So last week I’m sitting watching TV with a sleepy cat on my lap. Aww, such a sweet moment. Sleepy kitty yawns. Sleepy kitty has double canine teeth! Did I see that right? Yes, I did. He has twin upper canine teeth. And so does his brother. I mean, every cat (or every normal cat) has two upper canines. Our cats have an extra set of canines right behind the normal ones. Four upper canines, two lower canines. I did some Googling and didn’t find anything about cats with extra teeth. The cats are about 7 months old, so maybe one set is their baby teeth and one is their adult teeth and something went a little screwy? Has anyone else encountered this? My roomates are going to ask the vet next time they take them in. This could be the evolution of a new super-hunting kitty! If they weren’t neutered. 
Maybe that won’t stop them. Remember Jurassic Park? “Life…found a way”.
I think they’re baby teeth and grownup teeth cohabitating for a little bit.
but i’d still ask the vet, just to be sure.
Maybe they are stealing them from other cats. I just noticed last night that one of mine is missing her upper left canine, which I’m pretty sure she used to have. (For the record, I refer to it as her fang, since I feel funny about cats having canine teeth, even though I know that’s what those long tearing teeth are called in lots of animals.) She’s always rubbing her face on table corners, etc, and I’m guessing that’s how it got knocked out. She didn’t seem too sensitive about me trying to see it except for the usual “get your hand off my face” reaction, so I’m guessing it’s probably been gone for a while. As often as she has her mouth open - she’s a noisy kitty - she doesn’t do it in my face much, so I never noticed.
I dunno, it just seemed kind of funny, that I noticed Riverbed’s missing a tooth and next day someone is posting about a cat with extras in the same place. But since extra toes are pretty common in cats, why not? Just be careful feeding them by hand!
Here’s another one for the coincidence file, then – We’ve noticed Powder doing an odd licking thing lately, where it almost looks like he’s trying to remove a stray wad of hair from his mouth. He’s been doing it almost constantly (at least, when he’s out and about…he’s our very shy cat).
Last night he decided it was time for his weekly pettings, so I was able to get a hold of him and open up his mouth. Sure enough – his upper right fang is gone.
It’s not that uncommon in my experience for cats to have double canines when the adult teeth come in. Next vet visit, have the vet take a look - the baby teeth may need to come out. Several of my kitties had had this occur, and they do look rather intimidating when they meow or yawn and “oh my og that cat has a lot of teeth in there!”
When my Boris was about 6 months old, the vet commented that his baby teeth hdn’t all fallen out and if they didn’t he might have to pull them. Luckily, the Borinator was OK by the time he went in to be neutered a couple of weeks later.
Dang, Hal, that’s an evil-looking kitty!
Sorry my roommates’ cats keep stealing your cats’ teeth. I’ll try to stop them.
Snakescatlady, that’s kind of disappointing. I don’t want the vets pulling out their extra teeth! I want them to be Übercats!
When I told this story to Wolfmom tonight, she suggested you might not have cats at all. You might have very small, furry sharks.
Ubercats that can’t eat.
Batcat didn’t lose her baby teeth. Since she is severely vet-phobic (she’s blind. Vets ALWAYS mess with her “eyes” no matter why she’s there.) I didn’t have them pulled right away.
The adult teeth don’t fit, which makes eating crunchy food difficult – and eating is fairly important to kitties. Too bad 4 fangs look so cool. 
My Gweniever is a Hawaiian Bat Cat!!
I can’t really say that mine are vet-phobic. They are leaving-the-house-phobic.
How did you end up with a blind kitty? Hugs to you for taking her! I worked with a kitten while I was doing rescue that had some sort of horrible eye condition - she was probably blinded shortly after birth and we had to have her eyes removed. (The vet speculated it was a type of herpes infection - it was awful. If I knew how to post pics I would for the more morbid of you. She was the most loving, sweet kitten my boss just couldn’t put her down. She ended up getting adopted by a very wealthy family in Canada (I tried to get them to adopt me too but I can’t purr) all the way from Georgia.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised :dubious: <----In this case standing is as a suspicious smilie rather than dubious.
