If cats cant taste sweet thing why does mine (A Bengal) go mad for Mashmellows?
Why does she attack your hands if you have been peeling Carrotts and like to rub round them
2007-02-06 08:07:12 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Cats
Our cat loves marshmellows too! She loves to place with them and attacks them - the texture is what she likes. She never eats them though. I think for the carrots, she can smell something different on your hands and she is marking her territory just to make sure that it is marked as hers. They love to play with carrots also, not eat them though. At least you know your cat loves you to make sure that she is controller over you!
2007-02-06 08:12:33 · answer #1 · answered by Tonya B 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is the only sense were we beat out the cat. Felines can only decipher four basic tastes: sour, salty, bitter and sweet. Even then, not to a very wide degree.
It was thought for a long time that cats couldn't pick up on sweet tastes -- this was because they never showed an inclination to sugary foods. It's just that they don't have many taste buds that pick up on sweet, so food that is full of sugar really doesn't seem to have any appeal to them.
The reason cats are labeled "fussy" when it comes to food is that they have so few taste buds -- around 475. Dogs have nearly 2,000 and people have a staggering 9,000! With fewer taste buds cats are incline to be much more selective about what they eat.
Thus, the cat food industry has spent millions on cracking the code to what drives a cat's "culinary" appetite.
The reason your cat may like marshmellows is the texture actually -- there maybe some connection between what she "feels" while eating a marshmellow and how some traditional prey may have felt. On the carrots -- okay I have no idea on that!
Cats have a special feature in the roof of their mouth called a "Jacobson's Organ" which is connected from the mouth to the nasal passage. Felines might be more "smell-tasting" their food than just tasting. (The Jacobson's Organ is also why kitty does that odd lip-back-open-mouth-breathing-thing; they're actually pulling in as many scents from the area around them as possible and using taste and smell to evaluate them.)
Hope this helps. --Andy
2007-02-06 08:37:11 · answer #2 · answered by Andy 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
While there have been many great bands out of Seattle (this is obviously realtive to the type of music that one likes), I do not think that it is the CITY, but rather the artist that makes the difference. It is hard to compare, let's say that a city as big as Seattle generates 5 great bands, but then a small town generates one great artist, how would you compare. Quantity = quality in this situation, I think.
2016-03-29 08:08:16 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They can still smell--and marshmellows are fun to play with and flip about since they are so light and fluffy. Maybe there is something in them besides sweet the cat likes? As for carrots, it has a nice scent that I guess she likes. I'd switch to bagged carrots to save your hands, and you can let her play with them for a treat.
Just because they can't taste the sweet doesn't mean they can't taste the other flavors in various food items. I had a cat that used to love to smell flowers. I know of a couple of other cats that go crazy for a bowl of melon. I think cats delight in being unpredictable and unique--and that is why they are so attractive.
2007-02-06 08:14:05 · answer #4 · answered by Bluestocking88 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Cats cannot taste sweets. This seems unbelievable because we overestimate our own sense of taste. The human tongue is only capable of discerning 4 distinct tastes; Sweet, Salty, Bitter and Sour. The rest of the distinctness that we attribute to taste actually comes from our sense of smell. It would be the same for the cat, he may not be able to register the taste of sweetness, but he can still smell the marshmallow.
2007-02-06 12:05:39 · answer #5 · answered by Chris J 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi there again Karl...I suspect cats may be attracted to the texture and odours of foods rather than the taste. Cats who suffer from upper respiratory infections are unable to taste their foods if they are unable to smell their foods so I have assume some of these researched findings that scientists discovered is based on the correlation of the olfactory to taste receptors senses. They state that because cats are obligate carnivores (meat eaters) they they do not have sweet receptors on their tongue. I only quoted what researchers has discovered with regards if cats could taste sweets or not.
More articles on why cats can't taste sweets:
http://www.physorg.com/news5411.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/07/050725065702.html
2007-02-06 08:17:13 · answer #6 · answered by ♪ Seattle ♫ 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I hadn't heard that cats can't taste sweets. My cat loves any bread product with sugar (donuts, cookies, cake, etc). Also, anti-freeze is "sweet" and that is supposedly why cats and dogs are attracted to it. I would think that the evidence points to the contrary, and cats do taste sweets.
2007-02-06 08:46:04 · answer #7 · answered by erinn83bis 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
My cat loves dried fruit, and that's sweet.
Cats are quirky, maybe yours likes the texture
2007-02-06 08:09:45 · answer #8 · answered by allyalexmch 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
cats kinda got their own little flow going..they all have diffrent little personalaties'and all have their likes and dislikes... cats are so sleek and they are awfully smart too! 'thats why i love cats so,,,,
2007-02-06 08:24:33 · answer #9 · answered by Cami lives 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