Mary Allen
If several cats live together in a multi-cat household, each velvet paw brings its own unique smell. The group smell is made up of the scent combination of all cats living in the household – and plays a major role in the togetherness.
It is well known that cats have a highly developed sense of smell. Smells play a crucial role in cat life, including social relationships. While the individual smell of each cat is, so to speak, its identity card, the group smell is the calling card of the clan or the entire cat community. It strengthens the bonds among each other and ensures identification. However, if the group scent is falsified or whitewashed, problems can arise.
Group Odor in a Multi-Cat Household
Cats distribute their animal scents everywhere in their territory or in the home. Scent marks are not only distributed on objects such as furniture, but also on living beings. You’ve probably seen your cat rubbing its head against your feline friends or you. This giving of the head serves to distribute the scents that in cats emanate from glands in the facial area, for example on the cheek or chin, to distribute.
But also through mutual cleaning or rubbing as well as through the shared use of objects, the different scents of the individual cats are “mixed” over time into a group smell, which strengthens the bond and the feeling of togetherness with each other in the long term.
If the Group Smell is Adulterated or Superimposed
It is problematic if the group smell is distorted or superimposed in a multi-cat household. This can be the case, for example, when a velvet paw comes fresh from the vet and then smells different. For the cats that haven’t been to the vet but are waiting at home, the smell can even be perceived as threatening and it can then lead to a serious catfight in the group.
New furniture or other deviations that bring a new smell can also lead to irritation in multi-cat households. Likewise, other disturbing odors, such as from fragrance sprays or indoor plants, can turn the olfactory harmony in multi-cat households upside down. The good thing: Over time, these conflicts and irritations usually subside on their own, since sooner or later the group odor will regain the upper hand. For you as a cat owner, it is always important to know that the common smell plays an important role in the household.