An adult domestic cat has 30 permanent teeth. This compact set is specialized for grasping, cutting, and tearing meat rather than grinding plant material.
A cat’s permanent dentition includes 12 incisors, four canine teeth, 10 premolars, and four molars. The sharp canine teeth help seize prey, while the premolars and molars include the carnassial teeth, which work like blades to shear food. The small incisors at the front of the mouth are useful for nibbling and grooming.
Cats do not begin life with all 30 permanent teeth. Their deciduous, or baby, dentition contains 26 teeth and typically appears soon after birth. As kittens grow, those teeth are replaced by the adult set. Dental disease, tooth resorption, injury, or extraction can mean an individual adult cat has fewer than 30 teeth, but 30 is the normal anatomical count.
The number is sometimes confused with the 32 permanent teeth found in adult humans or with a kitten’s 26 baby teeth. For a healthy adult domestic cat, the canonical quiz answer is 30.