The best response is always the Flehmen response

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Do humans have a vomeronasal organ?

Japanese funny cat manga “What’s Michael” made the Flehmen (I always thought it was spelled Fremen because I was guessing the katakana) a part of its characters stable of expressions.

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I always cracks me up when my cats do this… probably because it seems they forget to stop doing it.

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I used to have a cat who’d do it when offered peanut butter. What really made it hilarious is that it was part of a regular sequence of expressions. First he’d see the dogs getting peanut butter and would beg for some. When I offered it to him there’d be the Flehmen response. And finally he’d give me a look that seemed to say, “Why the hell do you think I’d want this?”

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Probably not, though like the pheromones that tend to be associated with such a sense organ, there are some researchers who argue for them.

I think Elvis Presley did.

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Well, I will be damned if you don’t learn something everyday. I had never heard of this and I didn’t even go ‘oh, so that’s what they are doing’ when I saw the pics. Thanks for posting.

I find it hilarious when my cat smells my foot and makes that exact face. It’s like a look of total shock and disgust! LOL

My cat sometimes does a Flehmen response while cleaning his butt. Geez, cat.

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I only finally made a determined search to learn about the phenomenon last year. When my cats did it my only name for it was “silent meow”, but I knew it had to do with weird scents. I don’t understand what it has to do with anthropomorphizing, I just think it’s funny,

Yes! That comic is wonderful. I always though Makoto Kobayashi was such a keen observer of cats’ mannerism (and of women, judging by his equally delightful ‘Club 9’ series). Grossly underrated artist.

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Ditto. Smelly feet &/or socks is often the cause and like @scionofgrace they also sometimes do it after smelling each others’ butts… but that’s where a lot of pheromones are emitted from so I guess it makes sense.

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