Do you think your cat has a sense of taste? We think of cats as having extremely fine-tuned and heightened senses compared to our own. With that in mind, it may be surprising to learn that humans have approximately 9,000 taste buds on their tongues compared to the paltry 470 that a cat has.
Humans have taste buds that distinguish sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and meaty/savory (umami). Cats have taste buds like our own; however, their sweet buds are not very reactive. The sense of taste in cats appears similar to that of other mammals with the exception of an inability to taste sweet stimuli.
Domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus) (herein referred to as “cats”) are neither attracted to, nor show avoidance of the taste of sweet carbohydrates and high-intensity sweeteners.
Many people say they have cats that are attracted to candy, ice cream, pudding, etc. They are sure their cat loves sweets, but it is probably the fat content of the food that they are drawn to. Cats are easily able to detect fat.
Food temperature is also important to a cat, with preferences usually toward warmer food, approximately 100 degrees Fahrenheit, which simulates the temperature of freshly killed prey. Most cats will reject a cold dish of food just taken from a refrigerator.
Reference Links
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2063449/
https://www.cathealth.com/cat-care/nutrition/2178-do-cats-have-a-sense-of-taste