How Cats Drink Milk Without Getting Their Chins Wet

Telegrpah ^ | 11/11/10 | Richard Alleyne

[BunnySlippers]

And far from simply slurping at the bowl, researchers at MIT, Virginia Tech and Princeton University say the technique exhibits "a perfect balance between two physical forces".

It was known from a 1941 study that when they lap milk, cats extend their tongues in a backwards 'J' – meaning the top of their tongue touches the surface first.

But recent high speed footage has shown that the top surface is the only part of the tongue to touch the liquid – meaning that unlike in dogs, where the tongue is fully immersed and used as a ladle, a more refined technique is at work.

The tip of the cat's tongue scarcely brushes the liquid's surface before it is rapidly drawn back. This forms a column of milk between the tongue and the surface, which the cat captures by closing its mouth.

This column is created by a balance between gravity pulling the liquid back to the bowl, and inertia – the tendency of a substance to move in a given direction until another force intervenes.

[BunnySlippers]

Kitty Ping List Ping

[martin_fierro]

[True Republican Patriot]

Another proof that Darwin was freaking Stupid and that why the Libs have made the Basshat their GOD!

[Paved Paradise]

So this is what the brightest minds in academia are doing??? No wonder we are in trouble. I wish they’d get some slow-mo footage of how the crooks in DC keep getting our money.

[J Edgar]

Random selection from survival of the fittest designed this, from the instinct to the muscular dexterity of anatomy.

Right!

[J Edgar]

Random selection from survival of the fittest designed this, from the instinct to the muscular dexterity of anatomy.

Right!

[FrankR]

Mine likes to drink out of a hamster bottle, or a dripping fawcet. I fixed the drip and she was depressed for days.

[Doogle]

..."been known to order out and use a jug or two"

[BunnySlippers]

Using a straw prevents dribbles on the chin.

[ColdOne]

ping

[BunnySlippers]

Hmm ... did you put up the hamster bottle for the kitteh?

[M Kehoe]

Cats. Can't live with them, and can't eat them.

Well, that's what the First lady tells me anyway...

5.56mm

[Roses0508]

I had a cat that drank that way - only running water. Would first flick his paw through the running water and lick it, then dip his head quickly under the running water, so water ran across one ear and part of his head and then turn his head sideways and drink. One of my friends dubbed this cat “a black Tennessee wethead”.

How did you get this picture. Its wonderful!!

[stormer]

Yeah, there goes 150 years of science.

[FrankR]

No, actually I bought it for our dog, Lucy, when she was a puppy. We kept her in a large wire kennel and strapped the large hamster bottle to the side of it. I had seen this done in pet stores for pups, so I thought it would be better than her spilling, and stepping in, her water bowl. Worked like a charm.

Lucy was only 7 weeks old when we trained her that the bottle had water in it, but I don't know if you could train an older dog or not. At some point, Scooter, the cat, discovered it while snooping around in Lucy's empty kennel, and now she had rather drink there than from her regular watering bowl.

[BunnySlippers]

Pets are such fun to have. I love my chihuahua, Fidel.

When he was a baby, he wouldn’t walk around to the other side of the plate to get the food farthest from him. Instead, he stood on his front paws and leaned over the plate to the opposite side.

I wish I had taken a film of it.

[Sacajaweau]

Cat's tongues are like sandpaper...doggies are smooth. That must make a difference.

If dogs use theirs like a ladle, they're obviously getting more...which goes with my theory that cats are lazy AND dumb.

[Inyokern]

[BunnySlippers]

See, I knew that was why they kept their chins dry.