✧✦Catherine✦✧Apr 3
did you know that cats (despite being obligate carnivores mainly interested in meat) can digest, for example, potato puree just fine?
Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Apr 3

i don't think most cats are very interested in potato puree but.

i can order ATP (pharmaceutical grade) at only €250/gram from sigma-eldritch. this is (historically speaking) nowhere near how expensive spices were, anyway.

do you think cats would eat ATP-seasoned potato puree?

Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Apr 3
this is actually pretty easy to test but i'll have to either downgrade to alibaba or file documents for an LLC first
Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Apr 3

come to think of it, i've never tasted ATP before. i wonder if i could taste ATP. i wonder what it tastes like

i don't have the right taste receptors to do it properly but i'd absolutely lick pure ATP powder

Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Apr 3
do you think atp would taste well dissolved in white monster
Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Apr 3
it's gotta be an adenosine receptor agonist, right? like other xanthine drugs? hmm but the biological lifetime is probably too low to feel it, especially on a background of energy drink amounts of caffeine...
Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Apr 3
the minimal alibaba order is 1 kg of ATP and i might just do it for the funsies
Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Apr 3

nevermind that, for some deranged reason people consume it as a supplement

i swear, the supplement industry is lukewarm to actively dangerous to its intended customers but it's an endless goldmine of chemical sourcing for its unintended ones

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Capsules-Adenosine-Triphosphate-Disodium-Friendly/dp/B0DQ624W71

ATP Capsules | 200mg Adenosine Triphosphate Disodium | 60 Capsules | Vegan Friendly UK Made | 1 Capsule Daily | 2 Months Supply : Amazon.co.uk: Health & Personal Care

ATP Capsules | 200mg Adenosine Triphosphate Disodium | 60 Capsules | Vegan Friendly UK Made | 1 Capsule Daily | 2 Months Supply : Amazon.co.uk: Health & Personal Care

Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Apr 3
oh, apparently i do have receptors that are properly sensitive to ATP, it's the umami ones (the paper describes reactivity to IMP but it works the same with AMP or ATP, i believe)
Show threadValdusApr 3
@whitequark Regarding taste receptors, I'm not sure why you want to give a cat ATP specifically in the first place. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10468298/
According to this paper a mix of amino acid salts would be most appealing. (Or just put a can of tuna in the mashed potatoes.)
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Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Apr 3
@Valdus I recall reading something about cats having a particular taste for nucleoside phosphates, but maybe that was outdated or wrong?
Show threadValdusApr 3
@whitequark
Well to be fair I don't understand chemistry well enough to fully understand the paper, so maybe they really do go wild for it.
Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Apr 3
@Valdus it was supposedly a particularly potent attractor since it's present in high concentrations in muscle. but from skimming the abstract it sounds like cat taste receptors work sorta like my taste receptors, which is interesting if true
Show threadValdus
@whitequark well they're still mammalian umami taste receptors, but they note that they respond to different amino acids than better studied human and mouse receptors, but also humans only respond to glutamate while cats respond to several amino acids, so I reckon if a human can taste ATP so can a cat
Apr 3 at 11:37pmWeb
Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Apr 3
@Valdus yeah I actually now remember reading research on this in the past and planning to buy some IMP for this exact reason (to do taste testing on)