r/OneOrangeBraincell • u/SrWeton • 13h ago

Orange Cat šŸ…±ļøehaviorā„¢ Why is he smelling my armpit??

Am I really stinky?

4.4k Upvotes

100% Upvoted

179 comments sorted by

2.4k

u/Shahfluffers 13h ago edited 12h ago

My cat does this. Especially after a workout or a really hot day.

My understanding is that natural body oder is a BIG deal to animals. It tells them a lot about you (health, diet, hormones, etc). And if they like you (or have good associations) they want to cover themselves with the smell (and vice versa).

887

u/yeathatsmebro 12h ago

They like you, so your smell makes them happy, especially when it's more potent. I like to refer to this as "human concentrate" lol

628

u/AlfhildsShieldmaiden 11h ago

This is why a lot of cats are into shoes. Human feet are one of the places with the most concentration of our scent.

She was sleeping like this šŸ˜†

154

u/yeathatsmebro 11h ago

Oh yes, especially in the shoes. Warmth + the enclosed space makes the skin oils to never escape and continue to accumulate. Sweat is pushed and drags alongside with it your scent, then gets impregnated in the shoe material.

Thanks for the picture, she is definitely in love with the hooman.

63

u/AlfhildsShieldmaiden 11h ago

Thatā€™s good because the hooman is definitely in love with her! ā˜ŗļø

9

u/travtex 3h ago

Used to have a tortie who would fight someone for the opportunity to slorp on my end of day Tevas.

18

u/Helpful-Salt83 8h ago

r/ShoeHuffers would love her

14

u/AlfhildsShieldmaiden 8h ago

Another cat sub to join!

17

u/eternal-harvest 9h ago

I often find my shoes in the middle of the floor (far away from where I removed them) because my cat got freaky with them

10

u/AlfhildsShieldmaiden 9h ago

I have a pair of clogs I mostly wear around the house or to briefly step outside. I leave them out for my kitty cause she loves to sleep on/in them. šŸ˜†

6

u/Purple-Ad-7464 8h ago

I have one cat who is obsessed with shoes! But she's never slept in them, that I know of

4

u/Silver-Caterpillar-7 9h ago

These animals rock, they know where it's at!!!! Yeya

39

u/SweetShirt4717 11h ago

Human concentrate is a great term. I'm gonna start using that

32

u/yeathatsmebro 11h ago

Eau d'humain

2

u/snowdn 4h ago

LOL!

0

u/luckyfucker13 9h ago

I mean, technically semen is human concentrate

2

u/Rugelfuss 9h ago

It's a different kind of milk

1

u/kookiemaster 1h ago

Yep ... my cats loved my sweaty gi so much. These thigns were gross but they loved to sleep on them.

135

u/Adventurous_Lie_5246 12h ago

Exactly. This kind of smell is finest thing in life. While the smell of some fruits can be absolutely disgusting to them šŸ˜‚

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u/Taminella_Grinderfal 11h ago

I left a banana peel on the table, my cat walked up to check it out and promptly gagged šŸ¤£ I need to make some kind of ā€œbanana peel anti-cat sprayā€ for the arms of my couch.

12

u/amh8011 9h ago

I have a ginger root on my counter and my cats took turns sniffing it, gagging, and giving me a dirty look as if itā€™s my fault they sniffed it. If youā€™re gonna sniff everything that comes into the house, youā€™re going to encounter things that smell bad.

7

u/CodeComprehensive734 6h ago

Maybe you should not bring smelly things into the house? - Cat

10

u/yeathatsmebro 11h ago

One idea is to impregnate this solution on a piece of cloth and right after you squeeze all the water out, you let it dry in the sun. My assumption is that the oils related to your cat's gag reflex are tied to the oils of that banana peel, so if it is right, after water dries on the cloth it will be left with a dry, yet oil-filled, cat-gagging smell that your cat won't like, but it won't be perceivable to you.

