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While stepping into the shower recently, I stepped on what I thought was a piece of dry cat food. We've been feeding our kitten, Galileo, in the bathroom to keep the adult cats out of his food.

Reaching down to throw it into the trash, I noticed it wasn't food, but appeared to be a tooth. Feeling like I was back in first grade at show-and-tell, I put the tooth in a small container and took it to work the next day to show my co-workers.

Most of them have pets, and many of those are cats. Still, several were surprised to learn that kittens lose their teeth just like humans do.

So, in my quest to educate the masses, or at least the readers of this blog, I asked a photographer to take a photo of the tooth and e-mailed it to a few local veterinarian offices to verify that's what it is and get a little information.

Dr. Mark Brigham of Greensboro Veterinary Hospital was kind enough to send me this reply:

This appears to be a feline deciduous premolar (baby tooth). A few weeks after birth, kittens (and puppies, too) start to cut-in baby teeth. These deciduous teeth help the newborn transition from solely drinking mother's milk to eating solid foods. Since the skull is still growing, these baby teeth need to fall out over the first 6 months of life. As they loosen and fall out, they provide a pathway for the adult teeth to follow. If the deciduous teeth don't properly fall out by 1 year of age, then they should be extracted by a veterinarian. Retained deciduous teeth can interfere with the proper alignment of adult teeth.

So the next time someone says they stepped on a kitten's tooth, you might want to believe them.

Kenwyn Caranna, a copy editor for the News & Record, is looking for her next big find for show-and-tell at work. She can be reached at 373-7004 or kenwyn.caranna@news-record.com.