If you’re not a cat person in particular, this may come as a surprise: Cats love olives. Well, probably not all cats, but a lot of them do and in a very strange way.
What so strange about the cat-olive relationship? For starters, cats may not want to primarily eat the olives, but rather... Well, see for yourself:
“She'll roll all over it. But she won’t eat it,” the lady in the video comments.
And if you think, “well, that’s just two cats,” check out this cat just getting a sniff of olives:
And if you’re still doubtful, here’s a two-and-a-half minute compilation of cats freaking out to olives:
So, yes, there’s something going on. What is it? As far as science is concerned, olives contain chemicals called isoprenoids, according to an article on the subject by Tracie Hotchner of the Radio Pet Lady Network.
These chemicals possess a similar structure to the chemical in---you guessed it---catnip. Specifically, the chemical nepetalactone in catnip that cats react to. It just makes them go nuts.
