when a cat smells something odd, why do they open their mouths, and have a wierd look on their faces?

Answer 1

The flehmen response, also called the flehmen position, flehmen reaction, flehming, or flehmening, is a particular type of curling of the lips in ungulates, felids, and many other mammals, which facilitates the transfer of odorant chemicals into the vomeronasal organ. In the flehmen reaction, animals draw back their lips in a manner that makes them appear to be "grimacing". The pose, which is adopted when examining scents left by other animals of the same species, helps expose the vomeronasal organ and draws scent molecules back toward it. This behavior allows animals to detect odorants, for example from urine, of other members of their species. Flehming allows the animals to determine several factors, including the presence or absence of estrus, the physiological state of the animal, and how long ago the animal passed by. This particular response is most recognizable in stallions when smelling the urine of a mare in heat.


The vomeronasal organ, also called Jacobson's organ, is a chemoreceptor organ thought to have to do with the perception of certain pheromones. It is named for its closeness to the vomer and nasal bones, and is particularly developed in animals like cats and horses. The organ is located on the roof of the mouth. In addition to housecats and horses, animals that exhibit the flehmen reaction include buffalo, tigers, tapirs, lions, giraffes, and llamas.

The flehmen response may also be seen in association with pain. In horses it is often associated with low grade abdominal pain.

One human equivalent is the instinctive pulling back of the upper lip when faced with something "disgusting".

Answer 2

Cats open their mouth because they have smelling glands in thier mouths. The wierd faces are because the more they open their mouths the better smelling they can get.

Answer 3

its a cool little gland on the roof of a cat's mouth - jacobian scent gland - that allows cats to "taste" the molecules of whatever they are smelling to get a full read on a scent they're interested in. this is really similar to the way snakes smell - catching molecules on their tongue that is constantly flicking in and out of their mouths and pulling the molecules back into the gland (i think also on the roof of the mouth) to "taste" the scent.
cats tend to do this alot around things that might have other cat scents on them. i brought a rug home from my mother's house awhile ago and my cats all sat around it with their mouths open trying to get all the info they could about my mother's 3 cats. i hear that a cat will also do this around an area that might contain cat urine.

Answer 4

Cari anna has got it right. Over the years I have seen all my indoor cats do this as they smell the odour of some outside stray cats, or wild animal, that have passed by the house, and our family members may have brought in their odour on their shoes and clothing when entering the house. It is a weird look, as they seem to be running the odour through their brain, and enjoying it and savouring the moment.

Answer 5

Why Does Your Cat in specific circumstances Open its Mouth to sniff? Flehmening happens while your catsmells some thing and then opens its mouth quite, wrinkles his nostril, and curls decrease back his top lip. The ears additionally grow to be flattened in some cats. This obvious grimace is likewise noted as the 'flehmen reaction' (in specific circumstances additionally properly-referred to as 'flehming'). The cat attracts in air, shooting the heady scent, and moving it to a small quite expert sac noted as the 'vomeronasal organ' or 'Jacobson's organ.' This organ is placed extreme up interior the roof of the mouth, and has a large blood furnish. It traps the scent molecules and sends indicators to the concepts with regard to the heady scent.

Answer 6

I think that's called a "Flemming" or "Flehmen" face, named for the researcher who first described it. The cat is using the scent sensors in the roof of his/her mouth to get an extra-good sniff to try and figure out what that smell is and what it means.

Answer 7

Haha i know exactly what you mean...My male cat walks around sniffing my female cats butt and then takes his head out from beneath her,opens his mouth, makes a weird face, then walks away! Im not sure why, but it is funny :)

Answer 8

The cat is drawing the scent into its Jacobson's organ. Another scent organ that cats have some in or near their palate.

Answer 9

Cats do this to register this smell in their brains. They are basically making a memory of it, so they know what it is.

Answer 10

it helps them figure out the scent better