Pumpkin Muffins Lead to a Cat-Centric Post

The cat has been a part of our household for almost three years, and during that time, he has been on a dry-food-only diet. Further, it has been well over a year since anyone in this house has eaten tuna out of a can, or, for that matter, any other canned food that one would assume might appeal to a cat. So why does he still freak the hell out when he hears a can opener?

This is the question I pondered last night as I opened a can of pumpkin (in preparation to make pumpkin muffins, if you must know) - he bolted over and meowed at my feet in anguish, making it quite clear that if I didn't let him have a taste of what was in the can, he might just die. IMMEDIATELY. So, of course, my response was to stick my pinky finger into the can, dig out a little pumpkin, and offer it to the cat, just to prove to him how wrong he was. And damn if he didn't lap it right up and start begging for more.

I don't know why I was surprised; we've played this game several times before, and he usually just chows down on whatever's in front of him (I'd say this might be a trait he got from me, but apparently he's been this way since before he came into our care). And thus I present:

Things My Cat Has Eaten, from the Eminently Logical to the Highly Improbable
Cat food
Milk
Yogurt
Cheese
Tuna au poivre
Broccoli
Lilies*
Bugs
Lettuce
The afore-mentioned Pumpkin
Cauliflower
Straight sugar**
Lint
Radishes
Wasabi peas***

*It turns out eating lilies makes a cat so violently ill, he has to go to the emergency vet to get his kidneys pumped for two days straight, which still makes me wonder: with instincts like that, how did this cat survive for years on the streets?
**Apparently, cats don't have the receptors necessary to taste sweet things, so his need to lap sugar out of my palm is totally illogical.
***OK, this one is kind of a cheat, as he didn't finish eating the wasabi pea - he licked it five or six times, and seemed to be enjoying it, until he suddenly got wide-eyed, backed off, and sort of sneezed while shaking his head. He doesn't really trust any peas anymore, which is a shame... I guess he'll have to get his Vitamin K elsewhere.

Compare that list to:

Things My Cat Has Turned Up His Nose At
Toothpaste
Beer
Wine
Coffee
Pecans