The sense of smell in cats
Smell is a very important sense for cats, because it helps them to delimit territory. In addition, it allows to detect food in bad condition or poisoned.
The nose is the largest sensory organ of the cat
Cats have about 200 million sensory receptors in their nasal cavity. This enables predator behaviour, allows them to distinguish whether food is edible or toxic, detect humans or other animals and helps cats return home after an outdoor trip.
Smell stimulates the appetite
Cats have few taste receptors on the tongue compared to humans. So it is the smell and not so much the taste that stimulates the appetite in these animals. When these animals have respiratory pathology it is normal that they stop feeding: if they cannot smell their food they do not have as much appetite.
The nose is the fingerprint of cats
Each cat has a unique pattern of stripes and depressions in the skin of the nostrils, just like the fingerprints of humans.
