Any chance you have a small male dog?

No dog, but there are a few cats in the neighborhood....

Any cat pong?

The soil ball is moist.

I cut the dead branch out.

I don't see any cat poo.

That wouldn't kill a branch.

Not poo, pong... i.e. Smell. I've seen dog and cat urine brown foliage

Ah...I didn't check for the smell, but as I say there are a couple of outdoor cats that do come in our yard....since it's a new bush maybe they were marking it?

As soon as I saw your pic I said either dog or cat urine. Tom cats should leave behind a strong smell and most definitely zero in on a new plant.

The word pong for smell is new to me. Thanks, Floral!

Does pong mean bad smell? Slang?

pong

pɒŋ/

BRITISHinformal

noun

1. 1.

   a strong, unpleasant smell.

   "corked wine has a powerful pong"

verb

1. 1.

   smell strongly and unpleasantly.

   "the place just pongs of dirty clothes"

OK! Thank you very much. A new word for me!

My Stapelia has a strong pong when blooming.