r/cats Jun 19 '26

Advice Got bitten by a cat should i get shot?

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u/Knight_of_Tyto Jun 19 '26

It’s actually not the necks. It’s their anatomy. They have a flap in their throat that stops them from being able to vomit. At least iirc. That flap is really similar to the ones all mammals have over their tracheas, where they split off from the other one (don’t know what the food one is called in english)

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u/Platypus-Striking Jun 19 '26

It’s not a flap at the throat that’s the epiglottis that is to prevent aspiration of food or water into the trachea when swallowing. The part of a horse that prevents vomiting is the esophageal sphincter that is right before the stomach, it is extremely strong compared to other animals and prevents stomach contents from going backwards. Rabbits and rodents also have this same sphincter!

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u/Intermountain-Gal Jun 19 '26

Sometimes I wish cats had one. Guess who stepped on a furball getting out of bed this morning? 🤢

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u/GermanGurrl Jun 20 '26

Mine vomited his raw breakfast on the kitchen rug. Looked upset when I picked everything up without allowing him to re-consume it. Cats... He's got a hairball of the dog's fur. Dog's blowing her coat. Or spider webs. Because he's just that weird.

Behold. The weirdo.

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u/SewSewSorry Jun 20 '26

It’s funny, mine never re-consume their own regurgitation, but they will go sit in the corner and watch as the other four-legged freaks all fight over whose turn it is to get a second helping of breakfast or dinner 🤢🤮

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u/Kaneomanie Jun 20 '26

Yeah, now that's disgusting :D

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u/United-Objective-204 Jun 20 '26

Well, I guess if he can’t have a hairball of his own 🤷‍♀️

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u/GermanGurrl Jun 20 '26

Has to manufacture them from elsewhere. Yup!

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u/Platypus-Striking Jun 20 '26

One of my cats tries to eat the other cats vomit. Shovels that shit in his mouth, same cat also eats anything that’s fabric.

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u/JustMeMaxwell European Shorthair Jun 20 '26

He's judging you so hard No idea for what but damn he is judging youuuuu😂

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u/GermanGurrl Jun 20 '26

Isn't he though?! Such a little monkey!

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u/DasNothing Jun 20 '26

I’ve never seen my cats trying to re-consume their vomit, ever.

If anything they want me to clean it fast.

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u/Hopeful_Savings_7437 Jun 20 '26

Lol not him getting a hairball from grooming the dog

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u/GermanGurrl Jun 20 '26

He started off nibbling on scraps of fabric. I use fleece to make cat clothes and sometimes a little bit of fluff ends up falling to the floor. He would just literally graze on it. The number of times I took timy pieces of fabric on his mouth... Ended up taking him to the vet at one point!

He's my third sphynx. First one with a fabric addiction. And spider webs.

The dog hair results from them trying to groom our Lab/husky. (They lick her face.)

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u/Hopeful_Savings_7437 Jun 20 '26

That's a lot of all kinds of hair

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u/Kaneomanie Jun 19 '26

Better than on a dead cat, eh? Think of the dire alternatives ... :o

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u/puddlebearmom Jun 20 '26

Mine found a rogue almond that fell under the couch (high levels of arsenic for a small animal) she wasnt feel good and threw it up. Now when she vomits i remind myself of how lucky I am that she can

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u/DrawGamesPlayFurries Jun 20 '26

They would just die to food poisoning then

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u/niikkih83 Jun 20 '26

Man so true😓 same same…my 13 year old don’t care she knows I’ll clean it up and move in but dang…some of the places gurrr

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u/chefinatrix Jun 19 '26

Epiglottis, I think 🤓

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u/stfuphilsimms Jun 19 '26

Esoghogus ?

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u/Knight_of_Tyto Jun 19 '26

Thanks, totally forgot that one lol

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u/bonaynay Jun 19 '26

The glottis or epiglottitis maybe?

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u/ArtIsDumb Jun 20 '26

That flap is really similar to the ones all mammals have over their tracheas

Makes sense, considering horses are mammals...

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u/Madanimalscientist Jun 19 '26

It's not so much the flap as it is that the angle at which their esophagus enters their stomach makes it hard for them to bring food up, it's something about the pressure and the angle, especially if they're bloated. But it does make them hard to troubleshoot because then things can only go out one way and that causes a lot of problems.