Cats have been working on this whole “extra” genetic program for some time. I’ve had a slew of six toed cats…and when two of them mated, some of their litter had seven!! My theory there is that they are working on something that can open a cat food can. And Lord help us when that day comes!!!
So it doesn’t surprise me they are also working on extra teeth. No, I don’t know why…yet.
But I would recommend refering to them often and loudly in the cat’s presence as its “canines”. That might embarrass them enough to abandon the project.
All I can say is, I’m glad I don’t have extra toes! I have a hard time finding shoes that are wide enough as it is.
[QUOTE=betenoir]
Cats have been working on this whole “extra” genetic program for some time. I’ve had a slew of six toed cats…and when two of them mated, some of their litter had seven!! My theory there is that they are working on something that can open a cat food can. And Lord help us when that day comes!!!
[QUOTE]
Another of my cats knows what doorknobs are for. Thankfully he’s not of the six-or-seven-toed variety or he’d probably be able to work them. He already figured out how to unroll the toilet paper when we hang it backwards. One time I walked into the room and all three of them had their little kitty heads together, turned in unison to look at me, then went back to their kitty conferencing. I am pretty sure that there is something to your theory, and fear that it’s about more than just opening cat food cans. (My third cat used to steal food and give it to the dog, which is another story entirely.)
One other note, you may know this alreadyWeird One, when animals lose their teeth, a lot of times they swallow them. So if these are just baby teeth as seems to be the general consensus, one day they’ll jump in your lap again and you’ll suddenly notice that their teeth are normal again. Then you’ll wonder if you dreamed the whole thing.
On Halloween 1998, I heard a gas station trash can meowing! :dubious: What else could I do? She was about 3 weeks old, had a horrible case of “cat flu” (pnuemonia, eye infection, whole bit) which the vet didn’t expect her to survive. She (obviously) did, quite well in fact, except her third eyelid had grown shut – probably never opened in the first place.
Batcat doesn’t realize she’s “handicapped.” She catches mice (okay, retarded mice, but still) climbs everything, bullies the other cats, and loves to walk on her leash. I have no idea how to share pictures, or I’d show her off.
End of hijack!
Wolfgrrl, your cat that knows about doorknobs must be in touch with my Snuggles. He spends his life staring at the doorknob. He’ll stare at it, then glare at me, then turn back to the knob, willing it to open. Sometimes he jumps up and wraps his little paws around it and hangs on for dear life and freedom. Then I have to tease him about not having thumbs. Og knows what would happen if he did have some spare toes - he’d have to have his own key.
In a related story, Snuggs and I recently moved to a second floor apartment, with a balcony. I figured he’d be cool out there, and it would be safe because he’d just be right outside. I let him out a week or so ago and forgot he was out for maybe an hour, and when I went to call him in, he was gone. He did answer me when I called, but I wasn’t sure he would know how to find the front door (around the building and up the stairs). I pulled on my bathrobe as I rushed down the steps. By the time I got around the building, the little bugger had climbed back up onto the balcony. He put on his big anime kitty eyes, I swear his pupils were big as saucers with little white reflective spots, and looked down at me with this “I love you goofy mommy” look.
We now have a screened in balcony.
Possibly! Does Snuggles know how to leap from the floor to the top of an open door, yet crash into the side of the washing machine?
I do find Allessandro sitting in front of the computer most times when I come back from using the bathroom or getting a snack…
No, on both counts. He has no interest in the tops of doors, only the side opposite the hinge. And the washing machine is inconvenient for bumping into. The door to the laundry room must remain closed to do anything in the kitchen - it interferes with both pantry and refrigerator.
Maybe I was wrong to use Snuggles’ name in my alternate email addy. He’s out here in cyberspace exchanging ideas.
Well, for better or worse, both cats now have the normal number of teeth. My roommates are glad that they won’t have to pay for any extra vet bills; I’m disappointed that we don’t have mutant cats. During his online searche for info on cats with more than the usual number of teeth, one of my roommates turned up this site on cat facial deformities which he was kind enough to share with us, prompting me to dream that our cats had five ears on each side! (warning: site contains some very oogy pictures)