As cats are nocturnal creatures they need an inbuilt navigational system to help them find their way. Although cats' eyes are extremely powerful in low light, the reason that they are such excellent hunters are because of those movable, informative vibrissae, or whiskers as they are more commonly known. Your cat depends on her whiskers to help "see" her surroundings and uses them to map read in dark, dim, and close-quartered situations. Many pet owners may quote that a cat uses her facial whiskers to judge if she can fit into a small opening or not. This is, in fact, a myth although it is true that cats use their whiskers as a guide when entering small areas. Just imagine, if this were true, that there would be many overweight felines stuck in a lot of tight holes, as they'd think they were as thin as the ends of their whiskers!

Cat's whiskers may not be thought of as cat hair but they are actually categorised as such. Most cats possess three different kinds of hairs. The primary hairs, also known as the outer coat, protect your cat's body. Underneath the outer coat, you'll find the secondary hairs, commonly called the down hairs, which are much more abundant than the primary hairs. These keep your cat warm by trapping the air close to their skin and creating a duvet. The third type of hair is of course the whisker – with each whisker being twice as thick and much longer than ordinary cat hair. Whiskers, or vibrissae, are specialised sensory hairs with an intricate blood and nerve supply. Also known as tactile hairs, the whiskers are the most sensitive hairs on your cat's body. And just to explain the importance of these hairs, it is an interesting fact that the first hairs that begin to grow on a kitten in the mother's womb are indeed the whiskers.

Whiskers, like any hair, are attached to your cat by follicles. The difference, however, is that these follicles are over two to three times as deep as normal hair follicles. Each whisker "root" is surrounded with a sinus-like capsule filled with blood and then layers of sensory nerves encircle each capsule. This phenomenon allows a cat to "sense" movement when anything even comes near their whiskers. The whiskers will move towards and away from things and thus "sense" their prey trying to get away. If you ever studied your cat's face, you will recognise that cats have whiskers everywhere. They have eye whiskers; chin whiskers and cheek whiskers – to sense objects above, below and to the side of them – and they even have whiskers on their paws!

One of the most important rules to remember about your cat's whiskers is that they are crucial to her sensory abilities and should never be cut off or pulled out of her. To pull out a cat's whiskers would be hurting her on the most sensitive part of her body – just imagine someone punching you hard in the nose and you'll realise how much it would hurt your kitty. It would also be dangerous to a human, as no cat would let someone do this without defending herself. Cutting off a cat's whiskers is paramount to taking away their independence; not only will they not be able to sense in the dark but they will not be able to sense predators and will become scared of leaving the house.

Another myth about whiskers is that they don't grow back. In fact, it is very common for a cat the shed their whiskers for new ones. As cat owners, we regularly find little primary and secondary hairs around the house but rarely find discarded whiskers. They are difficult to see but, if you look closely, especially in your cat's favourite napping spot, you will eventually find one. And when you do, you can amaze people with your knowledge of how important the whiskers really are.

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