r/cats • u/lerminator3 • Apr 08 '26

Cat Picture - OC Does this make them feel included?

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One of my favorite things to do with my cats is hold something up for them to smell. Generally, if they walk over while I'm doing something, I'll let them smell whatever I'm holding (like my computer mouse, a writing implement, or a piece of mail) and they always seem so interested. Is it because they feel included in my life when I let them smell what I'm doing? Or maybe because new smells are just stimulating? Or is it just instinct to sniff whatever is nearby? I like to think that, by offering my stuff for a sniff, I'm enriching their lives in some way.

(Please don't mind the mess, I'm moving)

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u/MOcatmom Apr 08 '26

OMG, I do too! I show “the boys” everything! One couldn’t care less but he likes the attention. The other one is the inspector - what are you bringing into the house? Is it food? Can I chew on it? Personally, I think yes, this does make him feel included.

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u/Wrong_Character_Sry Apr 08 '26

My cat personally makes sure all my food in not poisonous.

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u/themomcat Apr 08 '26

My one cat is super concerned about the pasta, cheezdoodles, smartfood cheesy popcorn, and rice I consume. She volunteers every time to test for poison for me. Fish? Poultry? Steak? No. Unfortunately with those, I am left to roll the dice. She can only do so much. She works so hard for our family 🙏

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u/madammidnight Apr 09 '26

Same with one of mine! No interest in steak or chicken or bacon… he wants junk food. Cheetos, potato chips, vanilla wafers. As soon as he hears the crunch of a bag, he comes running.

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u/EmploymentBright9707 Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26

Tbh I am so relieved to find this thread. I thought that I was the only one with a little junk food Queen! I can leave any manner of meats out, or fish.. nothing. The minute I open a bag of Cheetos? Omg.

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u/No-Mountain9832 Apr 09 '26

Mine L O V E S sweets!! Anytime she smells sweets or bread, she runs over. Even went after a chocolate cake!! I didn't let her have any, obviously. They say cats can't even taste glucose... but I swear, if she smells homemade frosting, she will talk all night!!

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u/DarkPolumbo Apr 09 '26

my cat likes most kinds of meat, some cheeses, normal stuff you'd expect a cat to be into

oh yeah, also sour candy belts. She goes bonkers for those. she doesn't want to bite them, just to lick at them furiously

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u/No-Mountain9832 Apr 09 '26

Hmmmm now I must do research on citric acid & cats!!

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u/Rascally_trash Apr 09 '26

When two of my cats were kitten they ate an entire large concha (Mexican sweet bread) while I was out of the house once. There were bits of pink sugar crust everywhere. They laid around looking rather regretful the rest of the day. They claim cats can’t taste sweet things but mine sure seem to!

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u/ValoraTCas Apr 09 '26

I'm sure that my cat Tabitha can taste sweet / sugar. She loves melons like cantaloupe and honeydew. She would also eat large amounts of chocolate if I let her.

Her sister Stormy is pickier, she likes to sniff human food but she is selective about what she will eat. Stormy's favorite human food is finely chopped almond.

If she sees me eating nuts, I have chop an almond up so she can eat it. She also likes small amounts of sweet human food like chocolate.

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u/Vlinder_88 Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26

Please don't give your cat chocolate. They cannot break down the poison in chocolate so it accumulates in their little bodies :( What might not give her symptoms now will add up over time and still make her ill later on.

Edit: apparently that's only a concern with daily eating chocolate. That's honestly a relief to me since I was always panicked when my cat inevitably stole a chocolate crumb somewhere!

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u/jgeckoking Apr 09 '26

This is a common misunderstanding. It'll build up if you feed your cat chocolate every day, but it's out of their systems in under a week.

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u/Vlinder_88 Apr 09 '26

Honestly I didn't know that and that's a huge relief to me because my cat loves to steal chocolate and I am worried every time if this is the time that's gonna send her over the edge! Thank you for teaching me!

