Collation of anecdotes and speculation about why many cats like earwax, and human earwax especially. Is it the valeric acid?
While petting cats, I accidentally discovered about half of cats are fascinated by the smell & taste of earwax, particularly that of humans (both dry & wet), and this interest can last indefinitely. Dogs & humans, for comparison, are not. A number of anecdotes have reported this over the years, but no formal research appears to have been done on this.
What makes earwax attractive to cats? Pheromones? Some nutrient?
The best candidate to date is valeric acid, which is present in both human earwax & the cat attractant plant Valerian.