why do cats have whiskers?

Truly an interesting question, we are really amazed what those long hair-like antennaes that we can see all over the face of our beloved pet cat. These are really hairs, but much different that the typical hair you can see on the cat's body. These are scientifically called Vibrissae or "tactile hairs" in layman's term. These are 2 to 3 times larger, longer and thicker than any hair on your cat. The whiskers are located on the top corners of the cat's mouth and even above their eyebrows. We may wonder what these are for, well they serve alot of purpose and use for the cats navigational capabilities at night. The whiskers are super sensitive to detect breeze changes inside your house, it helps the cat feel its way around your home at night without hitting or bumping among your furnitures. It also serves as a measuring device when a cat plans to move into narrow openings, it extends its whiskers to feel how wide or narrow the opening is. These whiskers are pressure sensitive so it helps the cat judge if he can fit into the opening he is planning to enter. Lastly, these whiskers can also signal to you how the cat feels, if it in the mood for playing or angry to you. You can easily denote that you cat is happy and ready to be playful when its whiskers are relaxed, extending horizontally and spread out. When he is angry, the whiskers are pulled back and almost hidden.

When I was little, I was naughty and I cut my cat's whiskers. After that, my cat became silly and had strange behavior. After I grow up, I learn that the whiskers are quite important for cats. Their length is the same as their size. They can use the whiskers to measure whether they can enter the hole or not. Besides, it's like a sensor. I love China

Hello sophie-dfuss. I heard from my mom that the reason why cats have whiskers so, they can feel their surroundings most especially during nighttime. Its like having their own radar.

That's a good question. I had to look for the answer online to satisfy my own curiosity and ended up discovering a furr.wikia.com "Whiskers are long, sensitive hairs that grow on the heads of most mammals. Usually they are most noticeable around the muzzle area, but can also be seen above the eyes as well. They can be used for navigation and judgment of space. The proper term for one of these hairs is a vibrissa (plural vibrissae). " The first response was right and it's pretty amazing that he knew that from the top of his head :) Thanks for the response on my discussion!

the use of cats having whiskers i think is so that they can hunt their prey i believe it helps their senses.

i think the whiskers of cats are very very important , when i was a young boy . my parents told me cats is a good animal for person , they can catch mouse , if there is a hole in front of them, they should use their whiskers to measure it , otherwise, they can't pass it ,,lol...it's interesting.. welcome to my discussions!!

I heard [ but Im not sure ]that the purpose of the whiskers is to measure the width where the head and body can fit[ like in to a hole ]or door, or any where the cat wants to venture in, I wonder are they like radars?

I think it's for balance, or mabye not! I'm not quite sure, there could be no reason at all as far as we are concerned.. Anyways, I just read cats have whiskers to measure if they can squeeze through gaps.

Wee! This is a very nice topic sophie_dfuss. Well, for my answer. Cats whiskers are used mainly for measuring distance. This also goes for other animals as well besides cats. That's the reason why they're very accurate when pounding on their targets.

I would assume they are for both balance as well as judging width of a space. My cat doesn't have any, he is a sphynx, which is both hairless and whiskerless. He is always falling off of everything and getting stuck in small spaces. He is the absolute clumbsist cat I've had and he doesn't always land on his feet.