How Many Whiskers Does a Cat Have. Cats have a lot of whiskers, although the exact number varies depending on which breed they are.
There are typically twelve whiskers on each side of their face and they’re arranged in four rows.
Cats’ whiskers differ from normal hairs in that their hair follicles are filled with tons of blood vessels and nerves that make them especially sensitive to touch.
How Many Whiskers Does a Cat Have
Cats have whiskers on their cheeks and around their eyes, which not only boast a fantastic sense of touch but can also help the cat carefully monitor any changes in temperature. Some people believe that if you see a cat rubbing its face or head against your leg this is just the cat trying to clean out its own ear, using its handy whiskers to do so instead of an ear cleaning solution sold commercially.
Why Do Cats Have Whiskers
Cats have thin sensory hairs in the skin called vibrissae, which they use to feel their way around.
These are composed of concentric layers with three outer sheaths, a core, and an inner sheath.
Other types of hair grow from different parts of the cat’s body, including eyelashes and fur.
Touch Sense
The main objective of cat whiskers is to feel things out. The follicles that these hairs grow from are almost surrounded by sensory cells which ultimately make the cat’s sense of touch astonishingly precise.
These cells transmit tactile information that is similar to what our fingertips send to your brain, making cats capable of feeling solid objects such as chairs or tables with their whiskers.
Sensory cells in the cat’s whiskers are stimulated by even the smallest movements, helping them sense air currents from movements nearby as well.
Communication
Cats do have a natural way of showing their mood and what’s going on in the depths of their minds without having to vocally state it.
For instance, cats will often flare out their whiskers when they are hunting or feeling aggressive.
On the other hand, relaxed, happy cats will usually let their whiskers droop right down to the face since they don’t feel any need to threaten or hunt something at that moment in time.
By paying attention to these subtle clues over time you can pretty quickly get your cat’s personality under control.
Stay Balanced
A cat’s body language is often a sign that it is getting ready to pounce on something, but did you know that they can actually control how they fall and land? This is all thanks to something called the righting reflex.
Cats have a long thin piece of skin running down each side of their body which has special receptors in it called proprioceptors.
These special receptors help them quickly figure out which way to change or position themselves in order to land correctly.
Along with this, cats have muscles used to support back legs during jumping movements and various other mechanisms that go into making sure your cat always lands on its feet.
Do All Cats Have 24 Whiskers?
Cats have vibrissae on their faces that are also called mystical, and there are 24 of them. Anywhere from 12 to 24 whiskers pop up in four rows with 3 in each row.
What’s special about these whiskers is that they’re usually longer than the rest, but sometimes cats can grow fewer or more than the typical 24 whiskers altogether.
What Happens If You Cut Off a Cat’s Whiskers?
Whiskers Don’t Necessarily Need Trimming. But you should never cut them. If you do, a cat with cut whiskers will become disoriented and scared.
“If you cut them, that’s like blindfolding someone, taking away one of their ways of identifying what’s in their environment,” says Jane Brunt, DVM.