Strange but True: Cats Cannot Taste Sweets (another reason Cats are inferior to Dogs)

Scientific American ^ | March 08, 2007 | David Biell

[Ben Mugged]

Sugar and spice and everything nice hold no interest for a cat. Our feline friends are only interested in one thing: meat (except for saving up the energy to catch it by napping, or a round of restorative petting…) This is not just because inside every domestic tabby lurks a killer just waiting to catch a bird or torture a mouse, it is also because cats lack the ability to taste sweetness, unlike every other mammal examined to date. The tongues of most mammals hold taste receptors—proteins on the cellular surface that bind to an incoming substance, activating the cell's internal workings that lead to a signal being sent to the brain. Humans enjoy five kinds of taste buds (possibly six): sour, bitter, salty, umami (or meatiness) and sweet (as well as possibly fat). The sweet receptor is actually made up of two coupled proteins generated by two separate genes: known as Tas1r2 and Tas1r3.

~snip~ Whether as a result of this dietary choice or the cause of it, all cats—lions, tigers and British longhairs, oh my—lack 247 base pairs of the amino acids that make up the DNA of the Tas1r2 gene. As a result, it does not code for the proper protein, it does not merit the name gene (only pseudogene), and it does not permit cats to taste sweets. "They don't taste sweet the way we do," says Joe Brand, biochemist and associate director at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. "They're lucky. Cats really have bad teeth as it is."

[Ben Mugged]

Explains a lot of their licking behaviour.

[MissEdie]

Then why does my kitty like honey?

[theFIRMbss]

>another reason Cats are inferior to Dogs

[bnelson44]

My cat loves frozen corn

[Ben Mugged]

Thanx, I needed that......

[beeber]

My cat does not care for pancakes... on his head.

[Ouderkirk]

my cat will scratch your eyes out for a chunk of watermellon

[mewzilla]

[abner]

I have a cat that likes any beer or any alcoholic beverage. None is safe when he is around.

[Joe 6-pack]

In a related story, scientists have determined that dogs think cats taste sweet...

[Ben Mugged]

So far, cats are alone among mammals in lacking the sweet gene; even close relatives among the meat-eaters like hyenas and mongooses have it. And cats may lack other components of the ability to enjoy (and digest) sugars, such as glucokinase in their livers—a key enzyme that controls the metabolism of carbohydrates and prevents glucose from flooding the animal. Despite this, most major pet food manufacturers use corn or other grains in their meals. "This may be why cats are getting diabetes," Brand offers. "Cat food today has around 20 percent carbohydrates. The cats are not used to that, they can't handle it." What these fearsome predators of suburbia cannot taste may be hurting them. But it also means that most cat lovers don't have to worry about Simon snatching their unattended dessert.

[angcat]

My cat enjoys Weight Watchers Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.

[nodumbblonde]

Ha! My cat will do serious bodily harm for red licorice or a circus peanut. lol

[twonie]

We had one like that - Arnold - named after Arnold Ziffle. God rest his soul.

[RosieCotton]

Mine likes cantelope - and chestnuts.

But he ain't right in the head.

[CzarNicky]

I cannot leave Oreo cookies out or my cats will eat them and chocolate is very bad for cats.

[ichabod1]

Carrrrrne... carrrrrne... think Ricardo Montalban.

[AnAmericanMother]

Dog thinking: "Hmm. Do I eat the Cat? Bone? Cat? Bone?"

Cat thinking: "Hmm. Do I eat the Dog? Bone? Dog? Bone?"

[visualops]

Dogs like sweets, just don't give them chocolate.
I have a cat that likes sweets, of course it may be just that he eats about anything.

[cjshapi]

My cat loves potato chips.