Some of the stuff I've seen our cat eating, it's both obvious and a blessing that he doesn't have much of a sense of taste.
Goes nuts for the plastic wrappers you get around Pepsi cans and won't stop licking them. Little weirdo.
Goes nuts for the plastic wrappers you get around Pepsi cans and won't stop licking them. Little weirdo.
Two theories I've heard are that beef tallow is sometimes used in the manufacture of such bags so they might be smelling that. Or it could be as simple as they enjoy the sensation and/or sound of licking the bag. Though, they certainly are weirdos.
The best theory I had was that he was getting a buzz from solvent in the ink or the plastic itself.
Or that he was just odd.
The cat is very attached to my partner, and won't let anybody else touch him (always ready with tooth and claw). Not quite as possessive as a parrot, but he's a bit of a terror. He gets especially violent when he's hungry -- you're allowed to walk past his bowl once, but if you don't return with food, watch out.
But the "taste" you're talking about is the one we tend to use in general language, and it's a complicated mix of touch/texture/temperature sense in the mouth and tongue, taste bud chemical reception, and more than anything else smell, which "fills in the chemical blanks" that the coarse taste senses miss.
Cats miss one but have the others in spades. When they lick and eat random junk, it's for a very good sensory reason. Still weirdos, obviously, but ones with a good excuse.
I always figured that they were just fun to bat around. This explains a lot.
My mom's cat prefers to drink water from a glass like a human. Either that, or from the toilet (to which he can open the door).