Two things about Hillary

[james_davis_nicoll]

She loves this heat. I knew that.

If left unattended with a peeled banana, she will eat a surprisingly large amount of it. This was something of a surprise.

I can't say that her expression when I caught her was that of a cat who was stealing a treat. It was more ... determined to have this special food when the other cats could not, regardless of its taste.

I just hope this experiment goes better than her sister's consumption of green peppers.

Comments

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

You may want to guard other sweet fruit around Ms. Hillary. I had a cat companion who loved bananas, the riper the better. She also loved guava juice and ripe pears. If it was a sweet, juicy fruit, she was more than happy to help me eat it. Waste not, want not, you know...

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

I've read that cats cannot detect sweetness, unlike most mamals. I would guess that your cat liked something else about really ripe fruit.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I've read that too but I have to say that if Ophelia doesn't have a sweet-tooth, she fakes it very, very well.

O is also totally mad for chocolate.

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

According to this breeder of Russian Blues, cats do have a few taste buds for sweet at the back of their tongues. Interestingly, my cat who loved sweet fruit was a Russian Blue type. (I.e., her black-and-white mother somehow managed to produce a kitten who could have passed for a pure-bred Russian Blue.)

The sweet fruit she liked tended to be the kind that is strongly aromatic when quite ripe, so the scent may have had as much to do with it as the taste.

For the benefit of new cat owners out there: cat > chocolate > high mortality risk. I'm sure you already know that; you said Ophelia is mad for it, not that you give it to her.

Did you do that on purpose (Ophelia - mad)?

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

For the benefit of new cat owners out there: cat > chocolate > high mortality risk. I'm sure you already know that; you said Ophelia is mad for it, not that you give it to her.

I know, yup.

It's amazing: open a container of chocolate and she comes running in, whining like her life would end if she didn't get any.

Sweet-eating carnivores

[laetitia-apis.livejournal.com]

I learned very young that while your average, standard-issue dog is indifferent to sweets, a few dogs love sugar. I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that the same is true of cats.

--
J.A.B.

personality matters

[elynne.livejournal.com]

Amber won't eat anything except krunchy kitty kibble, and whatever she can catch. She won't eat cat treats, fish (raw or cooked), wet cat food, meat (raw or cooked) - nothing. She utterly disdains human-provided non-kibble.

Best Amber escapade to date: bringing a live yearling crow into the basement, and letting it go. The crow was a crowning achievement, but she's also played catch-and-release with sparrows, starlings, a flicker (kind of woodpecker the size of a pigeon), mice, rats (foot-long city rats), and a hamster. Okay, the hamster didn't make it into the house alive, so it technically doesn't belong on the list.

Miir can frequently be found in the kitchen, begging for a taste of anything that anybody is making. If somebody is eating it, she's willing to try it, no matter how unlikely. This is how I know that she loves crisp rice cereal, sourdough bread, and soy milk. Tuna sushi will cause her to instantly materialize with pitiful meows and adorable kitten staaares as she slowly wastes away from starvation.

Best Miir escapade to date: having found a box of powdered milk large enough for her to crawl inside of in a floor-level cupboard, she proceeded to claw it open and go. to. town. I came into the kitchen and beheld a grey-and-black striped kitten whose face and forepaws were coated with white powder, licking her chops and mewling triumphantly. She complained when I took the powdered milk away, and cleaned up the spill. An hour later, she complained even more, and spent a lot of time in the litterbox.

... I'm totally posting this in my LJ. :D

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid to ask about the experiment with green peppers...

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Green peppers appear to be X-Lax for Cats.

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

Just what my cats do NOT need...

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... we have to give Nestor prescription lactulose for that.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Imagine a feces-powered Saturn Five rocket and you won't be too far off the effect it had on Ophelia.

[debgeisler.livejournal.com]

It is very troubling that I didn't think "cat" when I saw "two things about Hillary." Too many discussions of U.S. politics.

It made your second paragraph...interesting.