It's hard to resist a delicious ice cream or a good piece of cake, right? In fact, sweets are a real temptation for many people. But what is delicious for us, can be a threat to the he alth of our pets. Many sweet foods, especially industrialized foods, can cause severe digestive disorders and poison your body.
In addition, some species, such as cats, are unable to taste and tend to reject the most sugary tastes. In this way, we can say that cats do not feel the sweet taste due to a self-defense ability developed naturally by their body during the evolution of their species. To delve deeper into the subject, our site invites you to better understand why cats don't taste sweet in this article.
Cats: picky eaters?
We often hear that cats have a very selective palate. But if a feline in the wild were as capricious with its palate as we imagine a cat to be, this would represent a risk to its survival. Their independent character and skills allow them to position themselves as excellent hunters, but their food also depends on the availability offered by their environment, the time of year, the weather, etc.
So, what is the reason for the “bad fame” of our domestic cats' selective palate? Well, the answer lies in the question itself… Most cats develop a more exclusive palate or capricious behaviors when eating due to domestication This also explains why why stray cats tend to have a more flexible palate than domestic cats. With these animals something very similar happens to wild cats: their survival depends on their ability to adapt to the context and environment to which they are exposed.
The formation of the palate in felines
Cats form the criteria of your palate during their “childhood”, mainly during their first 6 months of lifeIf during this time we present them with a varied diet in flavors, shapes, smells and textures, we favor their adaptation and reduce the possibility that they will refuse food in adulthood. If, on the contrary, we get our kitten used to always eating the same food, we will create a very demanding eater. Upon reaching adult life, it will probably be very difficult to include other aromas and flavors in the diet of an animal that has adhered to a very strict feeding routine.
But you have to be very careful with the changes that living with humans can cause in the eating habits of a feline. Cats do not perceive the sweet taste, but if we offer them sugary foods, we can create an unwanted adaptation and cause innumerable damages in their digestive tract.
What flavors do cats perceive?
Felines have much more privileged sense of smell and vision than ours. But when it comes to the palate, cats have a much less developed sense of taste than humans. While our body has more than 9000 taste bulbs, which allow us to enjoy a huge variety of flavors, cats have fewer than 500 taste bulbs This is the main reason which explains why cats do not perceive the sweet taste and why many foods that seem irresistible to us can be uninteresting to them. Below, we summarize the main flavors that our domestic cats perceive:
- Acid: Cats have a large number of sour taste receptors located all over their tongue. For this reason, they tend to like foods with acidic pH more than alkaline or neutral ones.
- Salados: felines also detect s alty foods very intensely, as they have many receptors for this taste on their tongue.
- Bitters: Cats perceive bitter tastes less intensely than dogs and humans. Thanks to this, they manage to avoid consuming toxic substances, such as strychnine.
Felines are also capable of perceiving the texture, temperature and consistency of their food very well, which is why canned food is more palatable than dry feed.
And why don't cats taste sweet?
We detect sweets, because we have the combination of two proteins in our taste buds. In contrast, cats do not perceive the sweet taste because they produce only one of the two proteins needed to taste it.
Some cats may be interested in certain sweet foods that are high in fat, such as ice cream, or that are sources of protein, such as yogurt. But they strongly reject synthetic sweeteners, such as saccharin, as well as foods that contain them. Specialists affirm that this natural rejection of sweets in felines consists of a self-defense capacity As sugary foods harm your body, causing flatulence, diarrhea and colic, your palate evolved to avoid the consumption of these substances.
If you see your cat eating any sugary treat, mainly chocolate, which in large quantities is toxic to cats, don't hesitate to go to the vet immediately.
