As with everything Mother Nature has created, there is nothing about your cat that was left to chance. Every part of the feline anatomy plays an important role in your cat’s mental, physical and emotional health. Understanding your kitty cat’s anatomy can give you more intelligence to provide a feline-friendly environment and the tools to pleasingly engage with your cat. In this article, we will take a snapshot view of the cat tongue. You might be amazed at how incredibly useful this mouthpiece is in keeping your feline healthy and in tiptop shape! These are the top 3 reasons your cat needs her tongue.
1. Temperature Control
You may think your kitty is self absorbed by grooming herself all the time, but that grooming has deeper meaning than a human who brushes her hair constantly. Your kitty cat is grooming to keep the temperature down on her body. Think about walking around with all that fur, and what a relief to have it groomed regularly. She is keeping herself tidy to keep the hot flashes away.
2. Odor Free
In addition to temperature control, your kitty needs to groom for survival reasons. Not only is he a predator by nature, he is also prey for other animals. It is his natural instinct to want to stay odor free so he isn’t discovered while sneaking up on an unsuspecting bird, or found by the nose of a wild animal. Before you scoff and think your cat is an indoor kitty and has nothing to worry about, remember you probably habitually brushed your teeth, washed your body and perhaps added a dab of deodorant. Nobody likes to walk around stinky; your kitty cat feels the same way!
3. Water Conservatory
Your cat uses her tongue to lap water and without that tongue, she would be dropping water from her mouth like a faucet. You may have noticed during playtime, your kitty has a super big mouth. She can probably fit your entire hand inside her mouth that is good for her during hunting for prey. She can fit her meal target in her mouth nicely due to the large size. Unfortunately, all that space makes drinking water a bit challenging. Without her tongue, the wide openings on the sides of her mouth would prevent her from keeping water in her mouth easily. Her tongue acts as a ladle that gets placed in the water and scooped up quickly. Her little tongue spoon moves pretty fast when she is lapping up water!
Your kitty cat is a work of art, perfectly designed to provide her all the necessary tools for survival. Since people have domesticated the feline, it is always helpful to know why she acts the way she does. A better understanding of our pets enables us to be even more caring, compassionate and attentive to their needs.
Lisa Illman is the inventor of an outdoor cat enclosure and founder at Kritter Kommunity. Lisa and her product the Kritter Kondo have been featured in Cat Fancy, the Chicago Tribune, Chestnut Hill West, Good Morning America and most recently Steve Harvey’s Funderdome. You can follow Kritter Kommunity on Facebook and Twitter @KritterKondo. Lisa is also a business and PR consultant and loves to help small businesses grow their brand. She has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, Forbes.com and the Philadelphia Inquirer. When Lisa isn’t growing businesses she is hanging out with her adorable tuxedo Finnegan. Contact Lisa at lisa@lisaillman.com.
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