I read a great cartoon today, “Rose is Rose” by Pat Brady. The kitten Peekaboo meets a houseguest and immediately crawls all over the woman, sniffing each ankle, sleeves, neck, and then satisfied, trots away. The humans ponder what sort of information she managed to garner from the sniff-fest, and the thought-bubble from Peekaboo says it all:

“Well…she’s happily owned by two Persian cats, a tabby and one slightly damp beagle!”

Do your cats make a point of sniff-exploring you each day? Seren certainly enjoys “reading” me when I return from an outing. And when I’ve done the early morning TV show with special pet guests, she’s always most intrigued by the cat visitors I’ve held. I kid the show hosts that my cat will know that I’ve been “unfaithful” by petting other critters!

Cats are certainly led around by the nose. Besides being able to read scents with their noses, they also possess a second detection system called the vomeronasal, or Jacobson’s organ located in the roof of the mouth directly behind the front teeth. It primarily detects pheromones. Pheromones are chemicals produced by the cat’s body often related to sexual status that trigger hardwired behaviors in other cats. So when you see a cat grimacing with lips curled (flehmen response) he’s simply reading a feline Post-It note that says “Kilroy was here!”

Seren Displaying the Flehmen Response

Learn more about cat scent sense in the article Feline Senses: Nosing Around.