Many people have often witnessed such a phenomenon but have not thought about how and why it occurs.
The methods of communication used by cats differ greatly from what we imagine. They have a highly developed sense of smell, which is not only attributed to their olfactory system but also to the vomeronasal organ located behind the front teeth on the upper palate.
You may be surprised, but cats often open their mouths when they sniff something, whether it’s unfamiliar objects or new items in your home. This behavior is known as the Flehmen response. It involves the cat opening its mouth and performing an invisible curling of the upper lip, creating a sort of pump that helps direct the odors to the vomeronasal organ.
In other words, the cat opens its mouth to sniff as deeply as possible, allowing the chemical substances and pheromones it needs to evaluate to reach the vomeronasal organ. Essentially, it’s a way for the cat to gather information about its surrounding environment.
Therefore, if your cat sniffed clothing and became particularly interested, it decided to gather more information, which is why you witnessed the behavior of the cat sniffing and opening its mouth. It’s a completely natural situation where the animal seeks to extract more from the scent and opens its mouth to take full advantage of the vomeronasal organ’s capabilities.
We’re accustomed to seeing our pets in standard situations where sniffing occurs through active movement of the nose. This way, the cat obtains the minimum amount of information it needs naturally. If it doesn’t require deeper analysis, the vomeronasal organ remains unengaged, and there is no need for mouth opening. However, if the scent is particularly intriguing, the cat will open its mouth.
But if your cat regularly breathes with an open mouth without any apparent reason, it should raise concerns, and you should definitely take your pet to a veterinarian. In some cases, this type of breathing may indicate the presence of inflammatory or infectious processes in the respiratory system.
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