Rough tongue in cats: why and for what?

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Many of us have cats at home. Some are purebred, some are not. However, all members of the cat family have a rough tongue. We take this fact for granted, without even thinking about the nature of this phenomenon. Why do cats have a rough tongue? Why do they need such a language and what functions does it perform? Let's answer these questions.

Brush tongue

So why do cats have a rough tongue? It's not just that. Nature provided that the tongue of cats was like a kind of brush. Its entire surface is covered with papillae of various sizes and purposes. They create the brush effect. This rough surface allows the cat to lick its fur more thoroughly.

Rough tongue

We all feel that same roughness when a cat licks our hands. This is due to the fact that cats have a large number of papillae on their tongues. There are 4 types of them:

1. Filiform (cone-shaped) - it is these papillae that are responsible for the brush effect. All because they grow in oppositetowards the sky. This helps the animal take care of the coat. In addition, the pet has the largest number of them, since this form of papillae is the most common. They occupy the front half of the tongue.
2. Foliate are the largest papillae that are located on both sides of the tongue.
3. Mushroom-shaped - judging by the name, they resemble mushrooms in shape. They are located on the edges of the cat's tongue.
4. Gutter-like - these papillae are localized on the back of the tongue. By their arrangement, they form a V-row. In front of them are mushroom papillae.

Functions

The functions of cat language are quite obvious. With its help, the animal takes care of itself by licking the fur. It also removes food debris from the mouth and muzzle. We all saw how a cat washes itself: after wetting its paw, it runs along its muzzle. These manipulations help cleanse it.

In addition, with the help of the tongue, the cat tastes the food offered to it and determines its temperature. If these criteria do not suit her, she will not eat the food you give her.

The peculiarity of the structure of the papillae of the cat's tongue provides her with the ability to drink water and liquid food. Running her tongue across the surface of the water, the cat raises it and creates a trickle, which she drinks.

Swallowing objects

The reason why cats have a rough tongue is their tendency to swallow various inedible objects. Everyone noticed the animal's love for Christmas tree tinsel, laces and other hanging items.

Everything happens becausethat, due to the peculiarities of the structure of the tongue, a cat, having taken an object in its mouth, can no longer get rid of it. And the only option they have is to swallow the item. The papillae of the tongue simply push the object deep into the digestive tract.

This situation is not always harmless. For example, cats love to swallow needles. The animal is interested in the thread on the needle. During the game, it turns out that it does not separate from the language. It becomes simply impossible to extract the thread. Due to the direction of the papillae and swallowing movements, the thread gradually moves deep into the pharynx, dragging the needle with it. And finally, the cat can only swallow them. The needle enters the digestive tract. In most cases, everything works out well, because the needle is swallowed with a blunt end and also passes to the end. However, this does not always happen, there are cases of injury.

Feelings

Why do cats have a rough tongue? Because it is dotted with papillae. But this does not only give the animal additional positive characteristics. It also increases the sensitivity of the tongue. If a cat injures the tongue for any reason, then this pain will exceed the sensations that the cat would experience if another part of the body was injured. The tongue turns out to be much more sensitive than a paw, tail or ear.

By the way, due to the fact that a cat has a rough tongue, her teeth always remain clean and sharp.

It's also no secret that the tongue is a storehouse of taste buds. Cat tongue receptors are also responsible for taste discrimination, but not muchdifferently. Firstly, the receptors themselves in a cat are much smaller. If a person has about 9000 of them, then the animal has only 473. Secondly, despite the smaller number, they distinguish tastes more sharply and strongly.

In addition, thanks to the peculiarities of the language, cats provide themselves with the function of thermoregulation. You probably often noticed that during hot weather, the pet sticks its unit out. She does this to evaporate excess moisture from the body, since the cat does not have sweat glands that provide this. In this way, the pet lowers its body temperature.

What language do dogs have?

The age-old comparison of cats and dogs also applies to their languages. As we have already found out, in cats, the tongue serves as a comb, so it should be rough. Dogs are in a completely different situation. They are not so clean and do not take care of their hair so much. Therefore, their language is not so rough. Undoubtedly, the papillae are still present, but they are not bent towards the pharynx. Dogs simply do not need such an arrangement of cornified outgrowths.