Cats Love Earwax

I’m trying to make less thoughtful posts. So I will share a question that plagues me: Why do cats love earwax, but dogs don’t?

Ask a cat owner: Cats love earwax, to various degrees. Some cats watch as their owners scratch their ears. These sorts may go through a bathroom trashbin to get to their sweet, sweet earwax fix. But why?

I’ve experimented with a few animals now. Dogs, sheep, squirrels. None of them had any interest in running to a gross Q-tip.

I naturally turned to ChatGPT for an answer. Here is the gist of it, with the obvious stuff about cats and dogs being good at smelling removed:

Cats' attraction to earwax is not fully understood, but it's believed to be related to the scent and texture of the wax. ... It's thought that the fatty acids and cholesterol in earwax might resemble the scent profile of certain amino acids in meat, which cats are naturally attracted to.

... dogs ... might be less driven to explore it because their dietary preferences and behaviors are different from cats. Dogs are generally less selective and more omnivorous than cats, which are obligate carnivores and are particularly attuned to the scent of proteins.

It's also worth noting that not all cats are attracted to earwax, and those that are might display this behavior for various reasons, including curiosity, the seeking of comfort or familiarity, or simple opportunism....

Meaning cats are drawn to eating meat. So they can not help but get excited by dirty earphones. Or maybe earwax reminds them of something nice, like a mint julep on a porch. And dogs… they’re just not weirdos.

So there you have it! The answer to the last question anyone will ever have.