Anatomy of Cats Tongue

Cats are known for their cleanliness, spending many hours licking their coats. The cat's tongue has backwards-facing spines about 500 micrometres long, which are called papillae. These are quite rigid, as they contain keratin. These spines allow cats to groom themselves by licking their fur, with the rows of papillae acting like a hairbrush.

A Cats Tongue is extremely versatile and an essential part of the cat's anatomy. It is far more important to her/him than it is for us humans.

We know that the cat's tongue is multipurpose. It is used to groom the cat, grab food and hold liquid (and lick us).

The "hairs" are called papillae. As can be clearly seen in the photograph, they point backwards like barbs almost. They contain the same material that makes our fingernails and the claws of the cat (keratin) , which provides the necessary hardness to the papillae that makes them so useful.

The highly effective hair-like structures not only help to grab and strip the food from the surface it is on, they also helps to push the food to the back of the mouth and down the throat. When the cat has hunted and grabbed prey the papillae helps to secure the prey in place.

This page gives you information about cats tongue, parts, names and anatomy.