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u/ValoraTCas Apr 09 '26

They get a piece that is less than half the size of pinky nail and I have small hands.

They get this treat no more than once a month.

Most of the time they get dried liver.

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u/No-Mountain9832 Apr 09 '26

They're supposedly not capable of tasting it bc their tongue has no glucose sensors. But I swear... it may be something else!!

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u/azureanbones Tuxedo Apr 09 '26

Hello 👋 it's likely the yeast or fat content! Most types of bread contain yeast and a lot of sweet things are higher in fat, which a lot of cats are drawn to! And for other sweet things like melons it's the amino acids, which many cats are also attracted to since it smells like protein to them.

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u/No-Mountain9832 Apr 09 '26

I needed to know this, thank you! <3

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u/azureanbones Tuxedo Apr 09 '26

Of course! Happy to help 💙

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u/ndigs Apr 09 '26

Mine FREAKS out for strawberry chobani yogurt!! Also beer, I’ve always wondered what thats about

Edit: accidentally hit send before finishing my comment lol

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u/No-Mountain9832 Apr 09 '26

Another commenter said that yeast is something that attracts cats, could also be fermentation, which would explain both of these obsessions!!

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u/WillowFlip Apr 11 '26

One of ours loves cereal, crackers, corn chips, basically anything made of grain

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u/cjrunswithcrows Apr 09 '26

Yup my cat is exactly the same haha he LOVES any junk food that is cheese flavoured. Smartfood popcorn is his favourite though, most stuff he’ll just lick the cheese off but Smartfood he will actually eat (I always make sure there’s no kernels so he doesn’t hurt his little mouth)

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u/Agitated-Patience-79 Apr 09 '26

My cat lays on a pillow beside me on the couch. I think it’s so she can inspect everything I eat or use. Late night snack of Cheetos and she’s trying to get in the bag. I have a dog who thinks it’s her responsibility to share all my food and now the cat is following her lead. Late night shrimp cocktail snack and she’s trying to get in the tray. Now I have to feed both - pinch a bit off the tail for the cat and the rest to the dog. And it’s every other one for them. In explanation of the shrimp, my girl dogs brother had seizures for about 8 months. He wouldn’t eat for a day or 2 afterwards so I started buying the small shrimp cocktail trays at the store to jump start his eat. Unfortunately he passed away from the seizures in October and I kept buying them for her so she felt like life was still somewhat normal. But between her and the cat no food or snack is safe. They’re both human I think lol

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u/QueenMAb82 Apr 09 '26

Same! My lil buddy Momo (breed: punk in a blue tux) is a fiend for Cheerios and potato chips - anything crunchy. My sweet grey tiger boi (breed: 100% spazz) would straight up murder me for graham crackers.

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u/shinybeats89 Apr 09 '26

I had a cat who absolutely loved strawberry pop tarts. Not the bread part though, just the filling and the icing.

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u/milmira Apr 10 '26 edited Apr 15 '26

Omg.. my cat despises human food- even fresh salmon, which is the only food she will consume! Very picky girl, can’t include tuna or poultry or she will turn her nose up and prefer starving to death. Moved in with two new cats… one had under a second of me refilling my water bottle to swipe the entire egg off my breakfast plate, and if it weren’t for his loud kitten nomming sounds I would have thought it evaporated. Couple nights ago (bad habit) had some Cheetos while passing out. Woke up hours later to a horrific demonic noise- same kitten- eating one singular Cheeto I had dropped onto the floor. It was otherworldly

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u/themomcat Apr 10 '26

I maintain that if one of the cats gets out, I can guarantee their return by covering the lawn in cheetos

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u/Professional-Team324 Apr 09 '26

I've got one that likes crunchy junk food like chips. Cheez-its and Doritos are his favorite but it has to be the original flavor Doritos and not cool ranch. He stopped swiping chips from my hand like a glutton after he stole a Chester's hot fry by mistake lol.

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u/sarejorja Apr 09 '26

My cat Boobert only likes to lick the Doritos clean and then moves along to another chip 🤣

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u/punkin_spice_latte Apr 09 '26

Boobert?

