and other health conditions can make it difficult for your dog to properly groom himself, which can cause his fur and skin to smell funky over time. Weekly shampooing or visits with a professional groomer can help. Impacted anal glands are also common in older dogs.

Your kidneys serve several purposes, including the filtering out of waste products from your blood for removal from the body in urine. If the kidneys aren't functioning well, waste materials may build up in the body. Those materials can produce an ammonia-like smell that you may notice in the back of your nose.

Foul smelling urine can indicate a bacterial urinary tract infection (not just “stinkle,” as often experienced after eating asparagus), while lack of smell (or color), as seen with dilute urine, is seen with metabolic diseases (kidney failure, etc.).

A strong-smelling vaginal odor, which could be likened to onion, accompanied by a thick yellow discharge can generally indicate a Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) like Trichomoniasis, Gonorrhea, or Chlamydia. Symptoms may also include vaginal itching and discomfort during urination.

Why does my urine smell sweet? Urine may smell sweet if it contains extra glucose, a type of sugar. Sweet smelling urine often stems from diabetes, but dehydration, a yeast infection, or a genetic condition known as maple syrup urine disease can also cause it.

What makes urine smell like corn flakes? ›

High blood sugar (hyperglycemia) is common in people with undiagnosed diabetes or poorly controlled diabetes. High levels of sugar (glucose) in the urine can make it smell sweet or like fruity cereal. 1 There are also other signs of high blood sugar, including: Excessive thirst.

Phantosmia is a condition that causes you to smell odors that aren't actually present. When this happens, it's sometimes called an olfactory hallucination. The types of odors people smell vary from person to person.

Possible causes include problems with the sinuses, nasal passages, and mouth. Conditions that may cause a bad smell in the nose include: acute and chronic sinusitis. mouth or tooth infections.

Phantosmia is a condition that causes you to detect smells that aren't actually in your environment. It can happen in one nostril or both — and the odors may be foul or pleasant. Common causes include colds, allergies, nasal polyps and dental issues.

Binturongs have a very distinctive smell—that of buttered popcorn! As pleasing as it might be to a human nose, that scent serves a purpose: to let other binturongs know they are trespassing on someone else's territory or to discourage would-be predators.

Prairie dropseed, or Sporobolus heterolepis, — not a local theater — is likely the cause! The scent comes from the plant's flowers, which bloom in late summer. Everyone perceives the smell differently, though, so one person's buttered popcorn is another's cilantro. Some people even say it smells like chemicals.

Mice Infestation

You may smell burnt popcorn if you have a mice infestation. When a mouse urinates, it can start to smell like popcorn, but it will take a lot of mouse pee for this to happen. So while you may have a mouse problem, you may not notice the smell.

Cover the Smell With Candles & Essential Oils

Choose scents that are fresh but powerful enough to overpower the burnt popcorn smell. Lemon, orange, eucalyptus, mint, and lavender are all pleasant and refreshing smells that might distract your nose from the popcorn stench.

Phantosmia is not usually a cause for concern, and it often clears up by itself. It can also be a symptom of a more serious condition, so people experiencing phantom smells should see their doctor to check for underlying conditions or complications.

What does a gas leak smell like in your house? Natural gas is odorless, but a substance known as mercaptan is added to your natural gas so that it gives off a pungent rotten egg smell.

Do possums give off an odor? ›

Although they do not spray like skunks do, opossums emit a foul smell when they play dead, which is never a pleasant occurrence. They can also carry fleas, ticks, and diseases like leptospirosis.

Sulfur has a rotten egg scent that is distained by most, making a skunk's spray extremely pungent. The scent is so strong it can be smelled up to half a mile away and can linger for days to weeks. Their spray can also cause stinging of the eyes, temporary blindness, and nausea.

Red and Arctic foxes especially have an unpleasant odor that is described as both musky and skunky, although arctic fox scent can also be considered a bit perfumey or sweet smelling on top of being musky and skunky.

The odor from a skunk is in a class by itself; it's so strong, it's almost toxic. The reason skunk odor is so hard to remove is that the spray is sulfur-based and sticks to anything it comes in contact with. The horrible skunk odor can remain on surfaces for weeks if not properly treated.

Read more about the chemistry of mercaptan, the world's smelliest substance, on the American Council of Science and Health website.

According to their study, the best smell is vanilla and the worst smell is sweaty feet. The results show that people share favourite smells regardless of where they come from in the world.

Squirrel urine has an lingering odor that is more ammonia that dog urine, but less ammonia than cat urine. Squirrels will urinate wherever, and whenever they have to go to the bathroom. The smell is also useful for marking their territory, among other ways.

The trademark smell of a mouse or rat infestation is often likened to ammonia. Other people describe the scent of mice as musky. Either way, these odors can be surprisingly strong, in part because rodents urinate so frequently.

The so called smell is usually ammonia from their urine which can be quite pungent when left for long periods.

The odor is most likely caused either by yeast or a bacterium called proteus or pseudomonas, any of which would "do well in the damp, airless, unventilated areas between dog toes," says Nicholas Dodman, a veterinary behaviorist at Tufts University in Massachusetts.

Why does my house smell like buttered popcorn? ›

Your House Smells Like Popcorn

You're not going to like the answer to this one, but you may want to get in touch with a pest control company to have your home checked for mice. Mouse pee can have an odor like popcorn or ammonia, but it takes a lot of mice to secrete so much urine that the average person can smell it.

Proteus bacteria, known for their "sweet, corn tortilla smell" (?!), may be responsible for the popcorn scent of your dog's feet.

Leopard pee smells like buttered popcorn! Fact. When leopards mark their territory they give off a distinct odour – reminiscent of the movie theatre. This smell is often not detected while in a game vehicle.

What is this popcorny smell? The sweet smell you are describing is most likely emitted by your dog's paws or less commonly by the ears. It is usually caused by a mixture of yeast and proteus bacteria, which are found on the surface of the skin in areas that are often moist, warm and a bit dirty.

Yeast Infection.

An overgrowth of yeast is a fairly common problem for dogs and causes a pungent, musty smell that will remind you of moldy bread or cheese popcorn, and can result in ear problems, stinky paws, and smelly skin.

Smelling things that aren't there is called phantosmia. It can be unpleasant and affect how things taste. But it isn't usually serious and may go away by itself in a few weeks or months. See your GP if the strange smell doesn't go away in a few weeks.

Yes, white vinegar is helpful in neutralizing odors. Simmer a mixture of water and white vinegar on your stovetop for 15 minutes. Dip slices of white bread in this mixture and place them in areas with a strong burnt popcorn smell. You can also place small bowls of vinegar around your house to help eliminate the odor.

Some of the bacteria that are known for recognizable smells: Pseudomonas aeruginosa smells like flowers. Streptococcus milleri smells like browned butter.

Fishers are said to give off a musky smell when they are disturbed, but so do lots of other animals. Mink, copperheads, and the little stinkpot musk turtles found throughout most of the eastern United States all emit a highly unpleasant odor when frightened, annoyed, or aggravated in some way.

Why do my kids feet smell like popcorn? ›

Apparently there's a bacteria that smells like butter. The bacteria called Pseudomonas emits an odor that many interpret as popcorn smell. When your feet smell like the heavy butter put atop popcorn . Usually caused by sweat ,new shocks and old shoes.

Strong smell - Mice urinate frequently and their wee has a strong ammonia-like smell. The stronger the smell the closer you are to mice activity. This smell can linger for a long time (even after an infestation has been removed).