Cat They like to use their bodies to rub their masters, so that the smell of their own bodies will stay on the masters so that they can distinguish themselves. When encountering a cat you don't know, the first thing is to smell its nose and tail. If you do not speculate, then fist and foot meet and bite and fight. The winner is calm, straight, and arched. The cat, who looked like he was going to lose, fell on his back.

The cat's sense of smell is achieved by the olfactory nerves distributed in the mucosa at the back of the nasal cavity and in the cribriform cells. The olfactory mucosa has an area of 20 square centimeters to 40 square centimeters, which is twice the size of a human. When the smell enters the nasal cavity with the inhaled air, it can stimulate the olfactory cells to generate excitatory impulses, which are transmitted to the brain along the olfactory nerve to cause the sense of smell. Cats are born with a highly developed sense of smell, and kittens show a strong tendency to avoid bad odors. It is important that olfactory development is well developed at this time, allowing young animals to find the nipple of the female cat. By day 3, each kitten will develop a predisposed nipple, primarily using scent to discover and follow previous paths to find specific nipples. Smell becomes less important as vision develops (3 weeks of age).

In adult cats, scent is an important identification sign among cats—first face-to-face, then face-to-anus. The anal epithelium contains sebaceous substances that are unique to each carnivore (anal glands are only found in carnivores), similar to human papain. Smell is also used to explore new environments. Certain odors can cause a cat to react quickly. Some companies put some scents in the litter to keep cats from eating the litter, but it doesn't work well.

To summarize, the role of cats' keen sense of smell in their lives:

1. For cats living in the wild, they can roughly determine the direction of their prey by smell, and then determine the direction of hunting.

2. In daily life, domestic cats can judge where food is placed by smelling.

3. Cats smell before eating. They can distinguish spoiled, stale and poisonous food by smell.

4. Female cats can secrete a sexual secretion when they are in heat, and male cats can find female cats by smell, mate, and reproduce offspring. (referring to life in the wild)

5. Newborn kittens cannot open their eyes. They can find their mother's nipples by smell and drink milk.

Scientists have summarized the effects of 14 chemicals of different biological origins, including the smell of certain plants, on cats, and the study found that when cats smell it can affect the cat's behavior. The 3 major classes of these chemicals include 7-methylcyclopropanepyrone, 7-methyl-2-pyridine and 4-methylbenzofuran. Some of the more common plants include kiwi peach, oriental vine, valerian (aspergillus), cat thyme, honeysuckle, and catnip. The cat's response to catnip is often thought to be related to hallucinations, because the sensation of human consumption of catnip is similar to that of marijuana. Its active ingredient, cis-trans pseudonepetalactone, is a monoterpene that can be detected at a concentration of 1/109.

When exposed to catnip, cats will smell, lick, chew, or eat it, and may use their forelimbs after head shaking, staring, and salivation Hold the catnip and rub your head. Often the skin on the cat's back vibrates. If the response increases, the cat will rub with the side. Sometimes excited jumping occurs. Responses may last 5-15 minutes, with an average duration of 2.7 minutes. Satisfaction lasts for 1 hour. It has been speculated, but not proven, that catnip odor activates a central area associated with estrus behavior, as it behaves like a female cat is in heat.  

Cat responses to catnip vary widely, with approximately 30-50% of cats not responding at all. Although the response is autosomal dominant, it can change with age and experience. Less than 2 months old, scared and stressed kittens have a decreased response to mint. Estrus prolongs the response.