After I have used my bath towel following a shower, my cat, Gabriel, loves the smell of it. He loves to roll around in it and is pleased to be covered by it.
From my understanding of the domestic cat, the reason is because my scent is embedded into the fabric of the towel. Because it is damp the water in it evaporates. When it evaporates the water molecules carry the scent molecules into the atmosphere where they can be smelled more intensely by Gabriel. As the smell of objects and of us is very important to cats and plays a major role in a cat’s life, Gabriel finds that being amongst the scent is enjoyable. He revels in it. He is able to let my scent attach to his fur and to deposit his scent onto the towel. I’d call this a version of scent exchange, a way of making the environment more friendly for the domestic cat.
Does your cat like your recently used bath towel? If so why do you think he/she likes it so much?
Thanks for commenting Ang.
Lol looks exactly like my cat whose doing that now its new. I caught him on camera hes rolling around rubbing his nose over it like he loves it hahah
He’s like my cat then. They love that scent and, as you say, the routine.
We have a cat named Marco who loves my wife’s dirty washcloths that have dried / almost dry. He rolls around on the floor with it like a sea otter with a baby while my wife gets ready in the morning. We have started to refer to it as his “binky”. Cats love routine and ours are no different.
I have just ordered the Feliway and will let you know if that helps solves the problem. The orange tabby is Zoey and the one below is Kojo. Thanks for your advice.
Thank you for your kind response. The only household change was my military son being home with his 2 English Mastiff pups for awhile but they left in January and actually both cats did not mind the dogs at all. Since then it’s been the same old routine day in and day out. That’s what has me baffled. They are both indoor only, fed well, clean litter box and plenty of “treats” n toys and TLC. They both sleep with me at night and when Zoey kneads me I generally pet or sometime brush her until she’s out cold. I will be sure to investigate more, perhaps it was because I accidentally left the towel on the floor then headed out to work. I don’t believe either one has a UTI as their “output” so to speak has not changed meaning they are not using the litter box anymore (or less) than they have in the past.