We think of cats as having extremely fined tuned and heightened senses, compared to our own. They can jump, twist, run, hear, smell, and see better than we would ever hope to.

With that in mind, it may be surprising to learn that humans have approximately 9,000 taste buds on their tongues compared to the paltry 470 that a cat has! Yikes, does that mean they can hardly taste anything?

Well, yes and no. Maybe. We can ask the cat all day long, but he’s not talking!

Here are some things we think we know:

The sense of smell is extremely important in attracting cats (and us) to food and also in aiding tasting food. Cat’s noses are many times more sensitive than our own, so it is believed that their heightened sense of smell assists a great deal in their tasting of different flavors.

In addition to the sense of smell that is similar to our own, cats have what might be described as an auxiliary sense. The roof of the cat’s mouth contains a biological structure called the Jacobson’s organ. It connects the mouth to the nasal passage. It is believed that animals with this organ (cats, dogs, mice, horses, elephants, goats, cattle, pigs, lizards, snakes, and some monkeys) use this organ in order to sort of taste-smell aromas around them such as food and pheromones.

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