Feline Taste Buds, Demystified

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While browsing around the interwebs looking for a good cat story to report on for Mardi Gras, I found a really great cat news resource in a Louisiana news station's site. Besides, it turns out cats don't really dig Mardi Gras. So I'm not the only one, eh?

Anyway... Roommate has always been a little weirded out that I don't like treats. The only things I need to make my tastebuds happy are daily offerings of seafood-flavored Meow Mix or Friskies and the occasional tuna morsel. That's it! Roommate grew up with dogs, so the fact that I don't beg her for people food is really strange to her.

Low and behold: I found an article that explains everything about why we cats eat the things we do the way we do! From Darcy Lockman of Studio One Networks...

What Cats Can Taste
Unlike dogs, which are pack animals whose early survival depended on scavenging and winning the canine competition for food, domestic cats evolved from small desert felines that hunted mice and birds. Because their natural prey was abundant and easy to catch, they never developed a need to “wolf” down their food, or even to eat whatever presented itself -- hence, your furry friend’ s ability to walk away from a half-full bowl.

The mammals cats ate early on helped to shape their ability to experience sour, bitter and salty flavors. Sugar, however, may never have materialized in the environment in which cats developed.

Feline Flavor Likes and Dislikes
While today’s cats hate the taste of bitter, which can indicate toxins in nature, they can’t even detect that of sugar. In the 1970s, curious about the apparent lack of a feline sweet tooth, researchers at Monell conducted an experiment and found that cats had no particular preference. “They had no taste for sweetness at all,” explains Dr. Brand. “When we published our research, I got 250 e-mails in two days saying, ‘My cat likes ice cream,’ or, ‘My cat likes marshmallows.’ ”He explains, “Cats enjoy fat, protein, and novel textures. Eating those foods doesn’ t mean they’ re responding to the sweetness.”

Your Cat’ s Palate
Should all this knowledge influence the choices you make when feeding your cat? Not really, says Brand. “Cats especially like amino acids, but you can’ t go out and buy histamine. The cat food industry does its best to recreate flavors associated with foods cats enjoy -- tuna, say, and kidney. If your cat likes it, fantastic. But humans can’ t translate their taste world into that of cats. ”He adds, “Our receptors are unique, and so are theirs.”

That said, it can be helpful to keep in mind that your cat is tempted not only by taste, but also by scent, texture and temperature. When given a choice, cats will select foods with powerful aroma, high fat content, a variety of textures (e.g., commercial soft and hard food mixed together), and food that’ s around the temperature of freshly slaughtered prey, or about 98 degrees Fahrenheit. If your cat begins turning up its nose at your offerings, try feeding it something with a stronger odor and a mixture of shapes and textures -- all heated on the stove or in the microwave until slightly warmed.

Copyright (c) 2008 Studio One Networks. All rights reserved.

And there you have it! I couldn't have explained it better myself... I tend to ramble.