STANDARD DISCLAIMER: A search of the archives came up blank, so please excuse me if this topic has come up before.
Can cats swim? Has anyone ACTUALLY taken a domestic cat to a lake or river and noted the results?
What is the biological name for those sandpaper-like deposits on a cat’s tongue? What are they? Are they basically specialized taste buds? Do jungle cats have them? Can they be worn down as the cat ages?
Rastahomie,
Although my answers are not scientifically based, I do have 2 cats so I will answer based on my observation.
Although I have never seen a domestic cat swim, I do know that tigers swim so I suspect if their large cousin can swim a cat can swim. Also, not all cats hate water, one must introduce a cat to water at a very young age. (just a little add-on there)
I don’t know the biological term for the roughness. But the purpose of it is to aid them in their grooming, kind of a brush if you will. My male cat is 13 1/2 years old and still seems to have the same texture as when he was young.
To the best of my knowledge, all feline species have the same tongue texture.
In addition to their rough tongues, their saliva contains special enzymes or some chemical to help deodorize their fur. I have never known a cat that has stinky fur, in fact (this may sound odd) I love to smell my shorthaired male cat. I guess this comes from having cats as a kid and it’s comforting smell.
Hope this helps 
I can’t speak from personal experience, but my departed mother always claimed that, when young, she had a cat that always went for a swim for fun in the basement (in the spring, when the basement always flooded).
jrf
We had a short-lived cat (two cat generations ago) that used to swim, or at least wade vigourously. However, the poor creature was unfortunately also deaf.
I have been curious about this for a long time. When I scratch my cat (or indeed almost any cat) on the lower back at the base of the tail, she licks her left paw. Always her left paw, never her right. Most cats for whom butt-scratching triggers the mysterious paw-licking impulse lick their left paw. Fat cats are more prone to this behaviour than skinny cats.
Is it a confluence of nerve endings along the spine? Why paw-licking?
The roughness of the tongue aids in removing flesh from bone. At least in large cats.
One of those things I just know.
Peace,
mangeorge
Work like you don’t need the money…
Love like you’ve never been hurt…
Dance like nobody’s watching! …(Paraphrased)
Cats can swim if they have to; I think their disdain for water just causes them to avoid situations where they have to, or to look for alternate routes over or around the water.
Incidentally, I learned in my youth that about the dumbest, most painful thing one can do is hold a cat while wading into the middle of a creek. If you can’t figure out why, go ahead and give it a try. I’ll wait for you on the bank with a towel and some Band-Aids®.
“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy
We have lived on a lake shore for 25 years and have always had a bunch of catz. They don’t like to swim but they can do so perfectly well if necessary. We get a couple who fall in every year and they just swim back out pissing and moaning about being wet.
Most catz don’t like being wet but almost all of ours will sit right down next to the water to watch the water birds and fish. We have had several who liked to go for boat rides and one who would go out floating in an inner tube with us. We had one who used to wade in up to his belly and hook fish. Nothing in life quite compares to finding a dead bluegill in your bed.
JB
Lex Non Favet Delicatorum Votis
use to live on a canal, cats would ocationally fall in (even in the winter, come to think of it especially in the winter) and they would come homw soggie. indirect evedence, but they would have to swim if they did fall in since the water is 3-10 ft deep (depending on tide). Then I decided one summer to test my theory, so on to the float, with a crab net just incase (I figured their claws would hold on to the net) and gave one a toss, she swam great to the float, clawed up to thew float, jumped up to land ran inside the house, ran into my room jumped on my bed and got it all wet.
I have since given this test to 4 cats all can swim (one better then he climbs back up) and all HATE it.
What they said.
My cats don’t like getting wet, but they often use their paws to splash the water out of their bowl. I thought at first they were having difficulty seeing where the water level in the bowl was (trying to find it by touch, so to speak), but after observing them over time I think they just like to splash the water around. (sigh)
As for why cats don’t like getting wet? Well, think about it - the only way they can dry off and get their hair all straight is to spend HOURS licking themselves tip to toe. How tiring is that?! Interrupts all that valuable nap time!
StoryTyler
“Not everybody does it, but everybody should.”
I Spy Ty.
As a curious 12-year-old, I tested this theory by tossing poor, old, trusting Peach, our family’s much-loved and now sadly departed cat, off the diving board into the deep end of our backyard pool. Cats can swim–well, at the least, cat-paddle. Trust me. I have seen it happen. They’re not that good at getting out of swimming pools, though, and he who fishes his cat out of the water pays the price in long, deep scratches. I deserved it. Peach forgave me, or at least had forgotten about my betrayal within a few days.
Aviddiva
When I was growing up we had a very fat critter named Midnight. She was all black and had a bad case of dandruff on her lower back. Anyway, when I’d brush her I’d concentrate there, and she would always chomp her paws fiercely when I did that. A little biting and a lot of licking; both paws. I always wondered why she did that; never figured it out.
When he was younger, my cat Clapton used to catch crawdads. Just hooked them, never swam for it though.
Can’t say I ever saw a cat swim voluntarily, though.
“Show me a sane man, and I will cure him for you.”----Jung
Toss a kitten in a full bath-tub and watch the FUN - hoot hoot
Several years ago (maybe even a couple of decades!) I saw a picture of Zha-Zha (sp?) Gabor in her swimming pool with her swimming cats. She claimed they liked it.
Zsa Zsa must have owned sex kittens, they love the water. Hmm, where’s my copy of Queen of Outer Space?
They don’t call me the colonel because I’m some dumb ass army guy.
Abyssinians are well known for loving water. A friend of mine had one that would jump in the shower with her every day. They are reputed to hunt fish in the Nile…finally a ueful cat (hey - I love 'em but they are useless) and Abyssinians cost a fortune.
aviddiva, my cat does exactly the same thing! I never noticed if she has a paw preference; I’ll pay more attention next time. She will also lick my hand if I put it in front of her while I’m scratching her back. She always looks surprised to be licking my hand when I stop scratching. She’s not fat, but she’s not skinny either.
Only one of my cats does this; the other one just looks puzzled. I thought Maria was the only cat who did this.
My mom’s cat is part Abyssinian, and he gets into the shower with people. We thought he was just weird.
Not forgetting the Turkish swimming cats of Lake [Van][?]…