Bailey's Shorts

Bailey's Shorts Sometimes it’s cute. Sometimes it’s weird. Sometimes your pet is accidentally smarter than you :)

03/25/2026

Okay bestie pause — your cat cannot taste sugar. Not "doesn't want to." Cannot. Biologically impossible. And I need you to sit with that for a second. 😭

Scientists at the Monell Chemical Senses Center published this in PLoS Genetics back in 2005 and it still lives rent free in my head. Sweetness in mammals needs two proteins: T1R2 and T1R3. Cats have T1R3 totally fine. But their T1R2 gene has a massive chunk of DNA straight up deleted — gone — causing the whole protein to never form. No protein, no receptor. No receptor, no sweet taste. Ever.

The lead researcher literally called it a "molecular fossil." A gene that used to work and just… stopped. And the degree of the deletion is so severe he said it's virtually impossible for cats to ever get it back.
Oh and it's not just house cats — lions, tigers, cheetahs — every cat species on earth has the exact same broken gene. The whole family collectively opted out of dessert and never looked back.

So when your cat ignores your birthday cake but goes absolutely unhinged over a piece of chicken? That's not attitude. That's just biology telling the truth.

They're living in a completely different sensory universe than us. And they have zero idea what they're even missing out on. 🐱

👇 Drop a comment — what food has your cat ever tried to steal? Because mine bypassed an entire dessert spread to sniff a piece of salmon and honestly I respect it.
Source: Li et al. (2005) — PLoS Genetics, Monell Chemical Senses Center

03/20/2026

Okay real talk... I used to think my cat was the easiest living thing on earth. Sleeps 16 hours. Doesn't beg. Doesn't bark. Just vibes. 😌

Then I found out what was actually going on and I genuinely felt bad.
Cats need daily mental stimulation, play, and routine to stay healthy. And when they don't get it, they don't tell you. They just quietly start falling apart. Overgrooming so bad it causes actual bald spots. Random aggression that seems to come from nowhere. Hiding for hours. Studies even show that under-stimulated cats carry measurably higher cortisol, the same stress hormone that wrecks humans ,compared to cats living in enriched environments.

Your "chill" cat isn't always chill. Sometimes they're just silent about it.
The fix is honestly not complicated. Ten minutes of play. A puzzle feeder. Rotating their toys. Vets consistently see noticeable improvements in mood and behavior from just that alone.
They don't need less than other pets. They just suffer quieter.

Sources: Amat et al. (2016), Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery · VCA Animal Hospitals · Humane Society

03/01/2026

Do Cats Play Fetch? This Purdue Study Will Shock You 🙀

Okay so I need everyone who owns a cat to stop scrolling for one second. 👀
A Purdue University study just blew up everything we thought we knew — they surveyed over 8,000 cat owners and found that 41% of cats play fetch. Like, pick up the toy, bring it back, drop it at your feet, and wait for you to throw it again. That fetch.

And the wildest part? 95% of those cats were NEVER trained to do it. No treats, no commands. They just… started. Completely on their own. One owner said their cat returned a toy completely unprovoked out of nowhere. Siamese, Bengals, Abyssinians go hardest at it — but honestly regular mixed cats are out here doing it too.

Scientists think it ties into their hunting instincts — but also? Cats are just way more socially bonded to us than they get credit for.

So tell me 👇 does your cat play fetch? Because mine brings me hair ties at 2am and I'm starting to think this is a whole thing. 😭🐱

02/27/2026

Okay so your cat falls off the counter, sticks the landing, and just WALKS AWAY like nothing happened, and you're supposed to act normal about that?? 😭

Science has been obsessed with this since 1894. A French physiologist literally photographed a cat falling at 12 frames per second just to figure it out. What they found is wild, cats have a righting reflex where their inner ear detects the fall instantly, their spine splits into two sections, front half twists first, back half follows, all mid-air, nothing to push off of. And kittens have this fully locked in by just 6–9 weeks old.

Your cat isn't magical. They're a biomechanical genius who also knocks your stuff off shelves on purpose.

👇 Drop it below, what's the wildest place your cat has ever fallen from? My friend's cat fell off a second-floor balcony, stuck the landing, and literally just walked back inside. I need to know if yours can top that. 🐱

Address

Long Beach, CA

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Bailey's Shorts posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category