Cat Info Center

Cats Sense of Smell

Cats have approximately 19 million nerve endings in their nose that makes them especially sensitive to smell. While not having nearly as many as some breeds of dogs these nerve endings in the membranes of the nose are considerably more than the 5 million or so nerves that humans have.

This sense of smell helps the cat to determine whether food is suitable for eating as the nitrogen given off by the chemicals of rancid food is picked up by their highly developed sense of smell, stopping them from eating the food.

This is also one of the reasons why it can be quite difficult sometimes to give your cat pills or tablets. Due to their highly developed sense of smell they are aware of anything that has been added to their food and if they think it is something that they shouldn’t be eating they will leave that food entirely and the tablets that you’ve attempted to hide in it.

This applies to various different medications, herbal or otherwise, and the fact that we can’t smell or taste anything doesn’t mean that the cat is unaware of a foreign substance.

Often it is a lot easier to give the cat an injection of meditation rather than trying to get it to swallow a pill or tablet. If there is no alternative but to give it a pill, then you will need to tip its head back and get the pill as far back in it’s throat as possible then stroke it under the chin to help it swallow the pill. If you don’t do this they will often hold it in the mouth until they have been released then spit it out.

If you do need to give your cat medication by pills then follow it around for a short while after you think they have had the pill, because they can hold it in their mouth for a while, until they believe you are not looking before spitting it out resulting in them not getting the required meditation.

Cats and Children

If you have small children in the house and in particular those under the age of three then a cat might not be the best pet to have around.

This is taking into consideration both the child and the cat’s well-being. Cats love to snuggle into people for company and warmth and this can be particularly dangerous where cats have been known to get into bed with babies and smother them unintentionally.

Another problem can occur when young kittens like to play with children. Kittens have particularly sharp teeth and claws and when they play they can get overly excited and do a lot of damage to the tender skin of children. There is also the chance for the child to get scratched in the eye when playing with a kitten.

On the other hand, cats can get a hard life from children.  Young children often tend to be a little bit heavy-handed when handling cats, and this can lead to anxiety for the cat.

If there are cats and children in the family, then it is a wise decision to teach the children how to handle a cat correctly. Children need to be told how to pick up the cat and handle it carefully and also to become aware of when the cat doesn’t want to be handled any longer and would like to be left alone in peace.

Many cats also get quite stressed with loud noise and sudden action which is something that is quite common with young children.

It is good for children to learn to be considerate towards animals at a young age.  They will not only treat animals better but will also be more considerate towards other people, so having a pet in the family that the children can learn to respect can be excellent for developing better people.