Every time my human gets a photo of me like the one above, she says, “I can see your tonsils!” But then she started wondering if cats really did have tonsils. So she looked it up.
And duh, yeah, cats do have tonsils. In fact, we kitties have four sets of tonsils to a human’s three. Human tonsils are the pharyngeal tonsils (or adenoids), the the palatine tonsils and the lingual tonsils. Cat tonsils are the pharyngeal tonsil, the palatine tonsils, the lingual tonsil, and the paraepiglottic tonsils.
In case you are wondering (which you probably are at this point), those bumpy things on either side of your throat opening are the palatine tonsils. So we cat have those, and adenoids.
One interesting thing about the paraepiglottic tonsils — neither humans nor dogs have them. I’d tell you where they’re located on cats, but my human started going cross eyed at all the medical terms. The lingual tonsil was easy for her to figure out, since lingual refers to the tongue. It’s way, way back at the base of the tongue, and apparently not well developed in felines.
Fortunately, tonsillitis is rare in cats. Just in case you wanted to know.
So if, like my human, you were wondering about cats and tonsils, here’s your answer! Has my human ever seen my tonsils? In spite of what she says, I don’t think she’s ever looked that closely. But I bet my vet has seen them.
If you’re one of the few people who have seen cat tonsils, let me know! Although if you have, I imagine you are a veterinarian or a vet tech.
Mee-yow wow mee not even know mee has 4 setss of Tonsillss Summer! You eddcated BOTH LadyMew an mee!
LadyMe sayss shee not seen any of her catss tonsilss. Shee did see herss many yeerss ago aftur surgery……shee said they looked purrty ucky…shee had seevere Tonsillitis….
Thanx fore a furry innterestin bloggie post!
**purrss** BellaDharma an ((huggiess)) LadyMew too
We humans have three sets of tonsils, and cats have four sets of tonsils, Amazing!
TONSILS!? Yer kidding me?
Wow, FOUR sets of tonsils? We never knew, Summer!
Ya know, that’s one of few things I never researched about cats. It never even occurred to me to think about whether or not cats have tonsils. Thanks for enlightening me, and I’m glad I never had a cat with tonsilitis!
Ok, I think your momma is as weird as mine. One time, she just had to find my belly button.
I’ve never thought about cats having tonsils before. What an interesting topic!!!! I didn’t know they did, if I would have guessed. Now that I know, I will try to see them next time Angel yawns BIG! Thanks, Summer!
I had never given that a thought. And I love the pictures
Whoa! I learned something today. TW might have FELT my tonsils a few times. When Nicky used to snore, TW used to tell him he had problems with his adenoids.
I didn’t know kitties have four sets of tonsils. It was an interesting read!
We sure dint know we had tonsils. Which is funny cuz it means we do an TBT doesnt!
you know, Summer, we have never thought about our tonsils and our mom never considered if we had them or not! interesting kitty factoids 🙂
minnie, hollie, sharpie, ditto, TL
Mom has seen many tonsils in her days of surgery. She’s a anesthesia surgery technician and her primary responsibility is to anesthetize and monitor pets under anesthesia. She say’s the feline mouth is unique and super cool. Ok, she’s a cat lady, MOL. Great post Summer and mom! What a wonderful topic. Purrs
That was interesting.
How interesting! I never wondered but I’m glad that I now know!
Very interesting. I had never thought about kitty tonsils.
Wow, such stuff should be in the game of Trivial Pursuit! We learn a lot, and this will be the I learned something new today thing:)
I knew we both had tonsils, but didn’t know there were different sets. And the good thing about wide yawn is it gives our people a peek inside our mouths to see if everything looks healthy.
I wonder if the paraepiglottic tonsils cats have (that dogs and humans don’t have) have something to do with how purrs are generated?
Wow! We didn’t know that! I hope our mom doesn’t get any ideas and look for ours!
When a cat yawns, I’m just too fascinated by the whole vista, I don’t notice details.
Wow….we never knew cats had tonsils. Mom doesn’t have hers anymore.
The Florida Furkids
We do hear that too from time to time and now we know it’s real!
Summer, when a cat yawns, that wide cavern is rather fascinating to us humans!
Our mom says the same thing…without knowing if we did or not. Thanks for sharing that info, Summer.
I never thought about cat tonsils. But, I have seen
the big yawns some cats do. You have given me today’s
“learning”. You know, learn something new every day….
This is really interesting. My meowmy said she’s going to google cat tonsils now. ….Miss Lulu
I never knew! <3
How very interesting! We always learn a lot from your blog, Summer!
Purrs,
Tama and Genji