Cat’s Whiskers: Do They Require Trimming?

by Ransi Plick Website Owner

If you have a pet cat at your home, you would probably have been offering it the best of grooming. Cats are beautiful creatures that if groomed well, could add considerably to the beauty of its owner’s house. While following its hygiene tips, you would be required to clean each and every outer organ viz. eyes, ears, skin, legs, tail and other body parts. Some pet-keepers provide also provide a regular hair cut to their cat so that while on one hand it stays free from the attack of microbes and toxins, on the other, it could get a charming appearance. Stay connects with us for latest Pet Grooming Tips!

While providing it a haircut, you might have noticed long whickers on its mouth and would have thought to cut them too. Is it sensible? Certainly not. Cat’s whiskers are one of the indispensable sensory parts of its body which could render it utter discomfort when snipped.

What are whiskers?

Whiskers may appear nothing more than thick long hair on your pet’s mouth but they have greater importance in themselves. These hair are deeply rooted in the follicles which are surrounded by muscle tissue. These tissues are very rich in sensory and nerve cells and in turn, they are connected to some special parts of your cat’s brain.

These whiskers could serve many kinds of functions in the body while the prime one always remains the environmental scanning.

The special quality of the whiskers is that the cat does not need to touch any substance with the whiskers to detect it. The nerves at the bottom part of the whiskers are highly sensitive to pick up even the minute movements in the air and it causes a vibration in the whiskers.

The sensitivity of whiskers extends its functions to help them hunt at night. They could detect any small movement of air or an object around even when there isn’t a single ray of light. Since the cat belongs to a family that is nocturnal hunter, whiskers prove themselves as an extra sensory organ which helps while hunting in the dark.

If you cut them:

Snipping off the whiskers of a cat could cause many body problem, most of which are concerned with the brain. The cat may have troubles walking and balancing its body. According to the researches, cats use their whiskers to estimate the size of an opening through which they could enter.

Cutting of the whiskers means that cat could get stuck in a hole while it gets confused of the size. While walking too, the cats could become disoriented and tend to fall due to lack of balance.

Cats could also go wrong in judging the distances while the whiskers are cut. If they attempt to jump with a wrong presumption of length, they could have a terrible fall and due to it they could hurt themselves badly.

Therefore, it is not at all a wise decision to clip the whiskers off your kitty’s body lest it may end up hurting itself rather badly.