A recent study has revealed that domestic cats can distinguish their owner's scent from that of a stranger using only their sense of smell. Conducted by researchers at Tokyo University of Agriculture, the study published in PLOS One on May 28, 2025, involved thirty domestic cats, which were presented with swabs containing scents from their owner and an unfamiliar person.
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The results showed that cats spent significantly more time sniffing the unfamiliar scents. This suggests that olfaction plays a crucial role in how cats recognize and interact with new individuals, similar to their behavior towards other cats. The study also noted a pattern in how cats used their nostrils: they initially favored their right nostril for unfamiliar odors but switched to the left nostril as they became more familiar with the scent.
Owner participation included an online questionnaire assessing the cats' personalities and their relationships with their owners. Male cats with neurotic traits exhibited repetitive sniffing behaviors, while those with more agreeable personalities sniffed calmly. No such personality variation was observed in female cats during the testing.
Despite the findings indicating that cats can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar human scents, it remains unclear if they can identify individual humans solely based on olfactory cues. The study also highlighted the potential lateralization of brain hemisphere use in cats, as shown by their nostril preferences during odor investigation.
The researchers suggest that the exploratory behavior of sniffing may precede scent-marking behaviors in cats. They call for further research into whether cats can recognize specific humans through smell alone.