Why do cats love tuna so much? | Hacker News Reader

Why do cats love tuna so much?

science.org

80 pointssohkamyung61 comments

This leaves open the question of what conditions evolved that partivular tastebud configuration.

My unserious pet theory (pun intended) is there were ancient pellagic deep diving proto-cats that fed on fish. You still see traces of the swimming reflexes in the cats of Lake Van.

(Wild speculation) what if it evolved as a mechanism to keep proto-cats near humans? It's clearly quite a successful trait for a species to become associated with humans, maybe cats evolved a taste for fish as they got closer to fishing humans?

Dogs developed new facial muscles and all sorts of other features as they evolved into a companion species. Maybe cats evolved a taste for food they could only get from us?

My assumption as an ignorant person who happens to live with cats is this: tuna contains a lot of the good things cats evolved eating but in a different form. Humans have this same issue. Tuna became something cats like because they were already wired to like the nutrients in the tuna from other sources.

Maybe it was just unused taste buds that didn't get to be utilized until making friends with the furless bipeds that were very efficient at bringing the sweet sweet fishes out of the scary water

and during a stage of feline foetal development they have gills

I thought this was true of all mammals, but apparently it’s gill slits that mammal embryos have. I guess the difference is functional vs non-functional . . .

Do the closest living wild relatives of domestic cats (or other cats) share the mutation which causes cats to prefer tuna and fish?

Huh. I always just thought it was because my cat isn't smart enough to differentiate between "can noise, human making tuna sandwich" and "can noise, human is dispensing cat food."

I always just thought it was because my cat isn't smart enough to differentiate between "can noise, human making tuna sandwich" and "can noise, human is dispensing cat food."

To me, the weird thing is that my cat knows the sound of a can opener at all.

We got her when she was waaaaay too young. Someone abandoned her on the vet's doorstep. She has never known that a can opener means food because for her entire life, she has been fed canned food with a pop-top.

But still, when I pull out the can opener to open some vegetables, she comes running.

I have no idea why, but it's one of those things that makes me think that knowledge can be encoded in DNA and passed down through generations.

Are you sure it's sound and not scent?

I'm convinced that it's both, for different households.

One of our cats will run into the kitchen any time someone opens up tuna, or warm butter, or mayonnaise. That's scent.

She makes a noise which summons all the other cats.

Absolutely.

Maybe because she didn't do that the very first time, and then rememebered can opener is for opening food cans. i mean, dogs and cats are super smart, obviously, with different expressions of it.

My cat definitely smells the fish even from outside as soon as we open up the takeout or defrost the ingredients.

She doesn’t mind whether it’s salmon, tilapia or whatever. She is summoned as if by a spell.

I miss my cat. He loved tuna- but as he got older he just liked to drink the tuna water rather than eat the fish itself. And he absolutely knew the sound of the can opener.

I have a murder of cats. 5.5 - 6 depending on the neediness of the previously homed feral. The semi-feral loves wet food in all forms.

The other five they are gung ho for wet food one day, meh the next. Thankfully, given there are 5 they don't cycle at the same time. But they do have preferences towards real food texture (shredded chicken for instance) over pate or similar.

I'll have to test the tuna thing out.

Very interesting. One cat I lived with responded very strongly to bonito flakes (common Japanese food ingredient).

The cat I’m caring for now turns her nose up at it. Go figure.

She likes land animal pate

The cat and the tuna are ancient predator and prey.

Back on the plains before humans, cats used to prey on tuna, cutting out and eating the tastiest and slowest from the school.

Not just plains tuna, but desert tuna.

The tuna evolved eventually into buffalo but it took a long time.

They first established a beachhead and began hunting large cats by constructing a series of breathing apparatuses out of kelp.

It didn't always go that way - I understand that tuna developed a breathing apparatus with kelp, they were able to trap certain amounts of oxygen. Not going on land for days at a time, an hour, hour 45. Enough time to establish a beachhead and aggressively hunt cats and their family.

Outside of Pate' style catfood, it seems my 15 year old Calico will only eat one thing. Cane's Chicken Strips. (A piece of the white meat, with the breading torn off.) She smells that arrive and goes crazy waiting. Even making styrofoam box noises before its opened will have her bouncing around in anticipation. She will only eat a couple pieces, but it's the most exciting time for her.

My cat doesn’t like Tuna, it actually likes salami, plastic wrap, and flowers for some reason.

Ugh I can't really get my wife flowers any more, one of our cats will chew them up every time.

I'm sure you know this but don't bring lilies into your home, as much as a lick can be fatal to cats.

I didn't know that. I just brought home a bouquet for my partner yesterday with a single cutting of three lilies. The cats don't eat or otherwise disturb flowers (lucky me) but I just pulled it out and tossed it, and drained and rinsed the vase and other stems. Thank you.

Garlic and onion too, poisonous for cats.

A co-worker accidentally offed his fiancé's cat this way.

> The cats don't eat or otherwise disturb flowers (lucky me)

Even unintentionally ingesting the pollen of a lilly can cause fatal kidney failure within 24 hours.

Ingesting lily pollen on the fur while grooming is enough to do it, too.

One time I put a little hot sauce on the leaves of one of our plants because I read that cats don't like it and works as a decent deterrent. My plant-loving cat was basically like, "mmm spicy salad dressing!"

hmmm, how convenient? sorry honey, i absolutely totally 100% would have bought you flowers, but you know cat. not that i forgot or anything. we swears it.

