# My cat loves olives too! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [June 6, 2006, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-loves-olives-too/359588 "2006-06-06T08:03:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![daisy\_oscar\_s\_mom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@daisy\_oscar\_s\_mom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daisy_oscar_s_mom)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-loves-olives-too/359588/1 "2006-06-06T08:03:53Z")
Hi! I became a brand new member just to comment on your answer to the member that asked you about the smell of olives appealling to their cat Ivan. I have a one year old neutered male tabby cat named Oscar and he is the pickiest cat i’ve ever met when it comes to food. “Normal” cat treats and food don’t always appeal to him and table scraps are definitley out of the question. But, for some strange reason he always sniffs out the green olives when i snack on them (probably a weird snack, I know). I started putting out a few broken up on a plate for him occasionally and every time he gobbles them up like he’s been starving! (I can assure you he’s FAR from it.) I was just wondering if maybe this love for olives is not only limited to Ivan and Oscar? I guess I’m not really asking you for an answer but rather letting you, Ivan’s owner, and anyone else that has a weird cat know that Ivan is not alone in the olive fetish. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-loves-olives-too/359588/2 "2006-06-07T20:19:08Z")
[Link to original column "What is it with cats and catnip? "](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_008.html) One of ours likes olives too, but mostly only as a play toy (they roll well on the kitchen floor) although she will give it an occasional lick. Perhaps it’s the salt taste from the brine they’re packed in? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-loves-olives-too/359588/3 "2006-06-07T20:25:13Z")
It’s probably the salt. I used to have a cat that would go totally ape everything I opened a jar of cashew nuts. If proper tribute was not immediately paid, she would try to swat the jar out of my hand so that it would spill and she could revel in cashewy goodness. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-loves-olives-too/359588/4 "2006-06-14T18:46:46Z")
We had asparagus last Saturday, steamed, lightly salted, with margarine and parm… our one cat was jumping and swatting to get his paws on that stuff. I think he ate three full pieces that night. Although, he had been given tapeworm meds a few days before so maybe he was missing the stringy feeling inside 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![hawksgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ed655f/32.png) [@hawksgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawksgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-loves-olives-too/359588/5 "2006-06-14T18:50:51Z")
> [@FordPrefect](#): > > We had asparagus last Saturday, steamed, lightly salted, with margarine and parm… our one cat was jumping and swatting to get his paws on that stuff. I think he ate three full pieces that night. Although, he had been given tapeworm meds a few days before so maybe he was missing the stringy feeling inside 🙂 Um, EWW! :eek: tapeworms… stringy… asparagus… ugh…thanks for ruining a perfectly good vegetable for me. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-loves-olives-too/359588/6 "2006-06-15T13:26:21Z")
Sorry! I wouldn’t want to ruin asparagus (asparagii _pl. in the Prefect home_) for anyone! Boots (the cat in question) never showed interest in asparagii before that day so my conjecture was only that. Eat asparagii, enjoy asparagii, and forget about stringy worms… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-loves-olives-too/359588/7 "2006-06-15T14:06:31Z")
Olives are gross. 🙂 Welcome to the boards, daisy & oscar’s mom. ---
**Author:** ![drhess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@drhess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drhess)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-loves-olives-too/359588/8 "2006-06-15T15:11:40Z")
My aunt sent me some fresh “cat mint” from her garden that seems different from cat nip, or maybe just that it’s fresh. The leaves are fairly large and my will pee on the carpet after a heavy dose, but not after “regular” dried cat nip. Certain grassed he will go crazy for, too, but without getting “stoned.” ---
**Author:** ![moonstarssun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@moonstarssun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moonstarssun)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-loves-olives-too/359588/9 "2006-06-20T19:30:19Z")
Pixel _loves_ kalamata olives\*. He begs for them like other cats do for fish or chicken, and he does the Olive Dance of Joy when we give him some. (This involves picking up a tiny bite in his mouth, rearing up on his hind legs, and swinging his little bite of olive in a dramatic swoop.) And he doesn’t just lick them, either. He actually snarfs them down and asks for more. \*He doesn’t like any other kind–only kalamata. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-loves-olives-too/359588/10 "2006-06-21T22:31:45Z")
> [@daisy & oscar's mom](#): > > I was just wondering if maybe this love for olives is not only limited to Ivan and Oscar? I guess I’m not really asking you for an answer but rather letting you, Ivan’s owner, and anyone else that has a weird cat know that Ivan is not alone in the olive fetish. Except for right now, thank TPTB, I’ve had cats in the house my whole life (6 total), and I can tell you that at least 4 of them went goofy over green olives. We first noticed it with cat #2, about 20 years ago, and have since given olives to all the cats thereafter. They get really nutty with olives. It’s just like catnip. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-loves-olives-too/359588/11 "2006-06-22T02:55:25Z")
My cat, too, goes NUTS over green olives. It’s utterly insane. He’s knocked jars over trying to get into them, and gone utterly batty over a jar that _used to_ contain green olives after the label was in terrible (almost unrecognizable) shape and the jar had been washed! ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-loves-olives-too/359588/12 "2006-06-22T12:49:20Z")
So, if were to make green olives stuffed with fresh catnip, I could, in theory, create kitty crack? The only thing I need to find out is how many cat owners would be willing to pay for this addictive substance for their little furballs. First, some market research, come here Sally! ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-loves-olives-too/359588/13 "2006-06-23T02:43:42Z")
Well, catnip is basically kitty crack in the first place. Putting it in green olives is kind of like hiding crack in a really big woman’s mouth. Most guys who dig crack would think “Hey! Crack! Thanks, see ya.” The very few who really dig crack AND really dig big women would feel like lottery winners. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-loves-olives-too/359588/14 "2006-06-23T04:03:54Z")
I’m glad to see that my cats are not alone in their strange reactions to green olives. They don’t care about catnip, and they won’t touch people food. Just one sniff of green olives sends them certifiably insane, though. They won’t eat them, but the girl lick them and bats them around while the boy goes nuts and starts trying to bite everything in sight. The only time I’ve seen them ever really fight (as opposed to play-wrestling) was when I let them sniff an empty jar. The next thing I knew they had both reared up and were hissing and spitting at each other. I just assumed that they had both had some olive-related trauma in their kittenhood. It’s really weird, though. I have to stay far away from Boris when I snack on olives if I don’t want my fingers bitten, and I haven’t found anything else that affects him that way. ---
**Author:** ![MelCthefirst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@MelCthefirst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MelCthefirst)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-loves-olives-too/359588/15 "2006-07-03T01:46:19Z")
Just had to pop in and say: My Olive loves cats! I could also say My Olive loves Mango! (Olive is my border collie spaniel cross and Mango, my pretty pale orange cat). ---
**Author:** ![Gezellig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4af34b/32.png) [@Gezellig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gezellig)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-loves-olives-too/359588/16 "2006-07-05T21:04:10Z")
Green olives? With or without the pimento? Do they like black olives (which I guess are ripe green olives; if not that makes me wonder if there is something in the inmature fruit that is attracting them)? ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-loves-olives-too/359588/17 "2006-07-05T21:22:39Z")
I’m envious of those of you who have cats with varied tastes. I knew a cat one time who liked Doritos. My cat? Boring. Chicken. Tuna. Chicken. Tuna. That’s pretty much it. Maybe steak. Of course he screams & cries no matter what I’m preparing in the kitchen. But when I let him smell it he jumps back, shakes his head and acts like I just maced him. “What are you trying to do, kill me?!? Cat’s don’t eat olives!”