Saber-toothed cats became inbred–and struggled to move–before they went extinct

They are not asserting a fact. They are asserting a possibility. Asserting a possibility is not an assumption.

Yes, but if you imagine the dynamics, the cat chomps down on the prey's neck (which unlike anywhere else is narrow enough that it can open it's jaws wide enough to stab through) and just the natural struggle would let the serrations do their work. The cat wouldn't need to cut all the way through the neck - as soon as the arteries are cut then the prey will weaken and bleed out, which seems to be a fairly common MO among some predators.

My cats only chew hard things like kibble, but never chew their wet food, and if given meat or fish, they tear and swallow without chewing.

My cats rarely chew, either dry or wet food, even treats they inhale and swallow without chewing. If I want them to chew, I have to give them meat trimmings or something large enough that they can't swallow it without chewing.

They seem smart enough not to choke on larger pieces of meat but it's still weird to me that they don't chew dry food.

They chew kibble, but they don't really encounter food in the wild that's anything like kibble. If you give them wet food, you'll notice they practically inhale it.

I was recently told this by my vet when my cat needed some teeth removed -- there was no real impact on the cat's life because they don't really chew their food.

My cat almost doesn't chew at all, she's only fed wet food which she swallows in chunks and the rare prey she catches outdoors is teared and swallowed in chunks as well.

> The question is how they get around sabre tooth without being a major obstruction to bite pieces of meat off.

If you watch a video/picture of a lion eating or look closely to your cat, you'll notice they chew straight with their molars: https://media.istockphoto.com/id/176047661/photo/lion-chewin...

Canines are their hunting knives, where they need to penetrate deeply and then hold the piece in place until it is disabled. Canines are unable to chew properly, as they don't have a counterpart that works as the anvil, they just perforate. Also, the structure analysis show that canines would shatter if used to chew bones, so they where reserved to bite the neck or the belly while hunting.

It is speculated that the Sabre Tooth tigers (500 kg/1000 pounds) could take down a 3000 kg/6000 pound) megahervibore, that probably had a skin and fat as thick as a modern elephant. They needed those canines to kill those preys.

> Walruses, I have no idea how they manage to feed either.

they blow air on the sea floor to dislodge clams, use their whiskers to locate them and and then suck them out of their shell. I did not know walruses survive mostly on clams before today.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0WZSBlCcVA

Was the question more about ability to hunt, or ability to chew?