You may not have given those long white hairs on the front of your cats face but thought but they’re probably just as important as your cats ears or eyes to them.  They generally have 12 whiskers on either side of their nose

Those whiskers are 3 times as thick as normal hair and are created from layers of dead skin cells which build upon themselves to create the structure of the whisker. When the whiskers first grow they are the same colour as your cats fur but the reason that whiskers are white is because as the whisker grows it loses it’s pigmentation and looks white.  The only cats I’ve met with coloured whiskers are black cats and these tend to have black whiskers to match the rest of their fur.

Your cats whiskers are embedded 3 times deeper than normal hair and are rooted in the bed rich of blood vessels and nerve endings making them very sensitive.  This sensitivity allows your cat to use them to navigate in the dark because they are able to feel the way the air moves around objects so they don’t walk into things.  Not only do they use their whiskers to navigate in the dark but they are the same width as a cats body so they will use them as a gage to see if they can fit through gaps.  It is also thought that whiskers help a cat to smell.

Don’t ever cut your cats whiskers.  They need these and cutting them will be them distress and will mean they will lose their ability to navigate successfully, it would be similar to cutting our finger tips off.

Cats don’t particularly like their whiskers being touched either, not only does it seen strong signals to the bring that could be uncomfortable but it instigates an natural reflex which makes them blink.  This is why it’s a good idea to makes sure their food and water bowls are wide so they don’t have the uncomfortable feeling of resting their whiskers on the side of the bowl.

Your cats whiskers also give you an indication of mood, if they’re are pushed back that indicates that they are angry, pushed forward indicates that they stalking or aggressive, if they are relaxed and point down then the cat is happy.  When a cat pushes their whiskers down it is believed it’s so they can feel for the ground underneath them so they know what to expect on uneven ground.


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