Canine teeth of cats are dagger-like

The canine teeth of cats are designed to kill by piercing soft flesh (jaguar excepted). The canine teeth of the big cats such as the lion, tiger, jaguar, leopard and the cheetah (which is not in the same category as the first four) have some of the sharpest canine teeth in the animal kingdom according to a study published on Phys.org: 'How the canine teeth of carnivorous mammals evolved to make them super-killers'.

Cheetah canines. Screenshot from 3D video below

The canines are like daggers which for large prey animals are used to bite down deeply into the throat of the prey to suffocate them. 

The jaguar has the strongest bite of all the big cats; strong enough to bite into the carapace of a turtle. They do like turtles. It is remarkable that they can pierce the shell of a turtle. And they chomp down on the heads of caiman in the shallow waters. A truly devastating predator.

Jaguar’s Taste for Turtles

The cheetah is much lighter and quite delicate by comparisons but their teeth are classic canine killers. Predators that employ the throat bite have slender curved canines. The scientists say that they act as hooks to help hold prey and stop them escaping the cat's grip on them with their bite. These cats normally attack 'soft prey' meaning the skin can be pierced. But it seems to me that the jaguar is an exception.

Cheetah skull with long sharp canines by Evans EvoMorph Lab on Sketchfab

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

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It is interesting that the canine teeth of a feline are called "canine teeth" because the word "canine" implies a dog. Perhaps we should call the canine teeth of cats, "felines"! The adult cat has 30 teeth: 12 incisors, four canines, 10 premolars and four molars. The premolars are shearing instruments used to cut flesh to pieces which are small enough to be swallowed. Cats do not masticate their food as humans do with blunt molars. Their molars are like scissors, chopping up the flesh. One problem with commercially prepared wet cat food is that it does not need shearing and cutting because it's too soft. This may be unhealthy for domestic cat teeth. The whole issue of what to feed domestic cats is a big one and we see lots of periodontal disease in domestic cats, in part because of their commercial diet.

Cat Health Tip: Checking for Gum Disease

Do tigers lose their teeth because they break over time?

Tigers certainly do lose their teeth especially the canine teeth because they are used so heavily when attacking and holding prey. I am referring to wild tigers in their habitat. I'd expect captive tigers to suffer from teeth breakages less often.

They have four canine teeth, two on the upper jaw and two on the lower jaw. The photograph on this page shows all four of these teeth either broken or almost entirely missing. The photo below shows intact canines. 

I've seen lions with pretty well the same problem, missing perhaps one, two or more of their canine teeth through heavy usage.

Broken or badly work tiger teeth. Photo: Getty Images.

It must be a hazard for the big cats and it must affect survivability. I'm not saying tigers can't survive with broken canine teeth but it must be harder. Tigers have longer canine teeth than other big cats and in a fully grown tiger they can be nearly 8 cm long (6.4-7.6 cms - 2.5 to 3.0 inches). In addition to breakages, as they get older their teeth become more yellow.

Intact tiger teeth. Photo in public domain.

In addition to broken teeth often teeth are worn down. A tiger can starve because of bad teeth. Bad teeth may also encourage them to seek easier prey which means they might move closer to human settlements to search for domestic animals. This brings them into contact with people and possible retaliatory attacks which may take their life.

Canines have pressure sensing nerves attached to them which allows the cat to sense the location where the canine is inserted into prey for best effect.

What are cats' fangs called?

A cat's fangs are canine teeth. Humans have them too but they are hardly noticeable as they are nowhere near as impressive as the feline versions! The cat with the biggest fangs is the now extinct sabretooth tiger. The canine teeth of domestic cats are very important for killing prey. When a domestic cat chooses to kill prey by breaking the spine, they are able to position one canine tooth between the vertebra at the nape of the neck and insert it at that point which severs the spinal cord, which in turn kills the animal.

Image showing the teeth of a cat including the canines. Image: PoC.

How many teeth do cats have? The answer is 30. For humans it is 32 (this is for adults in both cases).

If it is dark, domestic cats use their whiskers to feel for this position. You can see them instinctively push their whiskers forward when they are interested in an object placed before them. You might see this in play, for example. Whiskers are incredibly sensitive because there is a huge conglomeration of nerve endings at the base of each whisker which allows them to almost feel something and measure the shape of that object. They can feel the minute air currents passing around buildings and objects which allows a cat to "see" during the night together with their night vision based upon a reflective layer behind the retina.

Breaking the spine is one way that a domestic cat kills prey but there are others. For example, I have seen my cat kill a pigeon by suffocating it. This is the method used by the big cats to kill large prey animals. It was very interesting although sad to see him kill a pigeon in the same way. The canine teeth would have been part of that process as they would have pierced the neck of the pigeon.

CLICK THIS LINK TO SEE A RANGE OF ARTICLES ON CAT TEETH

It is the canine teeth, their fangs, which hurt us when a domestic cat bites either their human companion or somebody else. They are not particularly sharp but sharp enough to create a deep puncture wound in a person's leg because the cat's jaw is very strong. In this way they can "inject" mouth bacteria under the skin which is why people have to be cautious after being bitten by a cat. Not every bite leads to an infection but some do and you can check this out by clicking on this link if you wish.

A domestic cat's incisor teeth are very small and rather insignificant but they are there to help groom themselves. You can see this when they nibble their fur with their incisor teeth. And of course, they help when they're eating by tearing off flesh and then passing it back to the carnassial teeth which have a shearing action a bit like scissors as opposed to the grinding action of human molar teeth.