Strange but True: Cats Cannot Taste Sweets

 

Scientists do know, however, that cats can taste things we cannot, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the compound that supplies the energy in every living cell. "There isn't a lot hanging around in meat, but it's a signal for meat," Brand says. And plenty of other animals have a different array of receptors, Li says, from chickens that also lack the sweet gene to catfish that can detect amino acids in water at nanomolar concentrations. "Their receptor is more sensitive than the background concentration," Brand notes. "The catfish that detects the rotting food first is the one that survives."

Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=strange-but-true-cats-cannot-taste-sweets