6

u/The_commonest_plant 10h ago

Could do a tincture with alcohol to remove the oils

5

u/Adventurous_Lie_5246 10h ago

I've seen something like this before lol. Iirc banana peel emits a chemical compound that's similar to acetone which for a cat is like sniffing nail polish remover. But I'm not absolute sure so take this with grain of salt.

1

u/Professional_Echo907 20m ago

When they open their mouths like that, they are using the Jacobsonā€™s organ in the roofs of their mouths to smell better.

52

u/RoryAB94 12h ago

Yeah a big thing is if you're part of the same 'family' you should share scent trails and be recognizeable to others as part of one unit, gang, family, stinky club...

Besides that your cat enjoys the scent of their doting god - you provide them a place to live, food, love, shelter and constantly seem to be smelling unlike them. So, either you start to smell like cat, or the cat smells like you. Meaning either you stop doing laundry and showering, instead just rub the cat on the daily. OR - the cat can rub up on you when you stink more than usual.

It's love, don't worry about it, they want to be associated with you and tell the world so

11

u/amh8011 9h ago

My cats love my underwear after I get home from work. They will pull it out of the laundry to roll all over it. I typically wear sleeveless shirts and I have a good antiperspirant for my pits so I guess my underwear is the stinkiest, sweatiest thing they can find. Besides shoes. They will stick their heads in stinky shoes. Mine and anyone elseā€™s. My childhood cat used to fall asleep with her head in my dadā€™s shoes.

5

u/RoryAB94 7h ago

Exactly, they'll try combine and exchange scents with their loved ones - humans have strayed far from their basic primal instincts for better or worse - and thus the best way for your little fluffer to satisfy instincts is to indulge when they find the strong points of scent on humans.

Makes you think though - if a cat is really attached to something you're wearing (the item specifically) and you were on the fence about whether you have another day's worth of wear in it before washing - that probably means you don't hahaha

2

u/amh8011 7h ago

I convinced my sisterā€™s bf to leave a pair of his dirty socks under my parentsā€™ bed (where my parentsā€™ cat likes to hide) and now she likes my sisterā€™s bf better than my sister. Iā€™m sure itā€™s not entirely the socks but itā€™s still funny how she likes him better than my sister.

6

u/ohhowcanthatbe 8h ago

Itā€™s one of the most YOU smelling places on your body. Gotta rub their faces in as much you as they can :)

5

u/brneyedgrrl 7h ago

My cat (she's a tabby, but not orange - however, I think she has orange in her cz she is extra dopey) LICKS my underarm area. I make her stop when she does it but she loves to do it anyway. When she was a kitten, she'd get herself tangled in my panties when I was in the shower if I left them on the floor.

3

u/_otterinabox 8h ago

My parents' previous dog loved it when Dad came home and took his shoes off. She would spend 20 minutes shoving her snout into them.

1

u/houseplant-hoarder 1h ago

When we were kids my friendā€™s cat used to love licking armpits and eating hair. And yes she was an orange lol

1

u/Zamr 42m ago

My orange cat does this aswell, but i thought it was just something cat nip like in my sweat? Does it mean he likes me? šŸ„¹

547

u/thatevilducky 13h ago

Stinky smell like you

303

u/Cabibbus Casual orange enjoyer šŸŠ 13h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/J2gHlRQQvFamqOWlJF

1.3k

u/EvaTheE 13h ago

purrvert

288

u/Casul_Tryhard Casual orange enjoyer šŸŠ 12h ago

r/purrvert

152

u/Robmarley 12h ago

Youā€™ve got to be kidding meā€¦

95

u/upvoter222 12h ago

We're not kitten you.

33

u/belac4862 Orange connoisseur šŸŠ 12h ago

I am simultaneously surprised, and not. Ill add it to the pile...

10

u/Robmarley 10h ago

Thereā€™s no end to this rabbit hole.

10

u/DojaTwat 11h ago

oh no!! šŸ˜­

20

u/thefatrick 12h ago edited 11h ago

CAT PURRVERT!

