>>2040082

dogs can also taste umami

>>2040082
Not exactly true. Dogs have the taste receptors for salt, but not many and they are not tuned to seek it out.

>Dogs, are not exclusively carnivorous, but are usually classified as omnivores, meaning that they eat, not only meat, but plant material as well. Nonetheless, in the wild, more than 80 percent of a canine's diet will be meat. For this reason, in addition to sensors for sweet, salt, sour and bitter, dogs also have some specific taste receptors that are tuned for meats, fats and meat related chemicals. Dogs will tend to seek out, and clearly prefer the taste of things that contain meat or flavours extracted from meat.

>Dogs, however, are primarily carnivores and in the wild, most of their food is meat. Because of the high sodium content in meat, the wild ancestors of dogs already had a sufficient amount of salt in their diet and did not develop our highly tuned salt receptors and the strong craving for salt.

>The sweet taste buds in dogs respond to a chemical called furaneol. This chemical is found in many fruits and in tomatoes. Cats are virtually "taste blind" for this substance. It appears that dog's do like this flavour, and it probably evolved because in a natural environment dogs frequently supplement their diet of small animals with whatever fruits happen to be available.