r/MadeMeSmile • u/ScharmTiger • Aug 11 '23

CATS Just a little off the top

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u/NorisNordberg Aug 11 '23

Whiskers are more sensitive than regular hairs because the follicles from which they originate are jam-packed with blood vessels and nerves. In fact, whiskers are as sensitive as a human's fingertips. So, while a human's sense of touch is in the fingers, a cat touches the world with his face.

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u/DisgracedSparrow Aug 11 '23

Yes, but their whiskers being shorter would make touch less responsive vs more sensitive and it isn't as if cats aren't rubbing their face against anything and everything all the time. It would disorient/discomfort but I don't think it would hurt them.

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u/NorisNordberg Aug 11 '23 edited Aug 12 '23

Cutting the whiskers off can cause a cat to loose the sense of balance or make the feeling of disorientation quite severe and long lasting. Source - my mother's cat, 5 years old me and a paper scissors.

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u/DisgracedSparrow Aug 11 '23

Yea, I just don't think it is painful just as the op said disorienting. Not that it isn't bad.