| A feeling of rough sandpaper as you are | | | | hooks also helps a cat hold food or struggle |
| licked by your cat is a reminder that its | | | | with prey. |
| long, muscular tongue serves many functions, | | | | |
| including grooming. | | | | Your Help is Needed: Although the |
| | | | abrasiveness of a cats tongue helps it to |
| A Grooming Tool and More: A cats ability to | | | | clean itself and untangle its hair, your help |
| groom itself is the result of numerous knobs | | | | is needed through regular grooming. As you |
| called papillae on the surface of a cats | | | | groom your cat, you are removing loose and |
| tongue. Located at the tongues center, the | | | | dead hair. Otherwise a cat may ingest this |
| papillae form backward-facing hooks | | | | hair and hair balls can form, which can cause |
| containing large amounts of keratin, the same | | | | vomiting and may cause impaction in the |
| material found in human fingernails. These | | | | gastrointestinal tract. Longhaired cats need |
| hooks provide the abrasiveness a cat needs | | | | daily grooming; shorthaired cats should be |
| for self-grooming. The strength of these | | | | groomed at least once a week. |