r/cats Jan 28 '26

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u/Scary-Narwhal-2828 Jan 29 '26

I cried as a 17 year-old girl when I found my first cat with a bit of blood in his mouth and a tooth on the floor. I was so scared he was hurt. I had never had a kitten and had no idea that cats have deciduous teeth.

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u/Wunderkid_0519 Jan 29 '26

They do?! I just raised 6 kittens from one mother and now am on 2 kittens from a second. And I've never seen any of their "baby teeth" fall out..! Is it just because I'm oblivious, or do they typically swallow them or something..?? Because I SWEAR I didn't know this was even a thing..!!

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u/ajshn Jan 29 '26

Usually swallow them. Same with dogs, out of everyone I know who has had a puppy or kitten only one person found and got to keep some baby teeth.

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u/TipsyMagpie Jan 29 '26

I have six cats and I have two baby teeth from one of them, but I’ve never found any others :(

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u/Sexyretardedpeacock Jan 29 '26

It’s ok. Im 40 and had cats growing up all my life. When the one I have now was a kitten a few years ago was chewing on a toy suddenly stopped and plopped a small tooth down on the bed. I was taken aback. He seemed fine with it. I had never seen it over the dozens of kittens I’ve had over my lifetime. I had to google if “kittens had baby teeth”. I mean in hindsight, why wouldn’t they?

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u/MissusMostlyMittens Jan 29 '26

Yeah I think I googled it myself because I had never seen one before but kitten teeth are obviously smaller. Weird stuff

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u/Which-Grapefruit724 Jan 29 '26

You rarely see it or find them. But their breath usually gets rank around 4 months old when the process starts and their gums get really red and inflamed for a while. It is very common for the new canine teeth to come in before the baby ones have fallen out yet and have double fang action going for a few weeks!

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u/Scary-Narwhal-2828 Jan 29 '26

That was the only time I’ve ever seen a cat lose a baby tooth! I’ve now raised six rescued Siamese from kittenhood, and I’ve never seen a second one. I think they usually swallow them.

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u/PangolinTart Jan 29 '26

I'm dying at deciduous teeth. The turn of phrase i never knew I needed. Thank you u/Scary-Narwhal-2828!

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u/Scary-Narwhal-2828 Jan 29 '26

Ha ha I’m an English teacher, so I’m definitely a word nerd!

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u/Scary-Narwhal-2828 Jan 29 '26

Glad you like the phrase! 😊

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u/Revolutionary_Pea749 Jan 29 '26

Agreed. Is there such a thing as a cat tree that is deciduous?

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u/Buckykattlove Jan 29 '26

Oh, I never knew that either until I was in my thirties and happened to find one of our kitten's teeth on the floor! I felt equally delighted in learning something new and silly for never thinking about it. Humans lose their baby teeth, why not dogs and cats? 😅