My boyfriend said they were for spacial reasons... I just wanted to find out for sure...
2006-09-19 07:26:28 · 28 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Cats
A cat has about twenty-four movable whiskers, twelve on each side of its nose (some cat's may have more). Whiskers are more than twice as thick as ordinary hairs, and their roots are set three times deeper than hairs in a cat's tissue. Richly supplied with nerve endings, whiskers give cats extraordinarily detailed information about air movements, air pressure and anything they touch.
2006-09-19 07:37:38 · answer #1 · answered by Pey 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
"Cats' whiskers are surrounded by so many blood vessels and nerves at the roots that they can sense even something as gentle as a slight breeze. Cats whiskers are actually specialized hairs, called tactile hairs. And although whiskers shed, just like ordinary hairs, there are some big differences. Whiskers are embedded into the skin. Their roots go into the skin about three times longer than the normal hair root. Whiskers grow not only on cats' cheeks, but also on the eyebrows, chin, and behind the wrists. Even in the dark, cats can judge whether a space is wide enough to pass through -- just by a whisker."
2006-09-19 07:36:18 · answer #2 · answered by Kristen 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There is an old belief that a cat uses its whiskers to determine whether it can squeeze through a small hole or opening. According to this notion, the whiskers are exactly the same width as the animal's body and if they touch the sides of the hole the cat will not attempt to enter. Although not strictly true, there is a grain of truth in the belief. The large facial hairs, known scientifically as vibrissce, serve as feelers or organs of touch and they contribute materially to the cat's ability to move about in the dark. These hairs themselves, of course, are not sensitive, but the roots are provided with sensitive nerve-endings.
The most perfect organs of touch are the vibrissce or whiskers of the cat, which act as long levers in communicating impulses to the nerve fibers that terminate in clusters about the dermal sacs in which they are inserted. These cat-whiskers are merely specialized forms of such hairs as those which cover the bodies of most mammals, and which remain upon the human skin imbedded in minute sacs. Facial hairs of this type are particularly well developed, both in number and size, in those predatory species which hunt chiefly in jungles and other thick undergrowth. In the vegetable-eating bears the whiskers are few in number, small in size and apparently without any function. There may be a relationship between a cat's whiskers and its sense of sight. A naturalist found that cats with their whiskers cut short were unable to judge distances accurately. In experiments cats without whiskers would repeatedly miss their prey when springing for it. The investigator concluded that the facial hairs aid the animal to fix its eyes on its prey and that it is undoubtedly injurious to remove the whiskers from a cat which must hunt for a living.
2006-09-19 07:32:09 · answer #3 · answered by misstigeress 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
The whiskers on a cat are as wide as their body. They are sort of like "feelers" so they can tell whether or not they will fit into a tight spot. When I was a kid, I cut off my cat's whiskers. He was an outdoor cat but it didn't hurt him a bit because he lived 17 years!
2006-09-19 07:35:59 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Whiskers are a cats Measuring Tool , if there Whiskers fit through something , then the cat will go through , if the whiskers do not Fit through the space there trying to get into .. they wont go .. its a Safety an measuring tool !!
2006-09-19 07:34:54 · answer #5 · answered by lilredhead 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Have you heard of curb feelers on cars? Cat's whiskers serve the same purpose, to help the cat feel his way around tight spaces. Whiskers, believe it or not, also keep a cat balanced. Don't ask me how, though. =)
I know that a good way to tell if a cat is overweight is by seeing if his or her body is wider than it's whiskers extend. if so, the cat is overweight.
2006-09-19 07:30:52 · answer #6 · answered by NecropolisXR 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
The function of the whiskers on a cat is to help them with balance. If you were to cut (please don't do) one side of his whiskers off......it would throw him off balance. It also helps in determining the size of an opening. Have you ever seen a cat go through a really tight space? Well, they already measured it with their whiskers!!!! Kool huh???
2006-09-19 07:36:24 · answer #7 · answered by lilQT 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They are used as a sensory device which relays messages to the brain. Forward facing whiskers which are spread out indicate the cat is alert and ready for action. Sideways, and fanned out whiskers indicate a relaxed cat. If your cat's whiskers are flattened back against its face and tightly spaced fear is being communicated.
2006-09-19 07:36:07 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Whiskers - - according to the wives tale - - are to let a cat's head know how wide it's backside is before crawling into tight spaces...
Other than that -- whiskers make a great face decoration!!!
2006-09-19 07:38:38 · answer #9 · answered by rescuehearts.org 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The whiskers are as wide as the cats body and that way they can know if the whiskers fit the body will too.
2006-09-19 07:35:04 · answer #10 · answered by dawnshelton1965 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