Your cat may not come running when you call—but that doesn’t mean they don’t know who you are. In fact, a new study from Japan reveals that cats may be quietly sniffing out your identity.
Researchers at Tokyo University of Agriculture recently discovered that domestic cats can tell the difference between their owners and strangers based solely on smell—and they spend more time investigating unfamiliar human odors. The findings, published in the journal PLOS ONE, suggest our feline friends use their noses more than we thought to navigate their world, especially when it comes to us humans.
The Nose Knows
The research team, led by Yutaro Miyairi, worked with 30 domestic cats and their owners. Each cat was presented with plastic tubes containing scent samples collected from their human’s armpit, ear, and toes—alongside samples from an unfamiliar person and a control (an unscented tube).
The results were clear: Cats spent significantly more time sniffing the tubes that smelled like strangers. Researchers believe this interest in new smells suggests that cats can recognize familiar scents and are drawn to investigate unfamiliar ones.
Previously, according to the BBC, studies involving cats and their humans have shown they are able to decipher different voices. They are also able to find food according to a persons gaze and they are also able to shift their behavior according to someone’s mood. Emotions can have a distinct odor that cats recognize.
Right or Left? It Matters
Interestingly, cats also used different nostrils depending on whether the scent was new or familiar. At first, most cats led with their right nostril when sniffing the stranger’s scent, but gradually switched to their left as they got used to the smell.
This left-right nostril switch is more than a quirky cat habit—it may reflect how different parts of the brain process new versus familiar information, a phenomenon known as brain lateralization. Similar behaviors have been documented in dogs, birds, and even fish.
What Your Cat’s Personality Has to Do With It
To better understand how feline personality plays a role in scent recognition, researchers asked cat owners to complete questionnaires about their pets’ behavior and temperament. The study found that male cats with more neurotic personalities tended to sniff obsessively, returning to the scent tubes multiple times. In contrast, more agreeable male cats approached the tubes with calm curiosity. Interestingly, these personality traits didn’t appear to influence the behavior of female cats during the test.
Researchers also observed that some cats rubbed their faces on the tubes after sniffing, a behavior believed to be a form of scent marking. They suggested this could indicate exploratory behavior that precedes marking in cats, but noted that more research is needed to fully understand this relationship.
So What Does This All Mean?
The takeaway? Cats probably recognize their humans by scent, even if they don’t always act like it. And when they give you a quick sniff before brushing up against your legs, that might be their way of confirming, “Yep, it’s you.”
Researchers also observed that many cats began to rub or mark after sniffing the scents, suggesting that smell might play a key role in their social bonding routines. More research is needed to find out if cats can actually identify specific individuals by scent alone, but this study is a step closer to understanding the secret lives of our whiskered companions.
So next time your cat gives you a curious sniff? Take it as a compliment—they know who you are.
