Everyone knows that khajiit love Love LOVE sweet things. Moon sugar,candies,etc. But apparently,cats can't taste sweet things.

Did bethesda seriously do this on purpose?

Actually, while they can't taste them, cats in general are drawn to sweet tasting foods. There is not really an accepted reason why; just one of the great mysteries of life!

humanoid cats should have taste buds imo

Yeah,khajiit are pretty close to cat anatomy (read the real barenziah series )But cats do have taste buds,just can't taste sweetness.

Maybe cats just perceive sweets as umami (meat-taste) instead.

Another mystery of the Khajiit, does their "wee" have that ammonia smell? Do they put sand in their chamberpots?

This one jests, of course. One cannot expect that a humanoid race of felines has "everything" in common with common cats, but some things will certainly be in common, like the above mentioned "lion loins."

The key word: "apparently".

Thing is, sweet isn't just a sensor given by the tongue. Smell is a significant factor, and if you don't believe this, the next time you eat a piece of cake, hold your nose. The taste changes.

People seem keen on putting stock into that 2005 report, but it's also been proven taste buds are not specific to a type of taste and our tongue isn't "mapped" to pick out salty over spicy, for example.

Personally, I believe cats can taste sweet, they just don't taste it like we do.

M'aiq enjoys skooma, moon sugar, and anything that could be potent to non-Khajiit.

Khajiit have taste buds.

When I discovered that little tidbit about RL cats (apparently not all cats, but house cats and a few other wild and big cats too) I did think it was a bit ironic.

But then Khajiit aren't exactly cats, either. They're more like sometimes-humanoid-sometimes-cat-like-cat-elves.

Though that would explain why they're drawn to really sweet stuff. Normal sweet doesn't do anything for them.