how do cats make sure that they never have water go down the wrong pipe?

one of the main differences between my wife's cat and me is that all the time I end up having huge coughing fits when we're watching tv because I'll drink something and have the liquid swallowed wrong and it feels like it slices part of my throat off and i choke up all over the place and then my wife says i'm gross even though im not doing it on purpose and ive seen otehr ppl do it occassionally too, my wife's cat has nevr coughed like this before in its life and everytime it drinks water she says itts graceful and very coordinated and all of that, did cats evolve so that they dont have a extra pipe like humans do so they physically cant swallow it wrong or do they just pay more attention to how they're drinking things in general?