Martha Stewart Wines and 7 More Quirky Things She's Put Her Name On This Dubious-Looking Burger Is the Only Food Offered On North Korea's State Airline Six Romantic Restaurant Proposals to Melt Your Heart Get Excited for $4 Four-Packs of Sparkling Wine from Trader Joe's China Offers to Eat the Oysters Flooding Denmark's Shores Trump Hotel SoHo's Sushi Restaurant To Close After Steep Business Decline Hershey Introduces Candy Inspired by 6 States Including a BBQ-Flavored Bar The Super-Long Sentence-Length Restaurant Naming Trend Happening Right Now Anthony Bourdain Returns to L.A. in the Season Premiere of 'Parts Unknown' This Beer Has 30 Lobsters in It A new study says that more than smell or flavor, cats care about the nutritional balance of their kitty cuisine. If your cat's cravings have always been a mystery to you, you're probably not alone. Felines have long been known for being notoriously picky eaters, but the reason they turn up their little pink noses at the food in front of them could have nothing to do with taste at all.

A new study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science suggests that more than smell or flavor, cats care about the nutritional balance of their kitty cuisine. Researchers in the U.K. and Australia have found that cats have evolved over time to crave food with ideal nutrient ratios. Forget the aroma and texture; what cats really want is the right amount of protein and fat for their breed. Over the course of their experiment, researchers fed their furry test subjects a variety of food flavors and monitored the cats responses to the different tastes and ingredient make-ups. The cats were offered both seemingly cat-friendly flavors, including fish and rabbit, and a less typical orange flavor. While the kitties were naturally drawn to the fishier flavors at first, over time as the scientists began to manipulate the nutritional makeup of each of the foods, their preferences changed for one surprising reason. "Cats initially selected food based on flavor preferences, but after 'learning' about the nutritional composition of the foods, cats selected foods to reach a particular target balance of protein and fat regardless of flavors," say study lead Adrian Hewson-Hughes.

The report found that cats prefer a protein-to-fat ratio of around 1 to .4—meaning 50 percent of the energy was from fat, and 50 percent was from protein. At the start of the study, when all three flavors contained the same nutritional makeup, cats favored the fish flavor first, with rabbit in second and orange in a distant third. However, after the nutrients were manipulated, leaving orange the only flavor with the preferred protein/fat ratio, many of the cats consumed more of the odd orange flavor than the fish or rabbit.best wine to go with red meat While the scientists who conducted the study have yet to determine how exactly cats are able to detect these ratios, according to Seeker, prior research has shown that domestic cats can "perceive at the molecular level, allowing them to detect off ingredients with incredible precision." best wine sold at target

This hyper-sensitivity to taste could account for their ability to somehow sense the protein and fat balance in what they're eating. "We still have a lot to learn before we fully understand all the factors that influence food selection in the cat," Hewson-Hughes says. But according to the cat-friendly scientist, the ideal food should both have the proper balance of protein in fat, and have an appealing flavor, aroma, and texture—ensuring our four-legged friends get the best of both worlds.bundle buy wine Table Linens & Accessoriesbest wine kits uk Cocktail & Beer Glassesbest south american wine tours Bar Tools & Accessoriesred table wine dry Pitchers, Decanters & Dispensers

Flatware & Serving Utensils Canisters & Kitchen Accessories When you open and use a My Pier 1 Rewards Cobalt credit card. My Pier 1 Rewardscredit cardmembers get rewarded faster.* Courtesy of Green Pantry Green Pantry kibble adds up to 30 times the average cat food. How much would you pay to give your cat the ultimate culinary treatment? That's the question being posed by one British brand that has created the world's most luxurious bag of kitty food, with a hefty pricetag of about $1.53 per mouthful. The United Kingdom-based brand Green Pantry recently launched a line of fancy feline foods that will set customers back $918 per month, or $11,000 a year. According to Forbes, at $306 per 2kg package—or about 10 days' worth—this pricy kibble costs about 30 times the average cat food. The reason for the exorbitant cost appears to be upscale ingredients including hand-caught Norfolk lobster, locally sourced Devon crab, line-caught Scottish salmon, and even Arenkha caviar for the most high-brow of feline friends.

The "British Banquet" line is also free of preservatives, additives, or artificial colors and made with only the highest-quality ingredients from around the U.K., including asparagus, quinoa, and saffron. While some cat lovers might consider it a solid investment in their kitty's happiness, others, including feline veterinarian Dr. Eric Dougherty, say the idea is a mere gimmick. "At $11,000 per year, this is clearly a product tailored for the one percent," Dougherty tells Forbes. "Odds are, the people who would buy this cat food are the same people who would splurge $5,000 on a burger." Dougherty, who is Medical Director of The Cat Practice in New York City, also notes that the ingredients, while luxurious, are most likely not what your cat wants or needs. "Cats are obligate carnivores, so foods like asparagus, quinoa or saffron are not necessary at all," he says. "And while I think this luxury cat food could make for a nice treat once in a while, what cats really need are high-quality protein like duck, turkey, or chicken and lots of water within their diet."