Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Why Does Your Cat Smell Your Face?

Interesting facts about cats

Although a cat's sense of smell is not as good as a dogs' but it's far better than a human's. Like dogs, cats use their sense of smell to gather information, including information about us.

When your cat sniffs your face and breath, they're simply memorizing your scent. They recognize your scent and find it comforting. 

But why are they doing it every day or even a few times a day?

Cats rely heavily on their strong sense of smell to give them information about food, prey, and their general surroundings. Sniffing you often tells them a lot about your diet, the cosmetic and personal care products you're using, and your unique skin chemistry. Memorizing your scent also helps them to build trust and familiarity, so let your cat sniff away!

Cats have an organ at the roof of their mouths behind their front teeth called the vomeronasal organ, or Jacobson's organ. When your cat takes a sniff and leaves its mouth open for a few seconds, it's actually drawing air into the mouth and up into the Jacobson's organ.

Also, when your cat makes a strange face when smelling your face, hand or feet, it is because it smelled something interesting and is drawing the scent into the Jacobson's organ to get a better smell.


Posted by Erika M Szabo


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