That was the conclusion of a Very Important Scientific Study conducted recently:
"Now, there’s a scientific theory explaining, at least in part, why cats have such snobby eating habits: genetics.
"Researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia and their collaborators said Sunday they found a dysfunctional feline gene that probably prevents cats from tasting sweets, a sensation nearly every other mammal on the planet experiences to varying degrees.
"Researchers took saliva and blood samples from six cats, including a tiger and a cheetah and found each had a useless gene that other mammals use to create a ‘sweet receptor’ on their tongues. The gene in question does not produce one of the two vital proteins needed to form the receptors.
"’Because cats can’t taste sweets, they’re cranky,’ joked Joseph Brand, Monell’s associate director and an author of the paper being published Sunday in the inaugural issue of the Public Library of Science’s journal Genetics."
Just what the world needs: Scientific proof that cats are finicky.
One wonders why scientists choose the research topics that they do. While a study like this might be entertaining, of what possible use could it be to the furtherance of scientific inquiry? Merely to be able to say that we know? I hope that there is some use to studies like this and that it is only my completely unscientific mind that barely scraped through required high-school science that cannot fathom it.
Genetics? Give me a break, I have a much simpler explanation.
Cats are of the devil, sweets are an absolute good, ergo: Cats can not taste sweets.
Occam’s Razor supports my much simpler explanation.
Well, my cat loves vanilla ice cream (don’t turn your back on your bowl because Pippin will have his nose in it in a flash) and he also drinks the milk left at the bottom of my son’s cereal bowl. And quite a few posters over at Lucianne told tales of cats who like sweet things. So perhaps the purpose of the story is to inoculate us against “SCIENTIFIC STUDIES SHOW…” stories, which is probably a good thing.
Cats have nervous systems that are very similar to ours, and learning where their systems depart from ours (even on very fine details–the basics of how cats differ from humans should be quite obvious, of course!) could be useful for human biomedical research. I’m a graduate student in mathematical biology, and can attest that some fairly obscure journal articles can sometimes fill in a very critical piece of the puzzle.
Did this research merit such widespread attention? Probably not, even with all the cat-people in the world (like myself), but that’s the media’s fault, not the scientists’!
I agree with the comment above: this article was just picked up by the media because it’s quite simple to understand, and it’s about a topic people know about (cats and their eating habits), so people are interested.
Meanwhile, ALL genes in ALL living creatures are being studied to find out what their functions are (specifically: the functions of the proteins that are encoded by the genes). I’m working on one myself, and thousands of other people are working on other genes just to find out what it all does.
Some stories are very important for general human health, and those will be published in mainstream media. Others are whimsical, like cats and sweets, and end up in mainstream media too. But most of them are just little puzzle pieces adding to the growing pile of understanding of biology, and are only published in specific scientific journals.
But don’t you know, this will eventuall lead to a cure for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s!
One wonders why scientists choose the research topics that they do. While a study like this might be entertaining, of what possible use could it be to the furtherance of scientific inquiry? Merely to be able to say that we know? I hope that there is some use to studies like this and that it is only my completely unscientific mind that barely scraped through required high-school science that cannot fathom it.
Yes, sorry to say, it is your completely unscientific mind, Michelle, but I mean this politely. This can have many applications to further studies, such as whether certain behavioral or dietary studies should include or exclude cats; and a layman just never knows how other understandings have been developed up from this study or what understandings about biology have been built upon from from this study. It’s not just about “Your cute little lap loaf o’ fluff doesn’t like sweets for a reason!” I guarantee that. That’s just how the Press spins it. Let me guess, you found this in Oddly Enough syndicated news by Reuters, or the Washington Post?
Actually, no study can surprise me after one (done by an actual university) that involved determining that a woman is more likely to conceive a child if she had previously ingested that man’s genetic material.
Tried to put that as delicately as possible…
Thanks to everyone who pointed out the uses of such studies. I feel better now. I guess it is the media that makes such studies seem odd or weird when reporting on them.
The secret plan of science is to find out lots of interesting stuff now, and figure out what’s useful about it later.
That said, this really is a useful as well as decorative study…but personally, I find it rather fulfilling to know about cat tastebuds. Humans should want to know this sort of thing. We’re just nosy that way (even before all that God is Truth stuff).
I think the study is harmful because it detracts from the truth and tries to find alternative explanations for the immutable reality. For all your discussion, no one has been able to surpass the simplicity of this truth:
Cats are evil, Sweets are Good, ergo Cats hate sweets.
All that other stuff about Genetics and eating habits and carnivores… It’s just distracting.
Well, my cat loves vanilla ice cream (don’t turn your back on your bowl because Pippin will have his nose in it in a flash) and he also drinks the milk left at the bottom of my son’s cereal bowl.
That’s because cats like milk, not because they like sweet things.
Some cats have weird tastes. I had a cat who loved saltines (he liked them so much that he would bat them right out of your hand) and, to a lesser extent, popcorn. I had another cat who liked to eat French fries. And still another who would eat almost anything (we later found out that she was pregnant :oops:).
Cats definitely don’t like spearmint or peppermint. Try blowing in your cat’s face after brushing your teeth. Oddly, they do like catnip (catmint), which is a close relative.
Cats definitely don’t like spearmint or peppermint. Try blowing in your cat’s face after brushing your teeth. Oddly, they do like catnip (catmint), which is a close relative.
My husband’s childhood cat used to lick toothpaste! I’m not lying; I saw it! 🙂
Well my cat eats MINT chocolate chip ice cream, and chocolate. Can u explain why? And if i spelled something wrong i’m sorry cuz i suck at spelling. =]
blahhhhh
my cat loves to eat sraghetti and popcorn and I once saw HIM eating a tomatoe and another time a cucumber. And more on topic why do ALL cats love whipped cream. and why do animals eat antifreeze i know it sounds crazy but some animals do ….because its sweet
Our cat likes to chew on people’s hair, especially when it is freshly washed.