Cats Fine Sense of Smell

Cat's capacity to detect and identify odors is increased by the presence of an orifice called vomero nasal or Jacobson's cartilage, that, although it is not exclusive of cats, you can't find it in humans or dogs.

It's a thin conduit that extends itself from the roof of the mouth up to a small receptacle situated on top of the superior jaw and is connected with sensitivity cells. When the animal finds the presence of a strange olfactory mark or especially interesting, he opens its mouth and guides the odor to the palate through rapid lingual movements, from which the Jacobson cartilage transmits it to the brain. When doing so, it executes a particular behavior: he stretches the neck, opens the mouth, wrinkles the nose and picks up it superior lip, a posture that you can observe almost in every male when smelling the females in heat (although other determine odors can cause the same effect, as the catmint, which receives the name of reflex of flehmen).

The catmint (nepeta cataria) is a plant of white and violet flowers that grows on moderate climate regions of North America and Europe. The odor of its leaves results stimulating for almost every feline, including wild species. To smell, chew or rub against this leaves results in hallucinations that makes cats run from one place to another as if the were chasing a ghost. It has a short duration and they immediately return to their normal state.

This biochemical reaction is harmless and it's due to the odor the plant expels. The happiness sensations of cat's can be increased planting this shrub in you garden or on a flower pot.

There is another plant, also common in Europe and North America that attracts cat's attention. It is the valerian (valeriana officinalis), of white and pinkish flowers, whose oil, extracted from the dry roots, was used in the XVI Century Europe as a perfume.