If our kitty friends had online dating profiles that described their many adorable attributes to other interested felines, the cat's whiskers would definitely be a category.
"This is Fluffy. She has fancy pointy ears, shiny charcoal fur, a full tail, gleaming eyes, and long, luscious whiskers. She enjoys lying in the sun and making judgmental faces at strangers."
There're many myths surrounding the mysteries of these wonderful whiskers ranging from the consequences of cutting them to using them to read the mood of your furry diva. So, what happens if you cut off a cat’s whiskers?”Let's dive in to see what truths we can uncover about the cat's whiskers.
True or False: It's OK to Trim the Cat's Whiskers
False!
It's never a good idea to cut your fur baby's whiskers. A clean shave of your human whiskers may feel nice, but it's not the same kind of hair for your feline friend.
The kitty’s whiskers are an important sensory organ. Those long, thick hair strands are not actually hairs. They are technically called vibrissae and each little cat whisker is connected to a sensory receptor that sends valuable information to your fur baby's brain. They are your cat's primary sense of space as she makes her way through the world.
Cutting a kitty’s whiskers can leave her disoriented, scared, and unable to sense his environment in the way she's used to doing. Imagine losing your sense of touch - that's what effect trimming cat whiskers would have on your furry friend.
True or False: Cats Use Their Whiskers to Plan Their Escape
True!
Your feline friend would make an excellent 007 thanks to her whiskers. She’s stealthy, hard to read, and can determine which tiny spaces she'll fit through before she gets in a tight spot!
If your fur baby's head and whiskers can squeeze their way through an opening, that generally means that her whole body can wiggle its way through as well.
General Rule: The length of your pet’s whiskers is proportionate to the size of the cat. Even older cats or cats with vision problems can generally get around pretty well because of their facial whiskers.
However, if your fur baby has been indulging in a few too many treats and has packed on a couple of extra pounds, his whiskers may no longer be as good of a judge of whether or not he'll fit through that tight space. Don't worry Fluffy, we've all been there...
True or False: Cats’ Whiskers Indicate Mood
True. Finally, a little help!
Your pet's whiskers can give you insight into her mood. If you know how to read them, you can figure out what's going on behind that stoic little face.
According to the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, your cat's whiskers can indicate a few different moods:
- Fear: When your fur baby is afraid, her facial whiskers may be flattened or pressed downward onto her face.
- Calm: When your kitty's feeling chill, her whiskers will also be relaxed and slightly droopy.
- Aggression: If your cat is feeling particularly feisty or on edge, her whiskers will be out to the side.
Dr. Marty Becker also shares that when your kitty's whiskers are forward, she may be feeling friendly or curious. It's always good know when your furry pal is in an amiable state. Purr-fect for playtime!
True or False: Your Cat’s Whiskers Will Bring You Luck
Maybe.
If you get the sense that your fur baby’s whiskers bring you luck, maybe they do!
Just as many human parents keep their children's lost teeth, some cat parents treasure their cat’s lost whiskers and even claim that they bring them good fortune. The jury's still out on whether keeping your kitty’s whiskers will take you to a whole new level of crazy cat lady.
Think your fur baby's whiskers are the cat's meow? Snap a picture of your cute furry pal in all her whiskery glory and tag us on Instagram @PrettyLitter.
Sources:
1. //www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/cornell-feline-health-center/health-information/feline-health-topics/feline-behavior-problems-aggression
2. //www.drmartybecker.com/petconnection/cats-measure-space-whisker/
Written by
Sharilyn Vera
Sharilyn is a proud cat owner, long time storyteller and researcher. Her work spans beloved podcasts, television shows, media outlets, and independent documentaries. She likes to strike a balance between education and comedy, which you can hopefully tell when you read her articles!
