Update on "The Cat Infatuated with Uncle's Shoe Scent": Guppy Still Can't Resist the Alluring Aroma of Shoes

In the past, we shared an article titled "The Cat Infatuated with Uncle's Shoe Smell." The content revolved around a Japanese variety show that was commissioned to investigate a peculiar behavior exhibited by a cat at home. Surprisingly, the production team uncovered the source of this behavior, which was believed to have a reason behind it. However, changing such behavior is not as easy as it seems! After some time has passed, has the cat lost interest in shoes? According to reports from a Japanese television station (the episode aired on September 5), the cat still enjoys burying its head in shoes to smell them and has not changed this habit at all.

To jog your memory about the original content, the show was commissioned by a pair of cat owners, Ms. Saki and Ms. Tomo, who owned a cat named Guppy. This cat behaves like any other, doing typical feline activities, but interestingly, it engages in behaviors that other cats do not. For instance, when guests arrive at their home, Guppy rushes over to sniff their shoes intensely for up to 30 minutes, burying its head inside them while rubbing and smelling.

The owners speculate that this habit may have originated six years ago when a television crew visited their home for filming. It's possible that the crew members took off their shoes and allowed Guppy to smell them, leading to this peculiar habit. Once it had experienced this smell, there was no turning back! The crew member's shoes likely had a strong odor that made Guppy continuously lick them. It is presumed that those shoes triggered some sort of fetish in Guppy.

The production team later found the crew member and reunited them with Guppy, resulting in the cat licking so much that it soaked both the inside and outside of the shoes. The owners even posted videos of Guppy's behavior online, making this peculiar habit one of the most famous on Japanese internet forums. The owners also attempted to take Guppy to a veterinarian for help but found no solutions!

As mentioned earlier, if the content filmed during that time was accurate, then the guest who came over was indeed a key factor in causing Guppy to obsessively sniff shoes from that point on. This behavior continues unchanged even today; any guest visiting their home will be subjected to Guppy's thorough inspection, sometimes even resulting in the cat curling up inside their shoes for as long as half an hour. This has led the owners to use a hairdryer to dry guests' shoes before they can wear them home.

The owners are still puzzled as to why Guppy loves shoe smells so much—especially those worn by men who have been active for a while and carry a musky scent. A veterinarian later suggested that substances emitted from shoes might have similarities to silver vine in certain aspects, which could explain why Guppy finds joy in these smells. If scientists were willing to investigate this phenomenon further, it would surely warrant a humorous Nobel Prize!

Interestingly enough, Guppy's two favorite scents throughout its life are those of uncle's worn shoes and its owner's scalp. This raises an intriguing question: how can an owner—a girl—accept that her cat sniffs smelly uncle's shoes and then comes to rub against her head? This situation is quite hard to accept both psychologically and physiologically!