For most pet owners, when choosing pet dry food, they may pay more attention to the product ingredient list, nutritional value, etc. But in fact, there is another very important aspect that also affects whether pets can get enough nutrients from food, and that is the size and shape of pet dry food. If you observe carefully, it is not difficult to find that dog food particles on the market are usually round, and there are also square and bone-shaped; the shapes of cat food are triangular, pentagon, heart-shaped, and plum-shaped, usually with more edges and corners. Most dog food is generally larger in size than cat food.
Ⅰ. Reasons that affect the size and shape of dog and cat food
- The tooth configuration of dogs and cats is different
cat teeth：
Dog teeth：
The facial features and oral structure of dogs and cats are very different. The edge of the crown of the cat’s teeth is very sharp, especially the premolars have 4 cusps on the crown. The cusps of the upper second and lower first premolars are large and sharp, which can tear the skin of the prey, so it is called fissure. tooth. The cat’s mouth is short and wide: 26 deciduous teeth and 30 permanent teeth; the dog’s mouth is long and narrow: 28 deciduous and 42 permanent teeth.
Compared with the deciduous teeth, the cat’s permanent teeth have four more molars on both sides of the upper and lower jaws. There are more changes in the permanent teeth of the dog. Compared with the deciduous teeth, there are 14 more teeth. They are 4 premolars on both sides of the upper and lower jaws, 2 molars on the left and right upper jaws, and 3 molars in the lower jaw.
Dogs’ flexible jaws and tooth arrangement allow them to chew food like humans do. When a dog chews food, the teeth can move longitudinally + laterally, crushing + cutting + grinding the food. Cats have limited jaw mobility and a small number of molars and premolars, so they can only move longitudinally when chewing food, cutting and crushing food particles with their teeth. That is, dogs are biting up and down, while cats are grinding back and forth.
2. The eating habits of dogs and cats are different
Dogs and cats are carnivores, but dogs have a wider range of food than cats, and their demand for meat is far less than that of cats, so this results in cats’ teeth must have a better ability to handle meat, and cats have sharp teeth. , sharp, and has good cutting ability. This structure is very suitable for it to tear small animals such as mice and birds into two halves. When eating, cats rely more on themselves to grow barbs. The tongue crushes the prey into small pieces of meat.
Cats can obtain pelleted food in a variety of ways, mainly by chewing with their teeth or hooking with the tip of their tongue. Therefore, the more readily available food particles are for cats, the higher their acceptability. There is no specific method for dogs to obtain food. However, the brachycephalic, forward-protruding canine teeth are difficult to bite, and these dogs prefer to use their tongues for food.
Different breeds of dogs and cats have different eating habits:
Taking two cats among cats as an example, Garfield and Chinese pastoral cat, it can be seen from the facial structure that they have obvious differences, and this difference will affect their eating habits. First of all, Garfield’s facial characteristics determine that they cannot eat dry food that is relatively smooth or slippery, and this is not a big problem for Chinese pastoral cats.
Secondly, when Garfield’s mouth is eating, he can’t eat dry cat food with larger particles, and with the same amount of food, Garfield’s eating speed can be regarded as very slow. Especially the round, larger dry cat food is very difficult for them to eat and chew. Similar problems also exist in pet dog fighting.
Post time: Jun-01-2022