Weird question

Not sure if it belongs here but I couldn't really think where else to ask it.

The other day I was moving stuff around in my fridge and knocked out a jar of green olives. Which of course, broke and splattered all over my floor. Got it all cleaned up, but my cat Pudders is going crazy over the spot - rolling on the floor and purring.

We had noticed in the past that whenever we were cooking with olive oil, Pud would come running and act really odd, but we never really put it together with the olive thing before.

Anyone ever heard anything like this?

Some cats are attracted to the smell of the juice from those. I hadn't heard of the oil thing, though. That's interesting.

My SIL has to eat pickled onions AND olives standing up because her cats go so crazy for those foods that they try and get in the jar! We can't figure out why it attacts them, but it sure is funny!

10 years or so ago, we had two cats who absolutely ADORED olives. I finally figured it out one evening when I was making homemade pizza for supper. I thought it was the pepperoni they wanted ... nope. I chopped up an olive and gave it to them: it was like they were on catnip! They chewed on it, rolled around in it and genuinely acted like they were in love. It was the funniest thing to watch. And they were like that EVERY time olives were around.

I've never seen other cats like that before.

Yeah - he reacts to the olive juice WAY more than I have ever seen him with catnip. Do you suppose it would be alright to give him one? I know that onions are bad, but I haven't heard anything about green olives.

Hmm, I wonder if there's the same or similar chemical included in olives/olive juice/olive oil as in catnip that acts as a trigger for them... I'm no scientist, but it seems like a possibility... dating an Italian and loving Italian food, I cook with Olive (haha, almost wrote Oliver) oil all the time with no reaction from the monster... don't like olives though, so we don't have them around.... however, Oliver's really particular about the type of catnip he reacts to as well....

I've had cats that went crazy over olives. I gave our Ebony one and he rolled all over it and was rubbing his face into it. It must be like catnip to them.

I have a cat who absolutely loves olives, and anything cooked in olive oil. She will eat the olives off a slice of pizza and leave the cheese. She does not react to it like catnip, though.

Is this only with green olives, or do they like black ones too?

When I was growing up, we had a cat that would go absolutely NUTS over the smell of BenGay, the stuff you rub on when you have a muscle sprain. Whenever someone in the family had to use it, it was like, "Stay away from Midnight!!!" He reacted to it like it was a kilo of uncut catnip....

Cat's are weird!
My Pippin loves the smell of clorox cleanup. Yeah, you heard it right. Bleach.
Whenever I use it he comes running and starts rubbing all over me and jumps on my back and starts eating at my hair. I let him on the counter when I'm done cleaning, rinsing and drying it and he gets so happy and content. He'll lay there for hours absorbing the delicious scent. lol I don't get it!

My cat was noticabley acting strange around olive juice as well. he's rather young and hasn't been neutered.. but I am strongly convinced the smell affects his sexual prowess...

I was dumping out olive juice into the sink and my cat managed to get into the sink and moments later squat and "spray" or from what I was able to see trying to urinate like he was goig to mark his territory... It grossed me out so I immediately turned the faucet on to get him out. But ever since he did that he's been infatuated with the smell. I was hoping getting him neutered would help his strong curiousity.

Yeah, somebody told me once they know a cat that loves olives. That so weird.

Originally Posted by menasmom

When I was growing up, we had a cat that would go absolutely NUTS over the smell of BenGay, the stuff you rub on when you have a muscle sprain. Whenever someone in the family had to use it, it was like, "Stay away from Midnight!!!" He reacted to it like it was a kilo of uncut catnip....

Click to expand...

I've had my cat try and lick me when I've had bengay on. I thought he was weird but apparently not.

I also want to add that my cat freaks over carrots, more than he does with cat nip.

K, just gave Popsie a tinnie bit of olive oil and all he did was lick it up. I'll have to go buy some olives. I'm interested now.