How are the cat's teeth fitted for eating meat?

Answer 1

1. There are no crushing molars, instead cats have carnassials which cut against each other like scissor blades enabling them to slice through food. Cats use them to shear through bones and to slice swallow-sized chunks of flesh from a carcase.

2. The canines are long and sharp. On domestic cats they're just the right distance apart to slice cleanly between rodent vertebrae enabling a rapid kill.

3. The incisors are virtually vestigial and serve little purpose in removing meat from bones. Their main use seems to be to assist the cat to groom itself.

Answer 2

Yes, cats have special teeth for tearing meat. A cat's canines are for holding down prey, while the back teeth (premolars and molars) are specially designed to cut bite-sized bits of meat away, much like scissors. A cat can also use these teeth to crack and crunch bone, which provides them with calcium and other nutrients.

On the contrary, herbivores only have large, flat teeth which resemble our molar teeth very well. For example, look at the teeth of cows or horses.