smelling the truth

Any time we introduce something new into our house, be it grocery bags, purse, shoes, mail, lint, the immediate response of all three of our kitties is to nonchalantly saunter over, and give it a thorough sniffing. With an ability to smell fourteen times what we humans can, kitties depend on this impressive sense for most of their information gathering. They can tell if you grabbed a quick bite on your way home, if you stopped to pet that infidel dog next door, or if you have any treats in your pocket. These are important questions that need answering. Their little wet noses can do the job.

Imagine if we humans had a cat’s sense of smell. Upon meeting someone for the first time, we could maybe give them a good sniffing from head to toe and figure out everything we need to know about them. Husband/wife material or one night stand, friend or axe murderer, Republican or Democrat, is there a possibility they might have treats?

At times, Spooky, our Maine Coon, will walk up to an object, (one of our shoes, for instance). He’ll tilt his head and take in a heavy draft, tilt his head in the opposite direction, and take one more quick sniff. At this point, is he really just trying to find out where we’ve been, who we’ve encountered, or if treats are present? He is so intense and possesses such a pondering look, I can’t help but think he is actually trying to figure out much, much more. It’s as if he is trying to more fully understand the shoe, maybe even trying to derive some abstract concept from the shoe. Maybe the shoe holds some sort of clue to the philosophical questions that plague him. What is the meaning of life? Who am I? Why do I exist? Where am I going, and will there be treats?

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