Do cats taste good?

[RStar]

Ok, I know dogs have no sense of taste, considering they eat poo off the dirt. While cats are picky eaters. Which makes me wonder, do they have taste buds?

My cat loves hot cheetos, even the extra hot. But he turns his nose up at plain ones. The same with potato chips, unless they are flavored he won't touch them. Is there something in the flavorings that he is attracted to? Is it the MSG?

And why doesn't the hot cheetos cause him to tear up, scream, and run to his water bowl? Does he not have the nerves that sense the "hot" spice?

I tried asking him, but he's not saying. He also won't say if he's color blind, but that's another thread. ;)

[Alex]

Poking around I see that strictly speaking cats have an abysmal sense of taste. Only about 450-500 taste buds (humans have about 9000). They have all four of the same taste receptors as humans (sweet, sour, bitter, salty) but bitter is overrepresented (like me, cats generally hate bitter food) while sweet is underrepresented.

Apparently smell plays a much larger role in their food preferences than taste.

Dogs are better off than cats with about 1700 taste buds, mostly concentrated around the tip of the tongue. They also have all four types. They too primarily rely on smell for food preferences (200 million odor receptors in the nose compared to 5 million for humans).

When combining taste and smell both cats and dogs are superior to humans but on taste alone we come out ahead.

[€uroMeinke]

I recall reading something or hearing something on NPR recently about the taste abilities of cats, that they don't have a sense of sweet - and so it's fat and protein that usually make their mouths water.

[JWBear]

I imagine they would be quite tasty in a nice Bourguignon sauce....

[Not Afraid]

Dogs also like high fat and protein tastes. That is why they like cat poop so much - high fat and protein.

[RStar]

Dogs also like high fat and protein tastes. That is why they like cat poop so much - high fat and protein.And you know cat poop is high in fat and protien....how?? ;)

Which brings up another question. If cat poop is high in fat and protien, does that mean they aren't digesting properly? It seems to me that it would be a waste of caleries to just poop them out.....

Thanks for the info, Alex!

€uroMeinke, I had heard something about cats not having the receptors for tasting sweet in the news recently as well, now that you mention it.

[Gemini Cricket]

Do cats taste good?
Dunno... I've never eaten a cat.

:D

[RStar]

Do cats taste good?
Dunno... I've never eaten a cat.

:D

I bit my cats arm the other day, but all I got was fur in my mouth and a bloody lip. Didn't taste very good to me.

(Disclaimer: we were playing around, I gently put his leg in my mouth and touched with my teeth. He quickly withdrew his arm and caught my lip with a claw. Bled like a mutha, of course I deserved it).

[RStar]

Do cats taste good?
Dunno... I've never eaten a cat.

:D

Is that a gay joke? ;)