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- Are cats better at smelling than dogs?<\/a>\n\n
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- Why do cats smell better than dogs?<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Using Smell to Mark Territory<\/a>\n<\/li>\n
- Cats vs Dogs: Other Senses<\/a>\n\n
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- Taste<\/a>\n<\/li>\n
- Sight<\/a>\n<\/li>\n
- Hearing<\/a>\n<\/li>\n
- Touch<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Cats Sense of Smell vs Dogs: Now You Know!<\/a>\n<\/li>\n
- FAQ<\/a>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nAre cats better at smelling than dogs?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Do cats or dogs have better smell? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most of us have heard so much about how amazing a dog\u2019s sense of smell is. Dogs are often used for sniffing out drugs, helping recover missing persons, and hunting, so they must have an incredible sense of smell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While it is true that dogs have a much better sense of smell than humans, cats actually have them beat in this department. Believe it or not, a cat\u2019s sense of smell tops that of a dog<\/a>\u2014even a bloodhound<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nWhy do cats smell better than dogs?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
So, why is it that a cat\u2019s sense of smell is better than a dog\u2019s? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s start by exploring why scientists used to think that dogs had a better sense of smell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scientists used to look just at the number of scent receptors on an animal\u2019s nose to help them rank their sense of smell. Because bloodhounds, a type of dog known for its amazing sense of smell, have about 300 million scent receptors<\/a>, it was assumed that they had the better sense of smell. This is because cats only have 200 million or fewer scent receptors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why the change in thinking, then? Well, with more research<\/a>, scientists discovered that there are actually three different types of scent receptors. The V1R receptor<\/a> is the one that makes it possible for animals or humans to tell the difference between two different scents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Humans only have 2 of these powerful V1R receptors. Dogs have 9 V1R receptors. And cats? Well, they have 30 V1R receptors\u2014more than three times as many as dogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means that even though the total number of scent receptors found in a cat\u2019s nose is less than the number found in a dog\u2019s nose, cats actually have a better sense of smell because they have so many more V1R receptors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Sight<\/a>\n<\/li>\n
- Using Smell to Mark Territory<\/a>\n<\/li>\n
- Why do cats smell better than dogs?<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n