Making Sense of Scents and Emotions
The dog’s brain is built around the information it gets from scent and as smell is so closely linked to emotions, this provides even more evidence that the dog’s emotional experience might be even greater than we could ever imagine.
Olfaction is much more important to cats than was formerly thought and maybe as important as vision. Cats investigate odors several hundred times per hour and are as avid in this respect as dogs. A large majority of feline behavior is predominantly centered on a cat’s olfactory sense of territorial containment.
FUN FACT 7
Smell You Later
Read on the back!
“Cats investigate odors several hundred times per hour and are as avid in this respect as dogs. A large majority of feline behavior is predominantly centered on a cat’s olfactory sense of territorial containment.”
Areas of communication in which olfaction plays a role are:
- Scent marking with facial pheromones – perioral and cheeks (cats) and ears (dogs)
- Scent marking with urine
- Scent marking with feces
- Anal gland secretions – epithelium of the anal sacs contains sebaceous tissue that can give off oils unique to the dog or cat
- Clawing/scratching – pheromone production in foot pads
- Flehmen response (vomeronasal organ)
(Walker, 2003) Walker, J.C. et al. 2003. “Human odor detectability: New methodology used to determine threshold and variation.” Chemical Senses 28: 817-826.
(Horowitz, 2009) Horowitz, A. 2009. Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know. Scribner.
(Craven, 2010) Craven, B.A. et al. 2010. “The fluid dynamics of canine olfaction: unique nasal airflow patterns as an explanation of macrosmia.” Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 6 June 2010, 7(47): 933-943.
(Fogle, 1990) Fogle, B. 1990. The Dog’s Mind: Understanding Your Dog’s Behavior. MacMillan.
(Pagaet, 2003) Pageat P, Gaultier E. 2003. Current research in canine and feline pheromones. Veterinary Clinics of North America Small Animals 33: 187-211.
(Landsberg, 1997) Landsberg G, Hunthausen W, Ackerman L 1997. Handbook of behaviour problems of the dog and cat. Butterworth Heinemann, pp 47-63.
(Tynes, 2015) Tynes, Valarie. Board-certified veterinary behaviorist. Personal correspondence. December 2, 2015. Client Handout: Understand your pet’s fear posted 9/8/15 VeterinaryTeam.dvm360.com.
(Hardin, 2015) Hardin DS, Anderson W, Cattet J 2015. “Dogs Can Be Successfully Trained to Alert to Hypoglycemia Samples from Patients with Type 1 Diabetes.” Diabetes Therapy. 1-9.
(dvm360.com, 2015) Fear-Free Center accessed 12/2/15 at www.dvm360.com/fear-free-veterinary-visits.
