The discrimination of cat odours by humans.
We explored the ability of humans to identify individual cats by smell. Twenty-five cat owners were required to indicate which of two odours (one belonging to their own cat and one belonging to an unfamiliar cat) smelt the strongest, most pleasant, and which belonged to their own cat. Only thirteen (52%) of the participants were able to recognise the odour of their own cat.
Courtney
Nicola
N
Canine Behaviour Centre, School of Psychology, Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.
Wells
Deborah L
DL
D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic; D002415:Cats; D003463:Cues; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D011601:Psychophysics; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D014556:Urine