No candy for you, missy!

Ever thought about why your dog has a sweet-tooth and gladly indulge in your cookies and sweets, while if you offer your cat a piece he/she stares at you as if you were stupid just for thinking that he/she would even smell at it? Well, as much as some people would like to believe that cats are smarter than dogs (which is based on the independance of most cats compared to most dogs, which in turn is a false indication of intelligence since this reasoning would state that the lone ourangutangs are much, much more smarter than us human that likes to get along with all the other kids...but that's a whoooole different entry), this is not the answer to the candy question. Actually, cats can't taste the sweetness at all. Sometime during cat evolution the kittie ancestor lost the ability to have taste receptors for all things being sugary. I would think that this is ok since their diet is more dependant on amino-acids than carbohydrates (if I didn't have my childish liking of chocolate and cookies I would gladly remove this part of my genome too!)

Since this is not exclusive for our cute little homies that cuddles with us hairless primates, but concern all cats (tigers, lions, yeah you get it now) I suppose I'll be safe on a savannah if I dress up as a lolipop? This must be tested empirically...

Sources:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2063449