{"id":2814,"date":"2018-07-16T04:32:30","date_gmt":"2018-07-16T12:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=2814"},"modified":"2018-07-16T04:32:30","modified_gmt":"2018-07-16T12:32:30","slug":"mindful-monday-the-cats-amazing-tongue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=2814","title":{"rendered":"Mindful Monday \u2013The Cat\u2019s Amazing Tongue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-2815\" src=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/smokeytongue-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/smokeytongue-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/smokeytongue-500x375.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/smokeytongue.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>They all have one and we humans actually find the cat\u2019s tongue to be rather interesting with its coarse barbs and lapping and grooming abilities. In fact, the cats tongue is made for grooming, which is highly important to a cat. Not only does licking help keep the cat cool in warm weather, but it\u2019s quite a handy tool for removing loose fur (so it doesn\u2019t mat and tangle) and dirt particles. If you have a cat, you probably sometimes find odd-looking tubular brown squishy things lying around your house. Those are fur balls your cat has coughed up after a vigorous grooming session.<\/p>\n<p>Cats also groom after eating and usually after petting. Why are cats so fastidious about <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1807\" src=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/LilyTongue-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/LilyTongue-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/LilyTongue-500x375.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/LilyTongue.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>cleanliness? According to the experts, this is a throwback from their ancestors. Cats are small and they\u2019re prey to many larger animals. If they were to run around the jungle or the backstreets smelling of mouse blood, they\u2019d be detected by their hungry enemies and probably invited to supper.<\/p>\n<p>As cute and interesting as that little tongue is, it can also create danger for your cat. When he licks something, it\u2019s liable to get stuck on his barbed tongue. If he can\u2019t get it loose, it\u2019s going to be swallowed and we do not want our cats swallowing yarn, string, ribbon, or Christmas tree tinsel, for example.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1168\" src=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/LilyLicking-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/LilyLicking-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/LilyLicking-375x500.jpg 375w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/LilyLicking.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/>My gorgeous Persian cat, Crystal, once swallowed a needle. Looking back, I\u2019m sure I know how that happened. Crystal loved to help me sew. She\u2019d sit next to the sewing machine and watch the process as I made clothing or worked on a craft project. The day of the incident, I\u2019m sure that she must have sat too close to the pin cushion. She was always grooming herself. Imagine this\u2014she licks herself and happens to pick up a piece of thread (green) with her tongue. She tries to spit it out, but her tongue is designed to take it in, so she does. At the end of that piece of thread was a needle and it went down and got caught in her throat. Thankfully, we were able to identify the cause of her discomfort and the veterinarian removed the needle and thread without incident. Now when I sew, there are no cats allowed anywhere near the pin cushion.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a few sites I found quite fascinating about the cat\u2019s tongue. Enjoy: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/lifestyle\/5-cat-facts-anatomy-tongue-awesome\">https:\/\/www.catster.com\/lifestyle\/5-cat-facts-anatomy-tongue-awesome<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.catbehaviorassociates.com\/your-cats-tongue\/\">https:\/\/www.catbehaviorassociates.com\/your-cats-tongue\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Announcement<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Tomorrow starts our 5 day blog tour. Watch this blog each day to see where we\u2019ll be and what fun we\u2019ll have. Spoiler alert: Tomorrow our behind-the-scenes tortie, Sophie, will be in the limelight. In fact, she\u2019s being interviewed by another tortie, Mudpie. This is a rare appearance you won\u2019t want to miss. I\u2019ll post the details and the link here tomorrow morning.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They all have one and we humans actually find the cat\u2019s tongue to be rather interesting with its coarse barbs and lapping and grooming abilities. In fact, the cats tongue is made for grooming, which is highly important to a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=2814\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,31],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2814"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2814"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2816,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2814\/revisions\/2816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}