People are often not aware of what’s going on within their cats’ mouth or even how to take care of the cat’s teeth. Surely, every cat owner or cat enthusiast should know some basic dental information about cats such as how many teeth they have or how to take good care of it.
Number of teeth
Cats, similar to humans, change two sets of teeth during their life. They have 26 baby teeth and 30 permanent, unlike humans who have 20 baby teeth and 32 permanent teeth. Interestingly enough, dogs also change two sets of teeth and they have 28 baby teeth and 42 permanent teeth.
Cats are born without teeth just as humans but they develop their baby set of teeth when they’re only two weeks old. Around their fourth month, their baby set starts to fall out to make room for the permanent ones.
Teeth shape
Although in different sizes with different kinds of cats, their teeth are optimized for hunting. Unlike humans set of teeth that have grinding ones, cats teeth are made for cutting and tearing the flesh of their prey. However, cats still have some teeth for nibbling and they’re called incisors. They mostly use those teeth for grooming and cleaning themselves as well as for chewing on their claws.
Cats dental health
Even though cats can’t really develop cavities in the form that humans do, they can have lots of different dental issues such as periodontal disease (weakening of the structure that supports teeth) or oral inflammation and oral cancer.
There is one more dental disorder that cats are prone to and it’s called tooth resorption. It’s a dental disease that happens when the structure of one or more teeth are destroyed and disappearing and could result in tooth extraction.
With all of the possible dental problems, cat owners should be careful because cats actually don’t show their pain or have any visible symptoms of dental problems. In order to prevent dental diseases, experts suggest daily teeth brushing that can get rid of the bacteria in that area. It’s also a good idea to ask a veterinarian to perform oral examination once in a while.
Lots of people love cats, they are animals full of positive energy and calmness. In order to retain that and make them happy, cat owners should be taking good care of their cats which goes even to the some “invisible” parts that can cause different problems such as dental problems and diseases.
