Even a small dog can have that wet mutt smell but kitties are nice and odor free?
They are unrelated species. The only thing they have in common is that they are both carnivores and both housepets. Cats, like other felids, clean themselves all the time. Dogs, like other canids, don’t. That may have something to do with it. Also dogs are social pack animals who rely on scent to identify themselves and others, as well as for just about everything else. Cats aren’t and don’t. Just some differences that might bear.
Probably many cats you know are also indoor pets while very few dogs are.
Dogs are endurance hunters while cats are ambush predators. Could that have anything to do with it?
Edit: What Babale said
Cats are also often ambush predators that depend on being able to surprise their prey. Dogs tend to be pack hunters that don’t need as much stealth; the smells also help them communicate with each other (it does for cats too, but many cats don’t typically work as closely together while hunting).
Only a cat owner would say that “kitties are nice and odor free”. Anyone who is not a cat owner walking into the house of someone who is will immediately recognize the smell.
Wet dogs smell (or not) dependent upon the kind of coat they have, the degree to which their coat and skin serve host to bacteria and fungi, and the amount of oils they excrete. Dogs with long fur, wrinkled skin, that produce a lot of oils for water-resistance, and that don’t shed regularly tend to be higher on the odor scale, while short-haired and frequent shedding, smooth skin, and that aren’t oily are pretty odorless until they find something nice and smelly to roll in.
Stranger
But…Puppy breath is divine.
I’d walk a mile to get a whiff.
Kitten breath is fishy.
Beat me to it.
Cats most certainly smell. And I don’t mean litter pans. I mean the cats and their fur and dander. But cat owners get used to it.
Dogs generally smell stronger than cats, but there’s lots of variation breed to breed. For the reasons articulated.
Yup.
Cats of the species that comes in the house are also small enough to be prey themselves for quite a lot of predators – and so were their wild ancestors. They need to be able to hide, including from creatures with good noses. A pack of wolves, or of dogs, isn’t going to be at as much risk from predators; aside from maybe a puppy who’s wandered off alone, they’re bigger and there’s more of them.
Also, most dogs will eat carrion quite willingly, and appear to like the odor – if given the chance, they’ll roll in long dead carcasses. Most cats want their meat fresh, and will touch carrion only if starving, if then.
I think this is connected with the fact that a lot of things which smell awful to humans appear to smell good to dogs. They don’t think they’re dirty; they think they’re pleasantly perfumed. So they don’t perceive any need to clean up.
IME, a healthy cat has very little smell – if I put my nose right into the fur, I can just about smell “healthy cat.” Sick cats often do smell bad – I’ve taken a cat to the vet. because the cat didn’t smell right, and been backed by a diagnosis (sometimes of something treatable.)
Granted, I’m around cats a lot. But I’m also around dogs a lot. IME, the dogs are smellier.
There’s a well known song called Smelly Cat.
Cats must keep themselves clean and odor free or be detected by their prey as they lay waiting to pounce. That is why they spend a lot of time licking and cleaning themselves. Dogs licking their balls is not the same thing.
Thanks to your salmon pate.
Lots of good answers. Our boxer-mastiff spends all his time napping and doesn’t roll in anything. Heck, as soon as he pees he heads back to the porch or his blankee. The only thing he pursues is the best spot for the air conditioner. But in the summer we like to bathe him once a week.
Not only are cats not odorless, they may be observed deliberately rubbing against things in order to make them smell.
Oil glands (also called sebaceous glands) secrete an oily substance called sebum into the hair follicles and onto the skin. They are present in large numbers on the face, paws, back of the neck, rump, chin, and tail area. They are part of the cat’s scent-marking system. Cats mark territories by rubbing their face on objects and depositing a layer of sebum laced with feline facial pheromones. Sebum is a mixture of fatty acids. It is important for keeping the skin soft and pliable and for maintaining proper hydration. Sebum gives the hair coat sheen and has antimicrobial properties.
Which is another example of how scent is communication for dogs. Dogs and wolves roll in smelly things so they can carry the scent back to their pack.
Oh, I forgot to add, do you know what else has a lot of odor? Humans. Casting aspersions, and all that.
I can’t remember ever coming downstairs in the morning and thinking “Jeez, Mrs. J. needs a bath.”
Pluto the field spaniel on the other hand…
*he just got a nice shower with shampoo and now smells like…a shampooed dog.
I am not a cat owner - but I wonder if a single cat smells bad. I don’t know - everyone I’ve known with cats has at least two, usually three or more. My sister had four or five cats in the basement apartment of her house - they’ve been gone for five years, some of the drywall has been replaced and the whole basement has been painted. Still smells of cat to everyone else when they first get there.
Mine smells like cat spit.
Cats smell. People smell. But dogs (and people who don’t bathe) stink.