by Bruce Fogle
Odour plays a major role in communication between cats. But just as important as the odour is the willingness of the cat to allow another to capture his scent.
This is one of the reason why, when cats meet for the first time, they circle each other.
What they are trying to do is to capture the scent produced from two different glands around the other's behind.
Cats that have just met haven't had time to work out seniority, so they keep their tail down, protecting their perianal glands and anal sacs from inspection, and move in a circular pattern as each tries to sniff the other.
The dominant cat eventually gets the first sniff. When cats meet other cats or people they know, there is no need to hide their scent, so they carry their tails high and present their posterior for inspection. In this way, they are simply acknowledging that the other cat or person is dominant or 'top cat'.
In cat hierarchy, people replace parent or to be more specific people replace mother cats routinely lick clean their kittens' bottoms, so it is natural to the cat to present her backside to her people parents.
However, because bums in faces have a different connotation in human behavior, people find this form of greeting unpleasant.