Mine also doesn’t like tuna. All she’s interested in is Walmart brand shredded cheese and also the plastic.

>also the plastic.

I never got cats and plastic love relationship (maybe OP study should be about this), previous cat we had, it enjoyed chewing on any wires, electric ones or not, but his best ones were the headphones wires, damaged so many ones after it chewed on it, you can’t hide them either since you are using it daily. The other cat loves eating plastic wraps too, any kind, as long as it’s plastic, it’s fantastic.

TIL I'm a cat.

But seriously it that makes we can easily trick malnourished or sick cats into eating something that helps them that's a good news.

IME, the stray cats I fed slightly but clearly preferred salmon to tuna.

> the stray cats I fed

No. Please don't.

Yes absolutely please do!

If you care about stray cats (and other animals) please take them home or find someone who can take care of them. Don't feed stray animals.

Feeding stray animals will increase their population beyond the capacity of the surrounding environment, and therefore overhunting their preys. You're just killing wild birds unnecessarily.

Plus it will make the stray cats less afraid of humans. Humans are the most dangerous creatures ever. The fact that one human feeds them doesn't make it otherwise. Learning to avoid humans is generally good for them.

I suppose if you want them to eat regularly without bringing them in your home, taking them to a vet to get spayed/neutered before releasing them back outside works just as well at keeping populations down. I'm sure cats regularly fed on tuna and salmon are eating fewer birds and squirrels too.

That said, probably still best to get them indoors where they don't have to worry about being hit by cars or attacked by other animals or any of the other harms in the wild... although it's hard to say if every cat would choose to trade sunshine and freedom for the extra safety and comfort. They are barely domesticated animals that evolved to live outside after all.

> I suppose if you want them to eat regularly without bringing them in your home, taking them to vet to get fixed before releasing them back outside works just as well at keeping populations down.

If by "get fixed" you mean to neuter them then maybe. But most people who feed feral dogs/cats are just feeding them because... because they want, or their gut feeling says it's the right thing to do.

I'm not saying if you feed wild cats you're literally Satan. But feeding wild animals needs responsibility. Actually it takes MORE responsibility than just having a house pet, because now your actions are affecting multiple lives instead of one.

Feral cats, as much as I love a house cat, can almost be thought of as an invasive species.

They absolutely decimate song birds populations.

But try telling that to the people who like feeding them. It'll just make them hide their feeding and the problem will persist.

I spent a lot of time a few years ago helping people trap and neuter their feral colonies, keeping the population under control with the support of the caretakers rather than fighting them.

Unfortunately, this won't solve the problem of feral cats, it only mitigates it. Culling doesn't really seem to work either though. Chemical sterilization is a promising approach, but hard to enact on large scale without sterilizing other species by accident.

Birds have to go. More cats will always be the answer.

They all underwent TNR, and were feral past the point of anyone adopting them. Debatable whether more wildlife died, since they would have had to hunt more for hunger's sake.

Were the salmon and tuna both fresh and about the same in terms of quality? Both fish have the compounds cats like, but I wonder if processing/dolphin content/age may be the cause for their preference.

Both canned, but not the same brand. And even if they were, who's to say whether the sourcing and prep was controlled for in all respects? But it was a consistent observation I noted over multiple cats and multiple brands. They liked both a lot, but salmon seemed to be the clear winner.

My cat also greatly prefers salmon over any other fish or water produce. I've tested it with very fresh, sashimi grade fish and shrimps, canned fish, and fish-flavored treats. He consistently favors salmon and salmon flavor. Some cats are very particular about what they eat.

Ig Nobel candidate or am I missing the broader application?

The global pet food market size was valued at USD 99.1 billion in 2022 and is anticipated to exhibit a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.3% from 2023 [1]

If we can synthesize a compound that makes cats want to eat any old byproducts, we will make a lot of money Morty.

1. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/pet-food...

Plus, as the article mentions, "more than 6% of all wild-caught fish goes into cat food." Reducing the demand for wild fish would be pretty helpful.

Mostly skin, fin and heads though, so I doubt it'll impact how much we catch.

Wow didn’t even consider this could result in the equivalent of MSG for cats. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

It's the #bacon of the sea.

They do?

For all I can see cats love a) laying around b) being stroked and c) being fed something tasty. Tuna does not even enter this.

What do you think 'feeding them something tasty' is?

It is anecdotal but every cat ive ever gave a bit of tuna to was instantly obsessed with getting more. I close my cats in another room these days before opening tuna and have for years now after having previous cats in the past become huge nuisances when trying to open any can at all after giving them a small pinch of tuna for the first time.

Im sure there are other meats or treats that might evoke a similar response in a lot of cats, but I don't exactly have a lot of shredded pure meat sitting around to give to a cat to try.

I've had four cats, two love tuna and two hated it. We ran of cat food and tried to feed them tuna and they wouldn't eat it.

I've had 3 cats in my lifetime and all loved tuna to the point where they would go into meowing/begging fits as basically conditioned responses to cans of tuna being opened before they could even smell the contents.

I'm sure its not 100% universal just like catnip responses aren't, but it seems extremely common.

Can't speak for other cats, but mine is crazy for tuna. I can't even finish opening the tin with his head butting in.

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