Do your cats love feet? Ours do. One of our cats has a routine of rubbing on my feet every morning as I do my stretches and put on my running shoes. What’s with the foot fetish?
Cat parents have been asking us this question for years. Our answer was always, “because CAT”, since kitties can be strange and quirky at times. However, Adrienne recently did some research on the topic and it turns out that there is in fact an explanation behind why cats love feet so much!
Have you ever visited someone else’s home with pets – or even taken a long hike in nature – and come home to your cat sniffing your shoes? Everyone understands that our kitties are merely checking out the new scents in this situation.
But what about when your cat just comes up to you and rubs all over your feet? Or, when you take off your shoes and they insist on laying on them. What’s up with that?
The explanation makes purrfect sense, actually. Cats have 200 million scent sensors in their nose and smells are what drive them to do many things. That acute sense of smell helps them identify their humans from strangers.
Human feet are an area where our pheromones are concentrated – and our beloved kitties LOVE a good pheromone! Cats excrete ‘friendly’ pheromones through their face and head. When they rub their face on your feet it’s because they want enjoy your friendly pheromones – and share theirs with you! It’s also their way to ‘mark’ you as their own – putting their scent on you, your sock and shoes – as a special way to demonstrate their love language!
Frankly, I would much prefer to smell like a cat than stinky feet. How about you?
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