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Adult Teeth
A cat's teeth are lethal weapons
and represent certain death for any unfortunate prey, when used in conjunction
with its whiskers.
An adult cat has thirty teeth,
consisting of: four canines, twelve incisors, ten premolars and four molars. Cats
do not chew their food as we do, they chop it up into pieces using their
premolars and swallow it.
The large pin-sharp canine front teeth are used to stab when
hunting, defending or attacking, but cats are capable of exercising great
control over them. For instance, the tom-cat uses his teeth to grab the neck of
the female when mating. And the mother cat uses hers to grasp the neck of her
kittens when moving them around.
Kitten's Teeth
The milk teeth of kittens appear between thirteen and fifteen
days. They have twenty six teeth: the same as the adult cat except with no
molars. They are replaced by permanent teeth between five and seven months.
During this period the kittens gums are very tender and it has trouble eating,
that is why food should be finely chopped.
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