10

u/SilenceInSaturation 12h ago

CALL THE PAWLICE HES GETTIN FRISKY

6

u/dermflork 12h ago

IN ThE PIT OF mE ERMS

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u/Classic-Exchange-511 12h ago

My old cat used to sleep in my father's (a carpenter) dirty wash basket. I think they just like the smell of sweat of the people they love

45

u/NastyStreetRat 11h ago

My roommate, who happens to be a cat, likes to sleep right on top of my pants, putting his nose right in the area of my testicles.

15

u/zoinkability 10h ago

My sweet old cat often slept on my legs with head in crotchal zone. They def like the smell of people they love.

5

u/BigGayVirgil 4h ago

When my ex would come home from work every day the cat would DEMAND their pants so she could roll around in them.

120

u/opbib 12h ago

10

u/MirandaScribes 8h ago

Wonder Woman just out of frame

105

u/littlelorax 12h ago

Aw my orange used to do this to my husband's t-shirts! I miss that little weirdo so much.

40

u/chipper-shipper 12h ago

One of our childhood cats would chew through the armpits of my dadā€™s shirts because he liked the smell so much šŸ˜­

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u/Kaworu517 12h ago

Cause he's a freak 7 days a week.

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u/Beneficial_Wave7649 13h ago

He's just orange šŸŠ šŸ˜ŗ

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u/New_Key3007 12h ago

My orange does it with my gym tshirt post-workout.

Cats associate smells with their hoomans, and sweat has the strongest smell.

15

u/DustScoundrel 12h ago

he want that stank

14

u/HoneyWyne 12h ago

He lubs your stink.

13

u/MisterShookman 12h ago

Orange

1

u/arunit007 12h ago

Only rational answer for this irrational behavior...

12

u/FullPrinciple5170 11h ago edited 9h ago

It is because of your scent is exactly whyā€¦ Cats like to put their scent on their owners and they like to have their owners scent on themselvesā€¦ they are marking you as their territory

12

u/HmmmmmMonke 9h ago

Mine gets so excited that she then starts biting and clawing me. šŸ˜šŸ˜

5

u/Wolfwoods_Sister Orange connoisseur šŸŠ 7h ago

Cute Aggression Overdrive

24

u/straycollector 12h ago

My hubby woke up to our female cat nursing on his armpit hair. He was wet all down his side & woke up yelling the cat was eating him!

16

u/seatron 12h ago edited 12h ago

I have a weird theory about this, probably completely wrong but here it goes:

Apparently, extra nipples are actually pretty common and they often appear around the armpits, underdeveloped so they look like just a mole.

I have one such suspicious mole on one of my armpits, and I wonder if it... idk, smells like a nipple? He's tried to suckle on my real ones, too. This is too much, but nipples kind of have their own unique, bitter taste. I would not be surprised if there's something cats can pick up on.

Man this is a weird comment, sorry everyone

3

u/Feisty_Camera_7774 8h ago

Huh šŸ˜³

1

u/Tim_Allen_Wrench 7h ago

I've never noticed a specific bitter taste, I'll have to check I guess.Ā 

Interesting theory.Ā 

10

u/PrunePretend6206 12h ago

They love our scent, shoes and armpits

9

u/Jesus360noscope 13h ago

They just love stinky stuff

9

u/Beastmind 12h ago

Saltiness of sweat

7

u/olivegarden87 12h ago

My cat weirdly loves my deodorant? Could be that.

3

u/orangeKaiju 10h ago

My cat also

I now only wear deodorant right before I leave the house because otherwise she goes nuts and tries to lick my armpits.

3

u/Filthiest_Tleilaxu 7h ago

Same. What are we wearing? Could it be cedar?

8

u/opossomoperson 12h ago

Pheromones.

8

u/FoxySarah71 12h ago

I caught my furry nitwit with her head in one of my boots, all four legs clamped around it, bunny kicking the living daylights out of it.

Then she heard me, popped her head out of my boot, and gave me a look as if to say "Nothing to see here hooman, move along please. Also, I iz innocent, you did not see what you thought you saw!" šŸ¤£

7

u/MechanicalCrow 12h ago

The answer for any weirdo behavior in our house is simple: cats are just weird little guys.

