And, because meat provides a plentiful source of sodium, cats have a poorly-developed sodium appetite and are relatively insensitive to salt. While dogs are also carnivorous, they ingest a wider range of foods and appear to have receptors sensitive to sweet carbohydrates. Dog taste buds are also responsive to amino acids, but the distribution of sensitivity differs from that of the cat. Adding a preferred odor to a neutral food increases food intake and can stimulate resumption of a meal after eating has stopped. When compared to humans, olfaction is particularly important to dogs and cats.
Cats are solitary creatures.
In contrast, dogs are social animals, and olfactory communication is important to their social nature. Dogs use olfactory information for individual recognition, to maintain affiliations, and to reduce competition. Advanced technology is helping chemists to identify and synthesize the specific compounds pets use for marking behavior and for individual recognition purposes. This information could be useful in developing deterrents to urine marking behavior and specific antagonists or blockers for urine odor. As in many other vertebrate species, pheromones are most likely involved in the reproductive behavior and territory marking of both cats and dogs.