Does your human smell good to you?

Dear George,
I’m sitting here scratching my head as I can’t figure out how we choose our humans. I’m not talking adopting or rescuing them! I’m talking about something that transcends that stage.
Let’s assume we already have adopted/rescued them for, let’s say a month now and, of course we share our forever home with them. We all try to adjust and, if we train them well from the beginning, they’ll make good servants!
Then….boom! We find ourselves more attached to one of them! Why is that? How do we decide which one?
The only thing I can think of …..is the smell! Even so, how come?
They don’t smell like bacon or cheese or mice (I’ve heard that some humans smell like rats though) or roasted beef? What people smell like? I know my mummy’s friends buy expensive perfumes but, the perfumes smell like flowers or grass…not necessary something to be attracted to. Men don’t use so much perfume, at least not the ones I know.
So, George, what makes humans appealing to us? Why am I so attached to my dad?
Just asking,
Leo

Dear Leo,
Why are we attached to them at all, Leo? If we care for humans, is it somehow the instinct to care for kittens? Gone wrong? Or at least gone odd! Obviously we adopt or rescue them because they will  house us in the manner that befits the superior species, and be good butlers, house maids, and cooks.
But why love them?  Why roll in front of them, sit touching them, climb on to their laps, bunt them, and sometimes even groom them? The relationship between cats and humans has only been going on for about 9000 years: they are only semi-domesticated (and some feline scientists argue that humans are not domesticated at all). 
I am sure scent plays a part in why we love one more than the other. I agree that the powerful odours that females use are often aversive to cats. Men have more of a nice cosy human odour. And, of course, who feeds us makes a difference too. Follow the food bowl and you may understand your preference better.
This is one of the great issues of our time, Leo, and I am still struggling for an explanation.
Yours
George 
PS. A good job they don't smell of mice. I'd be tempted to eat one.

Celebrating Tortoiseshell Cats....

Dear George, 

As I continue to grow-up into a beautiful cat (as you can see in the photo attached)….my curiosity grows along with me as well!  There are so many things I’d like to know; so many questions to ask! I don’t even know where to start. But, I will settle for one question now and will leave the rest for later.

How and why do we come in so many colors and exquisite marks?

What makes some of us so colorful and some of us …just unicolor? I’m being told I’m a tortoiseshell. Some humans called me a calico cat! I kind of like “tortoiseshell” much better than calico. What is the difference between the two? Is this a breed? Can any cat be a tortoise? Is there something special about tortoises?

Please enlighten me as I’m also told that I have a cattitude specific to tortoiseshell cats.

So, what’s that? I’m very playful and up to cute mischief!

Just curious,

Cara

Dear Cara,
I am powerfully attracted (only insofar as the snip allows) to tortoiseshell (or calico) cats. I love that mixture of black and ginger. I particularly love the little straight line down the face with ginger one side and black the other. Cutest of the cute.
"Naughty Torties" is what tortoiseshell cats are always called. Maybe there is some difference in behaviour between colours but it is possible the lighter shades of cat are more friendly, because they are picked up and cuddled more as kittens. Cat rescuers don't mean to do this, but sometimes the unpopular colour kittens (black and brown) get less attention. So they grow up less cuddly. It would be very difficult to prove....
To be a tortie, you have to be female with a double X sex chromosome, XX, or a rare chimera male with an extra female chromosome X, ie an XXY. Males (XYs) with the dominant ginger allele are all over ginger because they only carry one X gene. Female  have two XX genes and one is randomly inactivated in each cell in favour of the black or brown producing the tortoiseshell coat.Various other coat colour genes then add white or dilute the colours.
I shall post some photos of my favourtite torties with their two-sided faces
Yours
George