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u/Royal_Front2038 11h ago

My orange cat love my smelly feet after a day work and rub it like is the last thing she do. Often time she do it while purring.

Then she ignore me for the rest of the day.

8

u/Diligent_Ad_7582 Proud owner of an orange brain cell 5h ago

That's where our sweat glands are/pheromones. He may be leaving his behind on you lol. He's also an Orange Cat...... šŸŠ šŸˆ

6

u/UnnamedRedditor2137 12h ago

My cat does that sometimes with slippers

6

u/inkarnata 10h ago

"Sometimes, when I get nervous, I stick my nose in my owner's arm pit, and I smell it like that!!" -Mary Cat-herine Gallagher

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u/noidentity63 7h ago

It's cute when he does it...

4

u/hosiki 13h ago

Warm

4

u/Icy-Clue-7355 12h ago

My orange girl will do this and sometimes even gives my pit a lick! Little weirdo.

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u/MamaOnica 11h ago

You stink good

9

u/bw04H 12h ago

Freakus

8

u/LiveLongAndProspurr 12h ago

Smelly cat, smelly cat...

5

u/JakeFoXx 12h ago

He like onion

3

u/Witchberry31 12h ago

One of my cats also like to do this šŸ˜… digging her face into my armpit. It really tickles šŸ¤£

4

u/The_Cozy_Burrito Casual orange enjoyer šŸŠ 12h ago

Because orange

4

u/ExtinctFauna 12h ago

The good smells. Seriously, he really likes your smell, and the smells from your armpit are especially potent.

4

u/ER_Support_Plant17 12h ago

My cat loves my hair when itā€™s all sweaty and stinky. I lay down and let her roll in it for a few minutes before I shower.

5

u/DickMcButtfuchs 12h ago

Stinks so good

4

u/NinjatoXIII 12h ago

Cats have scent glands on their face. He is marking you as his. Attempting to cover your musk with his own.

2

u/Over-Apartment2762 10h ago

I heard somewhere that human sweat can contain a pheromone thats almost identical to catnip. Not sure how true that is, but my cats sure do love all my sweaty clothes and boots.

6

u/WonderfulOwl8840 9h ago

Literally your smell. Never forget animals use smell to communicate a lot of information. He may be checking on you and may or may not notice if you're unwell

4

u/Might__E 9h ago

he just like me fr fr

4

u/NautiNeptune 8h ago

Bro if I'm in a tank top my cat will try to groom my armpit hair šŸ˜­ oranges are so odd

4

u/darxide23 8h ago

Cats and dogs and many other mammals mainly identify each other by scent rather than sight. In other words, you stank. But don't worry. He loves it.

7

u/IndependentTalk4413 12h ago

You rub a tuna up there?

3

u/Fyrrys 12h ago

He is claiming himself in the name of you

3

u/littlecolt 12h ago

S T A N K

3

u/togetherwegrowstuff 12h ago

It's a car version of a dog crotch sniff

3

u/maggie47128 12h ago

You STANK. The only kind of stank a cat can love.

3

u/paper-or-plastic- 11h ago

Why not? They love you and your scent šŸ˜ƒ

3

u/Z3R0Diro 10h ago

Animals dont understand bad smells. Your armpits just smell more like you

3

u/Additional-Ball4825 10h ago

You probably stink and that's good for him

3

u/digdugnate 9h ago

Cats do be like that.

3

u/SeaworthinessHead613 9h ago

Have you cheated with another cat ?

3

u/Clean_Mammoth_5646 8h ago

Heā€™s got a pit fetish.

3

u/drunkguynextdoor 8h ago

My old tortoise shell girl would do that to me after I mowed the yard in the Florida summer. She would dig in hard, too. It was weird because she was a very gentle cat, otherwise.

3

u/Fyonix8008 6h ago

Because of the stiiiink. My cats do it, theyā€™re weird, but itā€™s a cute weird.

