09/01/2025
Why are your cat's whiskers so important? 🐱
Your cat's whiskers act as sensors that make your companion's day-to-day life easier, which is why it is so important to respect this tool of his body.
Here are 4 interesting facts about your best friend's whiskers:
✅ They're called vibrissae! The best known are on both sides of the nose, but they also exist on the eyes, on the chin, around the lips and on the front paws, depending on the cat's breed.
✅They act as sensory receptors: in dark conditions they help to detect the distance between obstacles, prevent the cat from stumbling, improve the accuracy of jumps and falls, etc.
✅ They help to calculate distances and spaces: the whiskers on the muzzle are normally as long as the width of the cat's body, so thanks to this it is able to work out whether a certain space is wide enough to allow its body to pass through, before entering.
✅They reflect the cat's mood and serve to communicate: when a cat is relaxed, resting or happy, its whiskers will remain virtually motionless. If he is curious, playing or hunting, the whiskers will point slightly forward. On the other hand, in case of nervousness, discomfort or fear, the whiskers will move backwards and bunch up close to the face.
Very important! Whiskers must not be trimmed!
The whiskers fall out by themselves for renewal and grow back, but they should never be cut ✂️
Without these tactile hairs, cats become disorientated and frightened, as they are the ones that allow them to detect their surroundings. To give you an idea, cutting the vibrissae is similar to someone putting a blindfold over our eyes, or preventing us from using our fingertips to feel our surroundings in the dark... how would you feel? I'm sure you'd be scared, wouldn't you?
