Understanding your young cat’s taste buds

Cats only have a few hundred taste buds compared to the over 9,000 that humans have. You may have noticed that your young cat is quite the picky eater. This might leave you wondering: What tastes do kittens have? 

What is your young cat’s sense of taste like?

Your young cat’s taste buds are located on the tip, sides and rear of the tongue, while the center of the tongue is mostly covered by the small barbs that help with grooming and eating.

Although your cat doesn’t have nearly as many taste buds as you do, they do have a refined sense of smell. Smell plays a very important role in a cat’s appetite. And don’t forget that your cat has a well-developed vomeronasal organ (Jacobson’s organ) for sensing pheromones. This sensing is described as a combination of smelling and tasting.

Despite a cat’s limited number of taste buds, cats appear to have the ability to taste sour, bitter, salty and umami/savory flavors. Their ability to detect sweetness is limited to nonexistent.

What tastes do cats like?

The one taste that cats have been shown to prefer is savory/umami. Cats appear to prefer foods that are high in protein and fat, which generally have a more meaty or savory flavor. Examples of flavors your umami-loving young cat might enjoy include fish, chicken and beef.

Cats who enjoy what they’re eating will smack their lips, lick their noses and protrude their tongue more often. They’ll also spend more time eating with their eyes half-closed.

What tastes do cats dislike?

Bitter

Cats have at least 7 different receptors for bitter tastes and appear to reject bitter foods more readily than dogs or humans. This may serve as a self-defense mechanism to protect the cat from potentially toxic foods.

Sweet

Cats have minimal ability to taste sweet objects. As a result, they’re likely to reject sugary foods.

How to use your young cat’s sense of taste for enrichment

Rather than focusing solely on the sense of taste for your cat’s enrichment, consider both taste and smell together. Occasionally providing a treat that has a strong, savory odor is likely to bring a lot of excitement into your cat’s life.

When choosing treats to reward your cat, you may have more success if you choose treats with meaty flavors rather than fruity or sweet flavors.

You can still offer things that may not be conventionally enjoyable to cats, like small pieces of lettuce or a small piece of strawberry. Your cat may turn up their nose, but you will have still engaged their sense of smell. Your young cat also might still decide that the object is worth a taste.