2

u/Wonderful-Head9778 12h ago

My ginger kitten lately started biting my armpit while lying in bed the cheeky fucker. She loves it just to much i can only assume.

2

u/SeniorLanguage6497 12h ago

My orange got up from his nap to go under my ex-husband butt and breathe right after he farted! So yes, itā€™s just orange behavior.

2

u/Bex1218 12h ago

When we moved, we put a blanket we used in the cat carrier. One of us was still always within sight of the cats, but we wanted to make sure they were comfortable. Also, drugged up.

2

u/OkDragonfruit9515 12h ago

My old cat used to do this

2

u/sav-vas 11h ago

smells like teen spirit

2

u/Busymomma_86 11h ago

Because heā€™s Orange. šŸ§”

2

u/etherealsweetbeet 11h ago

He loves your stench šŸ˜¼

2

u/sickste 11h ago

Salt.

2

u/putyourpawsup980 Casual orange enjoyer šŸŠ 11h ago

Stank

2

u/enzo_1st 10h ago

he misheard catnip for armpit

2

u/Somebodsydog 10h ago

Pheromones

2

u/Silver-Caterpillar-7 9h ago

No, he is spreading his scent and you are it!!!!!!!

2

u/donttrustthellamas 9h ago

Heckin tasty

2

u/Naive_Sand5837 9h ago

because the rest of you is covered in cat hair

2

u/G_Art33 9h ago

My kitten does the same thing only when I havenā€™t used deodorant. She has bit my armpit / armpit hair before.

2

u/Ready_Hope8117 8h ago

She like tacos

2

u/sortitall6 8h ago

He is looking for his missing braincell.

2

u/MrTumnus99 8h ago

I had a girlfriend who would do this

2

u/Waste_Airline7830 8h ago

The sweet smell of salt. All the oils and salt to be licked. mmm, salt...

2

u/ScrlettDrling 6h ago

Cats love their persons scent. Armpits are right up their alley.

2

u/Emotional_Purpose346 6h ago

Because it smells like kitkat

2

u/Ready-Hall8153 5h ago

I thought that was a fox

2

u/Ill_Finish6488 5h ago

Maybe you smell fish šŸ¤£

2

u/Kenzo_senpai 3h ago

Mine like to lick my armpits whenever im trying yo sleep and i would jolt out and hissed at me

3

u/khamir-ubitch 12h ago

I don't know, but I have a cat that goes ABSOLUTELY BONKERS (like yours) whenever I put on cologne. He will hop on me and smash his face into me and lick.

Strange cat activities.

3

u/ForrestDryad 12h ago

U stimky and cat likey stimky

3

u/FwooshingMachi 12h ago

He just like me frfr šŸ˜Œ

2

u/Lackof_Creativity 12h ago

reminds him of your underwear..

2

u/AssumptionFun3828 7h ago

My cats seem to love my FARTS for some reason, so I can only assume most cats like any strong scent that comes from their humans šŸ˜‚

1

u/Optimal-Prime420 8h ago

My moms calico cat used to do this to my dad. Before I was born, so I never met said cat.

1

u/Johnboywalten 4h ago

I had a cat who used to do that, but only when I wore Old Spice deodorant.

1

u/lovedless 4h ago

You stank purty.

1

u/Turry1 3h ago

Hes like me fr

1

u/Horbigast 3h ago

There's something fishy there.

1

u/sunnyDeficient Proud owner of an orange brain cell 2h ago

Cause heā€™s a sick freak

1

u/Davidsleepy4 2h ago

based cat

1

u/upstartpantymerchant 2h ago

Why did you run your armpits with cat nip

2

u/mike44556 2h ago

He likes yo stank

1

u/TheZombieJ 1h ago

"Stop! This is a Stinky inspection!"

2

u/Commercial-Housing23 1h ago

Cause you stink pretty

1

u/PM_ME_YER_MUDFLAPS 1h ago

I smell delicious!!!

3

u/Array_626 14m ago

He a freak

1

u/jumpercat 12h ago

Probably cuz it smells like wet puss