Reviewed by Amy Flowers, DVM on March 18, 2014
Those stiff hairs on your cat’s face and legs don’t just add to their cuteness -- they have real work to do. Whiskers are GPS and radar systems for your cat. “They are a powerful and important part of how a cat senses the world,” says W. Mark Cousins, DVM, the founder of a veterinary clinic in New Orleans. Each thick whisker is filled with tiny, supersensitive nerves that help your cat judge distance and space. It’s how they make decisions like: Is this box too small to get inside? How far do I need to jump to reach that counter? It’s also how they detect what’s around them. “Cats that are blind can navigate rooms very well by just walking around and letting their whiskers get a sense of where they are spatially,” Cousins says. The follicles -- the sacs that hold the hairs -- are deep, with lots of nerve endings that send messages to the cat’s brain. There’s also a sensory organ at the tip of each whisker. It picks up vibrations in the environment that help the cat sense where they are and what other creatures are around them. Most whiskers are rooted in the thick pads on the upper lip, but smaller sets are in the eyebrow area, along the chin, and near the feet. The ones on the sides of the nose are the same width as your cat’s body; they help them figure out whether a space is wide enough to squeeze through. Whiskers on the back of the legs help your cat climb trees. A complex set of muscles on the face moves whiskers back and forth. The way a cat arranges them will tell another animal -- or us humans -- how they are feeling. When a cat is relaxed, their whiskers will remain still, sticking straight out from the side of their head. If they are curious or are on the hunt, they’ll press them slightly forward. Cats that are nervous or upset will pin the whiskers back toward the face. Like other hairs on a cat’s body, whiskers shed. That’s normal. But you should never trim them. A cat with cut whiskers will become disoriented and scared. “If you cut them, that’s like blindfolding someone, taking away one of their ways of identifying what’s in their environment,” says veterinarian Jane Brunt.
The stiff hairs on your cat’s face and legs aren’t just for show; they also have a practical purpose. Your cat’s whiskers double as GPS and radar systems. The follicles and sacs that contain the hairs are deep, with several nerve endings that communicate with the cat’s brain.
Each whisker is also equipped with a sensory organ. It detects movements in the atmosphere to assist the cat in determining its location and the presence of other animals.
You should never trim, curl, stain, or otherwise manipulate them because a cat’s whiskers are extremely precious to them.
The vibrissae, or whiskers, are important to the cat’s survival. They aid it in navigating in the dark, judging the distance between objects, and even detecting the presence of a predator.
They may appear to be stiff hairs, but they are much more than that. Each whisker is attached to the muscular and nervous systems and it is highly responsive and finely tuned in order to transmit signals to the brain.
Why You Should Not Cut A Cat’s Whiskers
The cat has more whiskers than the ones on either side of its nose. Whiskers can also be seen behind the eyes, on the chin and jawline, and on the backs of the front legs of cats.
When a cat is exploring, its whiskers are used as feelers, gently scratching against objects. The sensory data provides valuable information to the cat, such as the scale of objects it sees and the distance between them.
The cat’s whiskers are involved even though it is sitting peacefully. If you’ve ever wondered why it’s too difficult to creep up on your pet, it’s because his whiskers serve as an early warning device.
A small shift in the air currents will alert the cat to the presence of someone or someone approaching.
When the cat is on the run, the whiskers can even track the movement of prey, which is one of the factors that make cats such great hunters.
A proprioceptor is a sensory organ at the end of a cat’s whiskers that deliver signals to the brain as well.
Proprioceptors have details about the orientation of the cat’s body and paws, which, along with vision, allows the cat to make those death-defying, agile jumps from source to destination.
When a cat’s whiskers are trimmed, it sometimes becomes disoriented and has difficulty getting about. Even if a missed whisker will grow back, the cat will lack it.
It’s like chopping off the tips of our fingertips as we trim our whiskers. We’d make it, but it would be harder and we’d miss a lot of our sensory awareness.
Whiskers, like all hairs on a cat’s body, shed. That’s perfectly natural. Trimming them, on the other hand, is never a good idea. Cut whiskers cause a cat to feel disoriented and frightened.
Cutting them is like blindfolding someone, removing one of their means of recognizing what’s in their environment.
Although whiskers serve a variety of purposes, their primary role is to act as a form of the environmental scanning device. Cats don’t need to brush the items with their whiskers to find them, which is surprising.
The nerves at the base of the whiskers are so sensitive that they can detect even the tiniest air vibrations that vibrate the whiskers.
Cats are so sensitive that they can detect air vibrations inside, such as air swirling through furniture, which alerts the cat to the presence of an entity, often in complete darkness.
This is necessary for cats that are farsighted and have difficulty seeing objects clearly up close. Since they are nocturnal, this often allows them to “see” more easily at night when hunting.
Also, check out why does my cat have one black whiskerWhat Happen If You Cut A Cat’s Whiskers?
Whiskers are extremely sensitive when they are attached to the nervous and muscle systems. They aid in sensing and experiencing.
And when they can’t see the source, they can feel its proximity, shape, and scale if it brushes against them.
They can even sense even the tiniest gestures, such as those in a breath. This aids in the detection of their threat or risk, as well as the pursuit of their prey.
They often assist them in detecting the size of openings and communicating their mood.
