Ask Lemmy

26858 readers

2530 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected]

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected]. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Have you ever tasted your pet's food? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

113 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Looking past the recent vegan drama, have you ever wondered why your pet might not like particular foods? Have you ever actually tasted the food yourself?

I have, and some taste more like a chemistry lab than actual nutrition.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 56 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (24 children)

I mean, animals don't necessarily experience taste in the same ways humans do. What tastes terrible to me may still be very appealing to a dog or cat etc., regardless of taste.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Exactly. We like sweet things as this is our way to detect glucose for our brain; salty things for minerals, etc. Our pets diets are different, so are their taste preferences. Iirc, a totally blunt piece of dried food tastes great for a cat, since they seek protein more than anything.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Yup, cats can't taste sweetness for that reason, while birds don't have receptors for spice and can eat chillies easily.

That's just the taste buds themselves, additionally:

A large part of our taste response is tied to smell. This is why food tastes different when sick. It's also hard to try yourself because you can "smell" through the back of your throat too
the air around us will affect taste perception, which is why some foods taste better or worse on a plane
genetic factors exist, such as how some people taste cilantro/parsley as soapy

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I have the cilantro soap gene. Never heard of the taste of parsley being affected the same way.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

That's why hospital food seemed so next level bland, everything smelled like "clean."

load more comments (22 replies)