Have you ever experienced this? You come home from work, and your cat immediately runs over to rub against your legs and meows to greet you. But as soon as a friend visits, it hides under the couch and won’t come out, no matter how much you call. Even though they’re both “two-legged humans,” cats can clearly tell the difference between “family” and “strangers.” So, how exactly do they distinguish between the two?
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Powerful Sense of Smell
For cats, “smelling” is more reliable than “seeing”! Cats have about 200 million olfactory receptors, which is 40 times more than humans. They can use scent to analyze detailed information about their owners.Every person has their own “natural scent.” Human skin secretes sebum daily, and thus, the owner’s sebum carries a unique scent. Cats can remember their owner’s scent from the residue left on their hands or when they lick their fur. Zoologists have discovered that deep within a cat’s nasal cavity is the “Jacobsen’s organ,” which specifically detects pheromones from their own kind and close companions. The scent of the owner is stored in the “safe scent vault” of the cat’s brain, and when the cat smells it, they relax. Additionally, cats will associate smells with specific environments. Commonly used items, like the owner’s sofa, pillow, or even slippers, absorb the owner’s scent. Cats equate these smells with their “safe zone.” If a friend sits on the owner’s sofa, the cat may hesitate when approaching. It’s not because the cat dislikes the friend, but because the familiar scent of the sofa is now covered by the stranger’s scent, which makes the cat feel uncomfortable.
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Exceptional Hearing
Cats can hear in the range of 20-65,000 Hz, which means they can hear high-frequency sounds that humans cannot (humans’ hearing range tops out at 20,000 Hz). This allows them to pick up on their owner’s unique auditory signals more clearly. In fact, each person has a distinctive voice tone and frequency. When you call your cat’s name or talk to it, your voice’s frequency gets stored in the cat’s memory. A study was conducted where cats were played recordings of their owner’s voice and a stranger’s voice. The results showed that 85% of cats responded to their owner’s voice by turning their ears forward or sideways and slightly dilating their pupils. But when they heard a stranger’s voice, their ears either didn’t move or flattened against their head. This response in cat behavior indicates indifference or wariness.
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Visual Assistance
Don’t assume cats can “recognize faces” like humans do. In reality, cats are better at picking up “motion and outlines” rather than details. For example, cats remember their owner’s habitual actions. If you always take off your shoes when you come home or sit with your legs crossed, your cat will recognize these repetitive actions. A stranger might also take off their shoes, but the pace and range of their movements are different, and the cat will immediately notice the mismatch and become alert. Similarly, if the owner occasionally looks down at the cat while walking, a stranger may walk upright without looking down. Cats can detect these subtle visual differences with ease.
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Sense of Time
Cats may have a better sense of time than you think. They can remember the daily rhythm of their owner’s routine and use that to determine “who should be coming.” For instance, if the owner wakes up at 7 AM to feed the cat and returns home at 6 PM, these time points become imprinted on the cat’s internal clock. By 6 PM, the cat will be waiting by the door because it knows that the person arriving around this time is most likely the owner. If someone arrives at an unusual time, the cat will feel that the “routine has been broken” and will sense that it’s not the owner.
Cats’ ability to differentiate between their owners and strangers isn’t reliant on a single skill; rather, it’s the result of a combination of their sense of smell, hearing, vision, and even their perception of time. So, do you think your cat can tell you apart from a stranger?
