Aug 14 2012

Catte Tittes

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by Comradde PhysioProffe

Do cattes have a set number of tittes, like people always have two? Or is it a range of numbers of tittes?

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1

Emu Sam

August 14, 2012 at 6:59 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment

1 udder, 2 mammary glands, 4 nipples.
2

mechanotransduction

August 14, 2012 at 7:00 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment

Cats usually have eight nipples, but like humans, there are anatomic variants. Supernumerary nipples are not all that uncommon.
3

Pteryxx

August 14, 2012 at 7:09 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment

um, I think “catte” translates to cat, not cattle. Also male cats have nipples too.

…Of course I had to go and look, here’s a forum thread of folks reporting their own cats have 4, 6, 8, 9…

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/91145/how-many-nipples-does-your-cat-have
4

fuckesatonne

August 14, 2012 at 7:19 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment

I tried counting but my cat bit my hand off before I got to 2.
5

Binjabreel

August 14, 2012 at 7:36 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment

I’ve had cats with anywhere from 4 to 8, but 6 seems the most common in my memory.
6

gingerest

August 14, 2012 at 7:59 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment

According to some random veterinary embryology lecture slides I found online, just like the rest of us mammals, cats develop two lines of ectoderm – mammary ridges – running from their armpits to their groins along which we all get buds. At the buds, the ectoderm induces development of the mesoderm which induces epithelial cell development into cords that invade the mesoderm and form a set species-specific number of ducts into each mammary gland. It’s common in mammals to get the occasional extraneous bud that doesn’t regress but doesn’t develop.
So, yes, and the number of ducts per teat for cats is six, and the number of teats per cat is usually eight.
(page 48 of this pdf: http://vanat.cvm.umn.edu/vanatpdf/EmbryoLectNotes.pdf)
7

WMDKitty (Always growing and learning)

August 14, 2012 at 8:01 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment

Who knew?
8

Tsu Dho Nimh

August 14, 2012 at 8:03 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment

Usually 8 … it’s easy to miss the ones closest to their “armpits”.

Kittens will consistently nurse from the same nipple, so in a nursing female the unused teats (not tittes unless you are Elizabethan) regress.
9

jakc

August 14, 2012 at 8:13 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment

The number of nipples on placental mammals usually corresponds to the normal maximum litter size, with the normal litter size being half the number of nipples. Yeah, a woman can have triplets without being a three-breasted Martian hooker, and cows have four teats and usually one calf (not sure if bison have two or four teats – I’ve never tried to milk one). This is only a rule of thumb, so litter sizes can vary (and the number of nipples can vary from cat to cat – doesn’t mean the cat with more nipples will have a bigger litter).

The montremes (the egg-laying mammals) lack nipples, and the milk lacks milk sugars. It’s kind of an oily sweat that gets licked off of guard hairs, and I imagine if you churned it, you’d get margerine.
10

beerijuana

August 14, 2012 at 9:37 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment

…best question ever.
11

Emu Sam

August 14, 2012 at 9:55 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment

You’re right, I mentally inserted an l. Sorry.
12

gingerest

August 14, 2012 at 10:11 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment

“It’s kind of an oily sweat that gets licked off of guard hairs, and I imagine if you churned it, you’d get margerine.”

URGH. Now there’s a thought.

I’m sorry I forgot about the monotremes. They’re just so very freaky, with their 10 sex chromosomes and their egg-layingness.

This says that the mechanics of milk production are old, old, old: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22436214
13

F

August 14, 2012 at 10:17 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment

Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you said titles.

Interesting, though, and a much better question than the fractally wrong How many prongs on a chicken’s paw?
14

blindrobin

August 15, 2012 at 2:14 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment

More interesting is what prompted the question?
15

F

August 15, 2012 at 3:38 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment

OK, now it’s cattle tithes.
16

Professor in Training

August 15, 2012 at 6:39 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment

Are you trying to milk your cat again?
17

skeptifem

August 15, 2012 at 7:08 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment

my cat growing up had 6…and seven kittens. It caused problems.
18

Kate from Iowa

August 15, 2012 at 9:40 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment

Since we’re discussing the underside of cats…has anyone ever found a cat’s navel? They’re placental mammmals…so they should have umbilical cords right? Right! Who’s going to be the first to shave thier…

…okay, I’ll be good, since I’m at work. Who’s willing to shave thier cat’s beer belly?
19

F

August 15, 2012 at 10:09 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment

Kate from Iowa

Don’t tempt me.
20

arrzey

August 15, 2012 at 12:29 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment

And in some mammals there is variation in the quality of milk delivered as one goes from anterior to posterior. Thus the expression “sucking hind teat” is scientifically supported.
21

Sheila Crosby

August 16, 2012 at 6:07 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment

Q: How do you milk a tigress?
A: Very, very carefully.
22

Miss Stabby

August 16, 2012 at 12:40 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment

I think my cat only has 5…
23

Lady Day

August 16, 2012 at 6:46 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment

Clearly, CPP, you’ve never heard of the third nipple.
24

Namnezia

August 16, 2012 at 9:15 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment

@arrzey: “Sucking hind teat” is an expression? Who knew?!