My friend Anna-Marie told me recently that one of her cats is crazy for olives. I was surprised, and I had never heard of that. Then again, since I don’t like olives, there’s no likelihood that one of my cats would find one around the house, either.
For the purposes of science, that was going to have to change.
In the meantime, I did some research. Olives are well-known for containing oleic acid. In fact, oleic acid is the component of olive oil responsible for its ability help to lower blood pressure in humans.
Oleic acid is also a component of the facial pheromones your cat spreads by rubbing her chin against you or objects in the house. In fact, the artificial pheromone diffusers for cats you can purchase to plug in around the house have oleic acid as an ingredient in the synthetic pheromone.
It’s likely that cats who enjoy olives are actually responding to the oleic acid in the olives. They aren’t hoping to drop one into a martini or anything.
Cats have been known to go wild over squished odorous ants, which also contain oleic acid. So there seems to be a connection. My cats may never have seen an olive, but we have had ant invasions in the past, and they were completely uninterested. Maybe the ants in Florida wear deodorant.
At any rate, it was nearly time to try this olive thing at home. Not knowing anything about olives except I don’t like them on my pizza, I went to Whole Foods and selected four different olives from the olive bar. My main criteria was that they were all different and that none of them contained garlic or onions in the ingredient list.
I cut up very small pieces and put them on a plate for the cats to inspect.
Pierre: What did you get on your ear? It smells funny!
Ashton: It’s not me! * SNIFF SNIFF * It’s the stuff on this plate.
Newton: What ARE those things? They’re on a plate like food, but they don’t smell like food.
Ashton: If it’s on a plate, I think you’re supposed to eat it, not play with it.
Newton: I don’t see YOU eating it, Miss Smartystripes.
Ashton: I was saving whatever it is for you. Go right ahead.
Newton: No, that’s all right. * SCRATCH SCRATCH *
Newton: We don’t know what it is, but we’re holding out for something more appetizing.
Our household test was a bit of a failure. Olives got twelve paws down here, but apparently there are lots of cats out there who really love them. Do your cats love (or hate) olives?
References and further reading
J Comp Physiol B., Dietary fats and body lipid composition in relation to hibernation in free-ranging echidnas
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, Oleic acid content is responsible for the reduction in blood pressure induced by olive oil
Google Patents, Properties of cats’ facial pheromones US 5709863 A
Summer says
October 8, 2015 at 3:41 amMy human LOVES olives but I haven’t seen any since I’ve lived here. She will have to give this a try. I might like them!
Ilse says
October 8, 2015 at 4:59 amThat’s seriously intriguing – there is so little we really know about the world of Scent given that it is really our weakest sense, especially the world of Scent our kitties live in.
marg says
October 8, 2015 at 5:45 amNo we haven’t tried Olives but I know the kitties wouldn’t like them. I can’t imagine a cat would eat them unless they had something else on them. Interesting facts though.
The Island Cats says
October 8, 2015 at 5:46 amThe mom hates olives so she won’t even give them to us to see if we might like them.
Madi says
October 8, 2015 at 6:13 amMy mom loves olives too…as for me they look like they would be fun to knock around
MOL MOL
Hugs madi your bfff
Melissa & Mudpie says
October 8, 2015 at 8:07 amI’d never heard that either but it sounds like the makings for a fun experiment!
Random Felines says
October 8, 2015 at 8:25 amhuh – we never knew the science behind that. Mozart LOVES olives…. mom was making dinner once (she loves olives too) and Mo was being a pest so mom gave him a small piece thinking he wouldn’t touch it. He loved it!! And now pesters her more when he hears a lid come off a jar in the kitchen. MOL
Caren Gittleman says
October 8, 2015 at 9:01 amI loved this post because it brought back some GREAT memories! Cody is not an olive eater but my Angel Bobo was CRAZY for them!
He used to LOVE when I ordered Pizza with black olives on it. He ALWAYS was begging for me to give him some and I happily obliged!
Brian Frum says
October 8, 2015 at 10:13 amI’m not sure we would like those things either, but we never get any human type foods anyways!
Annabelle says
October 8, 2015 at 12:07 pmNot much of an olive fan either, but I will wager my cats would sniff and walk away. They do that with nearly all treats too!
da tabbies o trout towne says
October 8, 2015 at 1:33 pmguys…fun & kewl post two day 🙂 we lurned sum thing….we haz troo lee never tried olives; we will hafta give it a try…olives two day, cheese two morrow & de hole pizza next week ♥♥
Deziz World says
October 8, 2015 at 3:50 pmHmmmm mommy dusn’t like those eever so weez never even seen ’em till today. MOL
Luv ya’
Dezi and Lexi
Emma and Buster says
October 8, 2015 at 4:17 pmthe humans love ’em; we haven’t tried getting close to them but we’re sure we’re not going to like them.
Flynn says
October 8, 2015 at 4:42 pmMy mum loves olives and eats lots of them. She is going to see if I like them but thinks I will turn my nose up because I am so picky.
Robin says
October 8, 2015 at 5:01 pmThis is really interesting! I don’t like olives, so I never thought about how cats might like them. Needless to say, Cinco and Manna have never encountered olives. It looks like your kitties had fun with the experiment! That’s what really matters. 🙂
Kitties Blue says
October 8, 2015 at 6:45 pmOur angel, Madison, was crazy for green olives, specifically the brine they came in. And the kitty in the book mom is reviewing for tomorrow eats olives. Guess they are an acquired taste whether you are a human or cat. XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo
katie Isabella says
October 8, 2015 at 6:59 pmWe’ver not tried them in my household. None of the ones who came before, or me. Ewwww.
Just Ducky says
October 8, 2015 at 7:15 pmMum does not like olives, so I will not get to taste them.
Annie says
October 8, 2015 at 7:17 pmI love that top pic! I love olives but I’ve never thought to let the kitties try them. I’ll be sure to do that the next time we have them.
I wonder if for those kitties that don’t like them, the whole round ones would be fun to play with.
William says
October 8, 2015 at 7:18 pmWe’ve never had olives. Of unusual foods, one of the cats who came way before me loved fig newtons. And I rather like V8. I think olives might make a better toy, though.
Mark's Mews says
October 8, 2015 at 8:52 pmOK, we just demanded that TBT provide us with an olive do test. He asked “real or jarred”? Well that baffled US as we dint know there were choices. Does it matter?
Connie says
October 10, 2015 at 2:04 pmI seriously love this post. I too have heard that cats like olives but none of mine do.
Maxwell, Faraday & Allie says
October 10, 2015 at 6:22 pmNope, none here either. But garbanzo beans and canteloupe? Maybe. Maybe.
Anna-Marie @BeautyAndTheBeets says
October 10, 2015 at 7:01 pmHA! Now I can tell Sullingham WHY he loves olives. Not that he would care- and he isn’t picky. He likes green or black olives and he is very aggressive when he hears the jar being opened. Just recently I was very cruel to him and made an entire pan of roasted olives- I wasted his precious olives on the humans!
Kjelle Bus aka Charlie Rascal says
October 11, 2015 at 4:42 pmSixten the cat who lived here before me was CRAZY about Olive´s 🙂
XOXO
Janet Dunn says
April 20, 2018 at 2:13 amPiggy thinks green olives are catnip she tries to roll on them. Has no desire to eat one however.
Techlady33 says
November 25, 2018 at 1:08 pmMy cat rubs her face in the olive juice but does not eat the green olives. Her humans DO love the green olivies.