Your cat may or may not love you, but it knows your scent

For animals that are warm and fuzzy, cats have a penchant for independence or even aloofness. They tend to have their own ideas about what they should be doing, which may not align with their owners' wishes.

- Kate Golembiewski

UNITED STATES - For animals that are warm and fuzzy, cats have a penchant for independence or even aloofness. They tend to have their own ideas about what they should be doing, which may not align with their owners' wishes. Cats' independent nature may be a factor in why research into their behaviour has lagged behind scientific explorations into those of other domesticated animals, including dogs.

"In reality, cats understand many things as well as dogs do, but they do not show it in their behaviour and are more guarded, which makes it difficult to conduct experiments," said professor of animal science Hidehiko Uchiyama at the Tokyo University of Agriculture.

But in a study published on May 28 in science journal Plos One, Prof Uchiyama and his team managed to achieve some research findings in feline behaviour, establishing that cats respond differently to the scents of their owners than to the odours of strangers. That suggests your feline friend knows what you smell like, in addition to what you look and sound like.