The nose is one of the most important organs of cats. This article will show you some common sense about the nose of cats.
01
The cat’s nose is very sensitive. At close range, cats use smell instead of sight.
A one-day-old kitten can find a mother cat’s nipple by navigating by smell.
Anatomically, the key to mammalian olfactory sensitivity is to compare the area of their olfactory epithelium, which is lined with odor receptors.
And this data, humans are 2 – 4 square centimeters, cats are 20 square centimeters, and dogs are up to 170 square centimeters.
The number of receivers is 5 million for humans, 200 million for cats, and 220 million for dogs.
Although the number of receivers in cats and dogs is similar because the olfactory epithelium of dogs is much larger than that of cats, dogs have a more sensitive sense of smell than cats.
Most sources give the range that cats have 13 – 20 times the sense of smell and dogs have 50 – 100 times the sense of smell.
02
From the appearance, the structure of the cat’s nose is not complicated at all. It consists of three parts: the human middle, the nose mirror, and the nostrils.
The nosepiece is a very interesting structure; if you look closely, you will find a lot of circular protrusions on it The composition of these nodules makes each cat’s nose different.
The nose mirror is equivalent to a person’s fingerprint, and everyone is different.
It can also be said to be a very important acupoint. In my “Core Secrets of Purebred Cat Breeding,” I have a course dedicated to how to use this acupoint to save dying newborns.
There is nothing to say about the nostrils. For a normal cat, the nostrils on both sides should be symmetrical.
We will not go into the internal structure of the nasal cavity. For ordinary cat lovers, it is of little significance.
The cat’s sense of smell has a very important accessory structure, which has to be highlighted here.
That’s the cat’s vomeronasal organ, Jacob’s organ.
This organ is located in your cat’s mouth, with two small fluid-filled sacs on the roof of the mouth.
Through two pipes, the vomeronasal organ connects the nasal cavity and the oral cavity. The most important role of the vomeronasal organ is to participate in the cat’s cleft lip olfactory response.
When you see one of your cats, and you open your mouth slightly, then make a grimace, then stand still, your nose tightens slightly, that’s what’s going on Cleft lip sniffing behavior.
This behavior occurs most often in male cats, especially in the wild.
When they are looking for a mate, they will take a deep breath when they find the scent left by the female cat.
Through the cleft lip sniffing response, the male cat can judge a lot of information about the female cat, such as whether it is healthy, how old it is, and so on.
Of course, there are many other intentions for this behavior, not only in male cats, but you can also see this behavior in two-month-old kittens.
The above is about the structure of a cat’s nose.
03
We have sporadically talked about the functions of different parts. Let’s talk about the main functions of the cat’s nose as a whole:
1. Self-navigation
2. Recognizing different creatures (including other cats, dogs, and us humans, etc.)
3. Recognizing threatening odors
4. Stimulate appetite
Cats can get a lot of information through smell, and the way of greeting two cats is also through smell.
In general, cats avoid communicating with cats in other “territories” to some extent.
But if they can communicate, the first step must be nose to nose, whisker to whisker, which is how they first receive information from each other.
After letting go of hostility, it’s usually by smelling each other’s butts if they want to go further.
Because there are dense glands around the buttocks, and glandular secretions contain more information about cats.
Generally speaking, a cat that feels average about itself will not give its butt to a cat that it thinks is stronger than itself. But if it is given to the other party, they trust each other.
Two familiar, peaceful, and friendly cats usually sniff each other’s butts as a sign of long live friendship.
So, if you have a cat willing to point its butt at you, it means that it has full trust in you, don’t feel overwhelmed or disgusted; use your love and give it feedback!
Since cats’ taste is not so developed, the nose plays a very important role in eating.
Before a cat eats, it must smell it first. It will not feel wrong after eating shit like some stupid dogs.
So the nose is a very important organ to stimulate appetite, so if the cat suffers from upper respiratory problems for a long time, its appetite will also have problems.
Likewise, unscrupulous cat food sellers familiar with this feature will try their best to make the smell of cat food or canned food more attractive.
They may spend a lot of money on research and development of food attractants and ignore the ingredients of cat food because for some parents who don’t understand, it may be palatable, and this food is good.
Therefore, it must be remembered that the palatability of cat food does not mean that the food is good.
Then follow this clue, if the cat’s nose is not breathable, how does it increases the appetite?
Yes, it is to find a way to increase the smell of the food. There are many ways to do this.
For example, heat the can slightly (make sure it is not hot after heating).
For example, adding gravy from a can to cat food.
For example, giving cats some baby meat puree, baby puree generally has a strong smell.
