I love all my furry kids equally, but why do my dogs get water everywhere when they drink, while the cats do not? Humans, horses, cows, and pigs can just put their mouths into some water and drink because we have cheeks that allow us to create a partial vacuum and suction. Dogs and cats, like many predators, have incomplete cheeks, which enable them to open their mouths wider to bite and eat prey, but this prevents them from creating a vacuum, so they need to drink a little differently.
While they both stick their tongues into the water, cats barely touch the water with just the tips of their tongues and retract, while dogs curl their tongue backward and draw up a big scoop of water, some of which makes it into their mouths.
From the Harvard Gazette:
Though cats and dogs drink in the same fashion…the cats' tongues come into contact with just the surface of the liquid, dogs' tongues plunge in, breaking the surface. This action not only creates a mess, it also pools liquid on the back side of the tongue as the animal draws it up, almost as if it were forming a cup. Closer examination of the video shows, however, that that liquid is lost as the tongue is drawn up, Crompton said.
The super slo-mo in this video shows how differently drinking works for cats and dogs, which is not evident to the naked eye.
Wherever you stand on the great cats vs dogs debate, your pets will likely make you happier unless they trip you.
