Do Your Cats Chew?

[1 bruce 1]

No, not tobacco (though I'm slightly suspicious that two of my boys do when I'm not around...)

Do your cats chew their food, or just grab a mouthful and swallow whole? I'm curious, a few of ours really chew and a few are kind of like snakes; the jaw unhinges, in goes the entire giraffe, swallow, and they're good. (OK, so I'm exaggerating a little. A lot.)

When we fed kibble a few would chew each little piece and a few would grab up about 25 pieces and just hog it down.
When we feed grinds, our chewers usually pick up a large hunk of ground food and "chew" like they'd chew a whole piece of meat.
Curious what your cats think of this chewing business.

 

[mikameek]

Man, I have been thinking about this question for the past month. My cat has seemed to lost her ability to chew even though the vet says her mouth and teeth are fine. She chews dry kibble (has to be big though) and will only lick her pate's.

Wont even touch chunks. She smells them, licks them up (if she really like how it smells) but then will let it fall out of her mouth or force it out with her tongue.

I've been curious how other people's cats approach this chewing business.

 

[the.cattribe]

This is EXACTLY how my male cat eats. He'll crunch the kibble happily, but wet food is licked to death with the chunks left behind. He's mainly a paté kind of guy so I was worried his teeth were bothering him, but no. Give him some kibble and he'll crunch all day.

Meanwhile my girls are very proper and chew one piece of kibble at a time.

Man, I have been thinking about this question for the past month. My cat has seemed to lost her ability to chew even though the vet says her mouth and teeth are fine. She chews dry kibble (has to be big though) and will only lick her pate's.

Wont even touch chunks. She smells them, licks them up (if she really like how it smells) but then will let it fall out of her mouth or force it out with her tongue.

I've been curious how other people's cats approach this chewing business.

 

[Gizmobius]

Whatever I give Gizmo, whether it's meaty chunks of his raw food or a chicken heart as a treat, he'll chew it just enough that it can slide down his throat. He can inhale things in mere seconds, it'd almost be alarming if this wasn't his typical M.O.! I once made the mistake of giving him a whole Sheba stick treat without breaking it into pieces for him first. I assumed he would, you know, CHEW it. No. He swallowed it.

 

[Azazel]

My cats chew gizzards and bones.

I agree with G Gizmobius that it has to be large enough for them to chew. You especially don’t want to give too small pieces of bones because they might choke on it.

I think the reason why they don’t chew small pieces is because their tongue just pulls it to the back of their throat. Same way it pulls their hair when they groom.

 

[Furballsmom]

My Big Guy seems to walk the mid road, some of his kibble pieces are chewed, some aren't. Granted, those extra big supersized temptations are definitely chewed...

 

[KarenKat]

I usually don’t try and spy on the kibblers, but I definitely hear crunching by both boys. Gohan likes to pick the 5 kibbles that will sustain him for the next 20 min while Trin chows down. But they both chew.

Olive is mostly a wet food licker, although for non-pates she still chews the larger pieces. Gohan gets some wet food as well (Pate) and chomps on the side of his mouth like with kibble. He then gets annoyed like the Pate is sticking to his teeth.

 

[DreamerRose]

On dry kibble, mine go crunch, crunch, swallow. No sustained chewing. Now if it's a mouse they caught, there's a lot of chewing. I tell them what good kitties they are and let them munch away.

 

[Furballsmom]

LoL
eewww

 

[DreamerRose]

Furballsmom - Now, now. I used to have a terrible problem with mice. Had traps out 24/7. With Mingo and Lily on board, the mouse problem has gone away. This is something I definitely encourage. Even if I do go somewhere else while they munch.

 

[duckpond]

When they are eating kibble i hear a lot of crunching going on, especially in the middle of the night...lol so im guessing they chew?

when i feed small minced wet food, such as nutro minced chicken, they dont seem to chew. But with Shreds such as Tiki cat they do seem to chew more.

 

[BonitaBaby]

Good question. My cat does seem to chew her dry kibble just a little. Drops a lot of it on the ground sometimes. Really only licks wet food. I wish I could teach her to put the wet food in her mouth and chew it. She really just likes Nutro turkey pate and turkey cuts with gravy to lick the gravy off.