It just occurred to me that I have had the following three supposed facts lodged in my brain for a while:
Frankly I’m ashamed that it took a sordid story about Lynn Turner on the news today (“woman murder boyfriend with antifreeze”) to make me realize an inconsistency I should have noticed long ago.
What gives, really?
We were discussing this in a veterinary class of mine a few months back.
The best we could figure: some other aspect of the antifreeze must be appealing, either the smell or the texture. And, while cats tend to be more discriminating than dogs, some cats just like tasting everything.
Is it possible that as well as the “sweet” taste, there might also be a salty sort of taste? I’m just thinking of the way cats will not only go for obvious stuff like cold ham or tuna, but also for strong cheeses, if they get a chance.
Sorry, I suppose that is not a GQ answer, more like a GQ wonderment, or supplementary question.
I would question your premise #1 simply because I’ve never seen a cat taste something that it didn’t smell closely first. I have a cat that walks away from anything that he doesn’t like the smell of. No “experimental” tasting of anything.
This jives with what my vet told me when I had a cat with a sinus infection. He warned me to watch and make sure the cat was eating because he said most cats won’t eat what they can’t smell and they may starve themselves to death if the infection prevents them from smelling their food. Sure enough, I had to force feed my guy for several days until he got better.
I offer up the explanation that cats are just weird.