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Teeth

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.