So now that it’s Springly, herself takes me out for walkies. Nothing strange there, but she has this thing for sniffing at shrubs. I mean, SNIFFING at shrubs. The fragrant little conifers and junipers I can understand, but she’s always has a special thing for the yew-bushes, which I can’t figure out, as I can’t get a scent out of them for my human senses. Weirder yet, she’s now taken to this one cotoneaster - still winter-bare, yet - and will thrust her head in despite the pointy bits and sniff and sniff and sniff as if she can’t get enough.
A cat’s sense of smell is > extremely sensitive> , and cats use scents to tell other felines who they are, where they’ve been and when, whether they are male or female, and whether they are ready to mate…Some of this information is passed on when cats meet each other, and some is left in the form of > scent marks > - odiferous ‘calling cards’ for other cats to find.
Cats scent mark their territories by rubbing their scent glands against objects. Scent glands are located on a several locations, including the sides of the cat’s > face and lips, > the base of the > tail> , and between the > toes> . You have probably seen cats ‘chinning’ objects, rubbing them with the base of their tail, or scratching with their claws - as well as leaving a visible mark, scratching also deposits scent.
A commercial product containing feline cheek gland scent has been recently introduced…The product is called Feliway® and is a synthetic pheromone designed to mimic > cheek gland secretions > from a cat…The scent of the pheromone seems to > calm the cat > and may stimulate marking in the area by bunting (rubbing with their cheeks), …Feliway® has also been used to calm cats in new environments.
Great, but would it work for me too?
.. You can perhaps get the same effect by rubbing a cotton ball or gauze square on your cat’s cheek or chin glands
What I found interesting is that cats may have a great sense of smell but they have a very poor sense of taste. Apparently humans have a better sense of taste than cats do, from what I’ve read. That may explain why cat food smells so strongly - its the way they enjoy their food, I guess.
I’ve noticed the same thing about some type of evergreen bush (it’s
not the yew, though). I didn’t know what species of shrubery it is,
but it’ss always the same every time I pass one. I always wonder
why that particular type of bush is so popular amongst toms. My
wife and I call them “cat pee bushes”.
I’m also not fond of local builders’ recent habit of surrounding
every new building with Bradford Pear trees. Those things smell
terrible in the spring, like a diabetic cat on an all-fish diet.
A cat’s sense of smell? Why yes, but it might work as ours does. If exposed to strong smells for too long our sensitivity to smells lowers. Its a self preservation thing our minds do for us.
The lady who cares for my cat’s when I go out of town has started wearing a lot of perfume lately. Last time she came here it confused my cats so much that when I came home they smelled like dogs. The next day their sense of smell came and they bathed until the stink was gone.
My mother wears a lot of perfume as well but her cat spends more time hiding from her than playing with her. When she does come out to play she washes so well afterwards that she’s licked the fur off her paws.
The vet has offered her prozac thinking its OCD.
I can’t help but wonder if my mother cutting back on the perfume would help better.
The odd thing is, though, that my cats have never been able to find a piece of their cat food by smell. If a piece falls on the floor or on the bed, they will be sort of looking for it but I have to put it right in front of them or they will never find it. A dog would have had no trouble finding that tiny piece of food. So I’ve thought that cats didn’t have much of a sense of smell. But maybe it is just for certain things that it is so sensitive.
So here I thought my one kitty was being affectionate with me and she is really just marking me as her territory. She butts my head and rubs it with her face—it feels great. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised she thinks I’m her territory .
The cotoneaster really got me wondering because my locale pretty much has the same cats doing the same things over and over again. She’s normally sensible enough to not gamble with thorny stuff but in this case she doesn’t nose around the periphery, she skillfully sticks her head plonk into the middle of the bush - so I thought it might be some irresistible scent in the shrub itself as the sap rises. But maybe it’s just a new spraya in da hood.
I guess it’s all weird to me because there are enough spots around that get marked that aren’t plants, and herself doesn’t hang around them in rapt olfactory attention. All I can say is that, all in all, she has always had a thing for the scent of shrubberies.
An all-too-familiar scenario that seems to come and go. More often than not, though, I’d swear the cat has brain trauma.
I’m not sure that maybe the cat isn’t telling you something about the cat food. When I have fish or chicken, the cat gets a bit of fish or chicken. There isn’t a scrap or even microspcopic fibre left of it amid the little chunks of kibble spread everywhere.
No, Deej. I’m talking about treats. Sometimes she just won’t suss 'em until I put her nose right in front of 'em. I don’t put 'em in the kibble dish, either, so there’s no sensory confusion from that. It ain’t because she’s getting on in years. She’s always been that way. Sometimes she just can’t find what she’s been begging for, even though her eyesight is quite good. Once she finds what she’s after, though, then look out.
It’s not all the time, but it’s plenty enough so that it makes me wonder. I’ve known other cats that way, too.
She likes her kibble just fine, trust me. But if I put a treat in there, she won’t touch it. Has to a different place setting for her royal highness.
Nano, I put the bit of fish on the kitchen floor, amidst the spread of bits of kibble. She seems to find it immediately the next time she comes into the room to eat, and the fish is gone, but the bits of kibble remain. I think cats need to be in feeding mode, and probably are programmed from years of habit to only look in one place for food, but the little bits of kibble continue to spread, whereas the fish or chicken is gone without a trace.
I don’t waste money on “treat” food. Fish or chicken is good enough.
And Gord help us all if she ever gets the kibble down to the point where she can see the bottom of the bowl. The yowling that starts would make you think she was being murdered.
you’re actually asking us to explain a cat’s behavior:-?
.