Today i'll be talking about the importance of scents in cats. As you know, cat's have a very acute sense of smell, and they use this ability to identify the markings from themselves or other cats. I'm sure you've experienced seeing your cat rub itself on objects or even yourself, this is routine behaviour from cat's which are marking the objects (including people) in their territory.
Cat's have large glands around their mouths, chins and ears and also the base of the tail. They use these areas to leave a chemical scent which they can then recognise with their highly tuned nostrils. This scent is mostly undetectable from humans, although sometimes if the cat uses urine (males for eg), then the smell will be quite intrusive to humans.
You'll also find sweat glands leave behind a scent too, and this is another way the cat leaves their scent behind.
When a cat rubs itself against our legs, we are being marked by their scent and therefore we must understand that in a household with more than one cat, the scents become mixed and grouped into what they consider their home territory. Introductions of a new person or pet mean that this mixture of scents will change, and the whole dynamics of the household of cats will change with it. A non-desirable response to changes in the household scent may be that the original cats begin marking their territories again, and often via spraying.
Spraying is the objectional kind of marking by cats involving urinating onto their favourite places whether it's doors, walls, clothes or other objects. In the past, I have recommended getting male cat's neutered to reduce this activity of spraying but it can still happen, especially with new cat dynamics.
Cat's will regularly revisit sprayed area's to top up the scent if they detect a decline in it's potency. Other cat's who visit this area will detect it with their vemoranasal or Jacobson's organ which is located just behind their teeth in the roof of the mouth. They will make a strange grimacing face when using this organ, and it allows them to smell and taste the odor's at the same time.
