When you look at individual cats you see differentials in their whiskers, some are horizontal, some droop, some are straggly and others are wide & quite magnificent.
So what’s the difference & why should you care?
These elegant thickened hairs have proprioceptors at their base and are in fact a ‘sixth sense’ for your cat.
They indicate how wide a gap is needed to squeeze through and can even detect changes in the air made by the movement of pray, adding to their hunting prowess at night or in dark buildings.
Unfortunately, cats whiskers can be damaged by the bowls we feed & water them with, which leads to a condition known as ‘Whisker Stress’ or ‘Whisker Fatigue’, not only does damage affect the safety of hunting, due to no longer knowing their own width, but this ‘sixth sense’ can go into overdrive and information can come in at such a rate as to be highly confusing and akin to a migraine.
Protect their Whiskers by feeding from a plate and using a ‘water fountain‘ rather than a bowl.
And let’s not forget that cats aren’t the only animals with Whiskers….
H B Turner 