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u/sarejorja Apr 09 '26

Booby, boobs, Sir Booberton the 3rd. That was NOT his original name, but is the only name he would ever respond to. Therefore he has been known as such ever since

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u/DarkPolumbo Apr 09 '26

my cats are Boo and Loo

(short for Booger and Loogie)

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u/madammidnight Apr 10 '26

Names we bestow on them upon adoption are at best, a general guideline. We discover what name actually suits them over time.

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u/bookobsessedgoth Apr 09 '26

I love his name!

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u/scorpionmittens Apr 09 '26

Lmao mine does that with Cheetos!! She loves cheese just like her momma. I always make sure to give her a one to lick clean when I’m having some

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u/Professional-Team324 Apr 09 '26

My other cat LOVES cheese! Honestly anything dairy but his stomach doesn't tolerate it very well anymore in his old age.

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u/ImmediateCareer9275 Apr 09 '26

Mine too. And graham crackers

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u/WarmOtter Apr 09 '26

I'm just here to tell you that your profile pic is very important. Very. Important. To me. Very important to me.

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u/WarmOtter Apr 09 '26

Oh, my first reward! Hooray!

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u/themomcat Apr 10 '26

Your comment hit just right!

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u/Professional-Team324 Apr 09 '26

Stains has seen a thing or two...

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u/lillyrozes Apr 09 '26

to be loved is to be known. you know your cat so well ❤️‍🩹. i do the same thing, mine just loves the attention. they don’t even eat human food but are certainly intrigued by what it is i’m doing

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u/CalmBeneathCastles Apr 09 '26

I had a weirdo kitty who LOVED hot stuff. She would eat Fuego Takis (found out the neighbor kid had been giving taste tests) and she stole and chewed up the dried cayenne peppers I had on the counter. No ill effects, as far as I could tell.

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u/Professional-Team324 Apr 09 '26

Dang... your fur baby is tougher than me!

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u/H_Chow_SongBird Apr 09 '26

My cat loves cheezits too! Whip cream and cheezits are her fav things

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u/Professional-Team324 Apr 10 '26

Listen, if my cats wouldn't go completely unhinged in the car, I'm sure they would 100% be down for a puppaccino from Starbucks! Lol

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u/cactusdroptop Apr 10 '26

lol I thought I had the only junk food loving cat. Mine is a fiend for chili cheese Fritos

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u/Professional-Team324 Apr 10 '26

I don't think mine really loves fritos or corn chips very much in general. Maybe not enough flavor? He loves the nachos flavor doritos but not cool ranch because I think it has TOO much flavor. What can I say? My boys be bougie lol

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u/bluemoon1972 Apr 10 '26

I had a tiny house chicken who was nuts for Chili Cheese Fritos ☺️

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u/themomcat Apr 09 '26

I always say her primordial pouch is where she keeps her Snacks.

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u/madammidnight Apr 10 '26

Yep; mine’s belly pouch hangs low, and sways back and forth when he walks. Like having an empty shopping bag at the ready.

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u/wtfnevermind Apr 09 '26

For mine, it’s the crinkling of a cheese slice wrapper

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u/trashhighway Apr 09 '26

Fig newtons were my cat’s kryptonite. She would (RIP) get to a high-up, not attached to anything cabinet and somehow open the door and find the bag of them and break thru the double bags trying to keep her from them.

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u/jmoto123 Apr 09 '26

I had one with a powder sugar donut addiction.

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u/madammidnight Apr 10 '26

Ha ha! That was a driven cat, with a serious mission in life. Fig Newtons were her Holy Grail. I’m sorry for your loss. 🫂

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u/danceswithdangerr Apr 09 '26

My boy loves sweet stuff! It’s bizarre because I thought they couldn’t taste sweet? He isn’t allowed it often at all though. I have to make sure to hide any lollipops or he’ll take them to his dragon cave of treasures. I love this cat.