Can cats taste sweet stuff? ?

Question

I read somewhere the ancestor of all cats today lost one of the 2 genes required to taste sweet stuff. But my friends cat loves chocolate and my own cat likes strawberry laces. Anyone have similar experiences or know if only certain cats can taste sweet stuff?

Answer 1

My cat loves custard

Answer 2

I've read that cats can't taste sweet stuff but Velvet loved the cream filling out of a twinkee, Tosca and Marina both love chocolate. I asked my vet about it once. She is very smart but I didn't buy the answer she gave me. In fact, I don't even remember what it was but she essentially said cats can't taste sweet stuff. I think that is hooey. I think some cats absolutely have an affinity for sweet stuff.

Edit: As one poster said, "Don't feed your cats sweet stuff." That's common sense. I never "fed" my cats sweet stuff. I have let them taste different foods or they have taken a taste while I was caught off guard. I tend to offer my cats teeny, tiny tastes of foods mostly so I can tell what I can walk away from if I need to get up for a moment and what I need to take with me or cover. But a taste is not a meal.

Answer 3

I had a cat that loved chocatate, one that loved crips and heres a wierd one, we had a cat that opened the fridge and stole the tomatoes!!

So what cats do and dont like is very different and paculiar

Answer 4

Regardless whether they can taste this or not WHY are you giving these things to your cat?  Cats are carnivores - not omnivores like humans.  And they certainly shouldn't be eating candy - ESPECIALLY chocolate.  Chocolate contains theobromine which is POISON to cats - please read this and educate yourself - http://www.petpeoplesplace.com/resources...

But to answer your question - yes, then can sense sweet.  Which is why lots of cats die from l*****g antifreeze puddles in driveways because evidentally it has a sweet taste.  Yet another reason to keep your cat indoors.

Edit:  WOW!  You must have some incredible cats!  Because in over 20 years of owning cats I haven't had one that stole crappy human food from me!

Answer 5

DO NOT FEED PETS HUMAN FOOD.  IT IS NOT HEALTHY FOR THEM.  Really, come on.

Answer 6

I had a cat that loved red vines and another that loved strawberry otter pops, oh and one other that loved powdered donuts... So if they can't taste sweet things...then that's just weird, because they loved them!

Answer 7

No. Genetic Mutation Leaves Felines Unable to Taste Sugar

Now researchers studying the DNA of house cats, tigers and cheetahs have settled the question: Cats both large and small harbor a genetic mutation that renders the sugar detectors on their taste buds inoperative.

The work fills a gap in scientists' understanding of the evolution of cats, whose indifference to sugar -- a rare trait among mammals -- complements their complete dietary dependence on meat. In humans and other animals that depend on starches and ripe fruits for a sizable part of their nutrition, the ability to detect sugars is crucial.

This discovery highlights how a species can manage to do without an entire taste modality if it has an ecological niche that will support that lifestyle," said Charles Zuker, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the University of California at San Diego who co-discovered the receptor for sweetness in 2001.