Because of their sensing and feeling functions, cutting them off increases the risk of injury and trauma.
Your cats may be unable to sense proximity (distance), incoming predators, or where their prey has gone, and they may get trapped in holes because they may not know whether or not they can get through them.
The second great concern is that since these pets assist them in detecting their surroundings, they will feel nervous and disoriented.
Finally, because they help articulate their mood, you won’t be able to tell whether your furry friend is frightened, startled, anxious, furious, or other feelings because they are a part of their body language.
Do not be concerned if you inadvertently cut them. They will grow back, but it will take time, just like any other body hair.
Is it True That Cats Lose Their Whiskers?
The vibrissae (whiskers) of cats and kittens fall down. They go through the growth and dormancy periods, much like every other fur, before shedding.
And if they happen to be unruly or curly, you should not trim them at all. You should avoid curling or modifying them in any way.
When a person’s whiskers fall out, they are automatically substituted.
Standard shedding may cause some vibrissae to disappear, but this does not happen to all of them at once.
Just a couple (one or two) are usually absent, and it’s not always easy to note that they’re gone.
Cutting or trimming them isn’t harmful. Unlike other hairs, they lack nerves. Since their hair follicles have so many nerves, plucking them would be extremely painful.
If they are continuously touching a surface, such as their feeding and watering bowls, they can develop sensitivity and become stressed. Try to use large flat feeding bowls to reduce vibrissae tension in this situation.
Do Cat Whiskers Grow Back?
If a cat’s whiskers are cut, damaged, or shed naturally, they may grow back.
Cat whiskers, on the other hand, are more than just long, rigid hairs. They are a cat’s sensory tool, and they should never be cut or trimmed when being bathed or groomed.
Cat whiskers, also known as vibrissae, are securely attached to the responsive muscular and nervous systems, transmitting information about the environment directly to the cat’s sensory nerves, giving it a heightened sense of feeling and assisting the cat in detecting and responding to changes in its surroundings – similar to kitty radar.
Cats use their whiskers to visually calculate distance, which is why they can jump onto a narrow ledge or out of harm’s way so easily and gracefully.
Cat’s Whiskers: Popular Myths And The Truth
The general belief is that a cat’s whiskers are used to determine whether or not it can fit its body into small spaces. The opposite could not be further from the fact.
The whiskers on cats’ faces are an adaptation for searching in low light.
To shield its paws, the cat will close them and search only with its hearing, sense of smell, whiskers, teeth, and claws in complete darkness.
Cats have adapted to kill in a certain way: the cat bites through the prey’s cervical spinal cord, and therefore must be aware of the prey’s exact position in order to perform this precise maneuver.
The whiskers encircle the prey to figure out where the victim will be before the deadly bite is delivered.
There will be hell to pay if you cut a cat’s whiskers off. When the whiskers grow back, some cats will refuse to feed while others will show neurotic behavior.
You’ll never be forgiven by the cat.
This arrangement of whiskers, like everything else on a cat, is incredibly complex. It is made up of twenty-four whiskers on each upper lip of each cheek, as well as more over the eyes, on the jaw, on the cat’s inner wrists, and at the back of the thighs.
Each whisker has a strong link to nerves that contribute to the cat’s brain’s barrel cortex, which absorbs input from the whiskers in a similar way to the visual cortex.
Frequently Asked Questions
Your cat should be fine, particularly if he stays indoors. Cats shed their whiskers on a regular basis, and they will regrow during the next stage of shed/regrowth. Cat whiskers are delicate antennas that deliver nerve signals to the brain, unlike men’s bristly facial hair.
Whiskers are finely tuned sensing devices that help a cat perform everyday tasks. Similar to the antennae on butterflies, these adapted hairs assist perception and help a kitty explore his surroundings by supplying extra sensory feedback.
In the most simplistic form, whisker exhaustion is essentially an over-stimulation of the whisker’s sensory system. This excessive stimulus can cause your cat to become stressed or irritated. The failure to eat or drink from their daily dishes is one of the most frequent signs of whisker exhaustion.
Some people believe that a dog’s whiskers have no reason and get them shaved off at the groomer, but whiskers are essential for your dog to explore the environment! Continue reading to learn more. The coarse, long whiskers on a dog’s face have a vital role, something many people are unaware of.
Final Words
When brushing your cat, you should not trim, clip, or pluck its whiskers. It’s not appropriate.
Brushing them aggressively or attempting to straighten or curve them is not recommended. Enable them to shed naturally.
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