Cat Chat Feline Forum

One of my cats doesn't seem to chew her food just swallow ,soft meat is ok,i think but when it comes to biscuits and treats bit worried any ideas noticed this for a while she is around 20months old now

Hi there - she seems very young for any dental problems but I'd get her checked out by the vet, just to be on the safe side. Good luck with her

I've had a couple of cats that seem to swallow everything whole. My Grumpy Nellie does this - food barely even touches the sides on the way down, but as she's had all her teeth extracted I do understand that her options are limited! It's never seemed to cause her any problems.

As this isn't a new behaviour, and as long as your girl seems healthy, has a good appetite and isn't bolting her food and then throwing it back up again, I wouldn't worry too much. I would keep an eye on her teeth, though, as chewing is part of nature's teeth cleaning process, and next time you take her in to the vet get them to have a look at her teeth just in case there's a problem there that's making her unwilling to chew.

cats' teeth aren't designed primarily to chew, and they only have 4 molars

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that is why so often they can go on eating without any obvious discomfort, because they can simply chose not to use the molars - a problem with the canines shows up much sooner

but given her age I agree with Crewella that unless she shows signs of pain, I would leave it until she is due a vet visit for something else