My cat LOVES shoes, and I am unsure why.
First I thought it was a territorial thing or that he likes the outside “city” smell, but then I noticed that he does not mark other objects such as bags, coats, scarves, keys, umbrellas, and other objects we bring back home. He does mark his favorite humans and furniture however.
He is also extremely attracted to people’s feet. He always likes to smell a guest’s feet first before interacting with them. If he likes the person’s feet enough, he would just lay on his/her feet like a hen nestling her eggs. While he does not discriminate between genders, he appears to prefer the feet of our non-Asian friends.
We have a weird cat.