Do Cats Love You? Please read.....

[PinkPanther]

I love all animals, but I get on very well with cats. I used to have cats. They are always drawn to me, even ones that are shy or afraid around other humans. I've always put this down to them being able to sense that I have an energy that's kind to animals. They instinctively know I would never harm them.

Last night I had the most vivid dream that's made me question this.

In the dream (which was very real and I was convinced it was real life) it was a hot sunny day and I was at work. It was during a break and some of us were outside in the sun with our drinks or whatever. I was talking to one of my colleagues about cats and said, "Cats have always been drawn to me, do you know why....?" and was about to tell her my theory when I saw a look of suppressed amusement on her face and had the sudden realisation that it was because I smell of fish! I knew that had been her immediate thought, probably even before I'd finished the sentence she'd been thinking cats love me because I smell of fish. I got that really hot flustered feeling of wanting the ground to swallow me up (you know the one, when you think you aren't smelling that day and someone gives you the glare or makes an "hilarious" comment about the smell?). At the same time I got a sudden whiff of a strong fishy odour, which only lasted a few seconds. I sniffed at my forearm and it definitely smelt fishy. Why had I never noticed it before? My colleague started asking me why I'd never done anything about my BO and I started telling her that I normally couldn't smell it and I was as clean (cleaner, probably) than anyone else at work and it was caused by a mutated gene that couldn't process foods properly. I was mortified and embarrassed but also slightly relieved to be able to talk about it. In real life I can't talk about it and the three times (in nearly forty years!) I've plucked up the courage to do it I've cried and made a complete show of myself for nothing as it's been blown off each time as my imagination.

Then I woke up.

So, was it just a daft dream caused by my recent internet browsing of all things TMAU or is it the truth that I've never realised?

Btw, I've never thought that I smell of fish (more fecal, garbage, boiled egg/cabbage and "lady hormone" type smells), but when I was young I worked in a fish shop and ate a lot of fish and a few people mentioned the smell of fish, but I just thought it was due to the normal workplace smells on my clothes and hair.

Do cats love you?

Any comments?

PS: I've not been diagnosed or tested for TMAU, but I definitely have a metabolic odour of some kind, since puberty.

PPS: This morning since I got up I keep thinking I can smell a fishy smell. I ate cabbage yesterday for the first time in months (actually it was Sauerkraut), but vivid dreams do often have this effect on me. I don't know what to think.

[Iketha]

Yes! Mine does more than my dog did and I think it is down to the individual pet

[Tenacity]

Aw, bless, it's just a paranoid dream, I'm sure. We all have them. Before I started at my current place I had a vivid dream that a group of us were working upstairs (I'd visited our main building a couple of times at that point - for my interview, and to meet a few key people and ask questions - so the dream was very vivid and realistic). Anyhoo, we were working in a room upstairs, and for some reason our facilitator asked us to break into smaller groups. I was sitting on my own by the door and nobody wanted to sit anywhere near me, so I was sitting on my own with nobody to work with in front of all my new colleagues with everybody making disgusted and exacerbated faces. It's now well over a year later, I'm still in the same place, and of course nothing like that has ever happened.

However, in order to answer your question...

Our old cat used to love me. However, that's because her other owner used to pet her too hard & didn't take the time to understand her body language and noises, so of course I was her favourite for lap time. That being said, dogs are drawn to me way more, and they are also my favourite animal. Until I had a cat and learned how to interact with them, cats weren't drawn to me nearly as much (despite my diet/TMAU being worse in the past than it is now). I would therefore say there is no correlation between amine smells and cat interaction for me.