KITTY'S KORNER
by Deborah Hansen
WHAT
ABOUT
(Cat)
According the old wives’ tale, finding a whisker is good luck. Many wonder what whiskers really do, why they are important for cats and what happens if they are altered in anyway.
O
wners tend to have varying opinions on the matter of whiskers. Some owners want to be sure groomers do not touch their kitty’s whiskers, while others are adamant the whiskers are trimmed or removed. Knowing a few whisker facts will go a long way in helping you educate cat owners while giving you assurance you are doing what is in the best interest of the felines you groom. When you carefully look at
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Groomer to Groomer • Vol 39 Ed 12 • December 2020
whiskers, also called vibrissae, you will notice they are stiff and thick. Whiskers are actually two to three times as dense as cat fur. Sometimes whiskers are the same color as the feline’s coat which lead many to falsely assume whiskers are simply thicker fur. Nothing could be further from the truth. When we look at the fur of the feline, they are either single–, double– or triple–coated. Meaning they
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have one, two or three hairs growing out of each hair follicle in the dermis layer of skin. The feline coat goes through a growth cycle, and when cut, usually does not have an adverse effect on the cat. Whiskers are much more complex than the coat of a feline. Each whisker is embedded three times as deep as that of the hair follicle, and is located in the hypodermis layer of skin. A cat’s whisker