Can A Cat's Whiskers Be Cut?

Why should you not touch a cat's whiskers?

When I was a very young child, I had a pair of safety scissors, the kind with plastic handles and rounded ends to keep from stabbing anyone. They were a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed cutting up newspapers. Thankfully the scissors were too dull to cut fabric. But they would cut small amounts of hair.

Sadly, I decided that my cat's whiskers should be cut. I thought Tiger looked quite natty with his new trim! My parents were horrified and took my scissors away. Why not cut the cat's whiskers, I asked. We have haircuts, and you trim your beard, Dad??

Mom & Dad explained to me that Tiger was an outdoor cat, and he needed his whiskers for his safety. Our cat's whiskers were just as broad as the widest part of his body, and cats use their whiskers to measure any hole before they try to go through. Without his whiskers, Tiger might not know if a hole in the fence was too small and he might get stuck!

I felt very bad, cried, and never did it again. Our cat's whiskers grew back, and he was OK, but I never forgot, and told this new wisdom to all of my small friends.

How important are cats whiskers?

Now, science has marched on. I realize my parents were even more right than they knew, or perhaps they were just dumbing it down for me. A cat's whiskers should absolutely never be cut.

A cat's whiskers are not just a measuring tool, they are more like an antenna. A cat's whiskers are so sensitive that they detect the slightest movement in the air. This helps the cat escape predators, or just sense children trying to sneak up on them with bad hairstyling intent.

The whiskers can even help catch fleeing mice by honing in on the direction the mouse moves. Cats even use their whiskers to locate obstacles in the dark by understanding the air currents flowing around objects.

The whiskers are technically called "vibrissae," named from the same Latin word as the vibrations they detect. The whiskers are just long, strong hairs, but they grow from deep follicles located in a mass of muscles and nerve cells. These nerves are hot-wired directly into the cat's brain. The vibrissae also grow as long eyebrow hairs, and even on the back of the cat's front legs. Those hairs should never be cut either!!

Looking back over the years at poor Tiger, I feel worse than ever. Not only did his shortened whiskers look bad, but they also destroyed some of the expression on his face. Cat's whiskers are used, like their ears, to convey feelings. If your cat's whiskers (or ears) are flattened back, that may mean that they are angry, or just not listening to anything you say. If the whiskers are tilted a bit forward, that means the car is very interested in whatever is going on in front of it.

Much worse than the expressions or good looks of my cat's whiskers is the idea that I had cut off an important tool for my cat's senses or even survival. It was kind of like I had burned his fingertips, plugged his ears, or made him wear a blindfold! I'm glad I did not know that then as I cried enough for cutting my cat's whiskers as it was.