Nose Facts

The cat's nose is generally thought by experts to be its most important sense organ, beating out the eyes, ears, tongue and skin. Cats living in the wild would be helpless without a sense of smell, as it is necessary for the two most basic functions in their life.

  1. Basic Function One: Feeding

    • The cat uses its nose to locate food from birth. It also plays a large part in locating his or her mother, who is the primary food source through infancy. Since cats' appetite is directly connected to the sense of smell, reduced olfactory senses can cause them to eat less and diminish their overall health.

    Basic Function Two: Reproduction

    • The male cat can sense the pheromones released by a female in heat from long distances. Female cats can smell out the territory of a particular male cat. The stronger and more powerful male will control a larger territory and be more desirous to the female.

    Fun Fact

    • A cat has a secondary scent organ called a vomeral-nasal organ. It is located in the roof of a cats mouth. This organ is used to locate pheromones released by another cat, usually associated with seeking out a mate.

    Warning

    • White and other light-colored cats, which tend to have pale noses, are more susceptible to skin cancer than cats with darker pigmented nose leather. These cats should have cat-safe sunscreen applied before exposure to the sun, even if that exposure is only through a window.

    Size

    • A cat's nose is considerably smaller than those of humans. On the other hand, the American Humane organization claims that their sense of smell is approximately 15 times greater than that of humans.