{"id":13184,"date":"2022-04-05T17:15:51","date_gmt":"2022-04-05T22:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/?p=13184"},"modified":"2026-02-17T10:07:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T16:07:58","slug":"debarking-pet-myths-cats-use-their-whiskers-for-balance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/blog\/culture\/myths\/debarking-pet-myths-cats-use-their-whiskers-for-balance\/","title":{"rendered":"Debarking Pet Myths: Cats Use Their Whiskers for Balance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to another installment of \u201cDebarking Pet Myths,\u201d our monthly series that addresses common myths, misconceptions and old wives\u2019 tales about dogs, cats and their nutrition.<\/em><\/p>\n

All cats (and dogs) have whiskers on different parts of their faces \u2014 it adds to their cuteness, for sure. But what do they actually do<\/em>? Some people believe whiskers help cats balance, but is that true?<\/p>\n

What Are Whiskers?<\/h2>\n

Contrary to the balancing belief, your cat\u2019s whiskers (also called vibrissae) do not have super-stabilizing powers. They\u2019re just plain old hair. What does<\/em> make them special is not the whiskers themselves, but what the whisker follicles are surrounded by \u2014 sensory receptors. These specialized receptors help your cat understand their environment by transmitting whisker movement to the brain. The brain can then interpret if objects are near your cat and even if there are air movement changes.<\/p>\n

Feeling Out Their Environment<\/h2>\n

Whiskers help your cat\u2019s spatial awareness, particularly in the dark. Think of your cat\u2019s whiskers as having a function similar to our hands when we instinctively put them out in front of us while we\u2019re walking in the dark. They stop your cat from running into things by sensing what is around them. Cats can also notice if something is moving around them (like a predator) by their whiskers detecting changes in air movement.<\/p>\n

There are also receptors surrounding the whisker follicles that can help your cat know whether they are the right way up or upside down. These proprioceptor cells use gravity\u2019s effect on your cat\u2019s whiskers to know their orientation \u2014 if gravity is pulling their whiskers down, then your cat (or at least their head) must be the right way up. Knowing how to land on their feet<\/a> from a fall takes a lot more coordination than just whisker-sensing though.<\/p>\n

Navigating Small Spaces<\/h2>\n

Whiskers also act like a built-in tape measure for your cat and can help them decide whether they can fit through a small space or not. By testing out the space with their whiskers first, hopefully they can prevent a \u201cwhat have I got myself into\u201d (literally) situation.<\/p>\n

Cutting a Cat\u2019s Whiskers Is Senseless<\/h2>\n

Whiskers are made of keratin (the same as hair). So even though cutting whiskers doesn\u2019t hurt your cat, their whiskers should never be cut unless there is a medical reason for it. Whiskers are so important for cats to sense and understand their environment that cutting them can be disorienting and cause them significant stress. Confused and uncoordinated movements from cutting whiskers may be where the balance myth came from.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While whiskers aren\u2019t responsible for keeping a cat\u2019s balance, they are very important for helping them navigate their environment. So enjoy looking at your cat\u2019s twitching whiskers, but don\u2019t cut them \u2014 unless your veterinarian needs to for medical reasons, of course.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

RELATED POST: High-Wire Kitty: Why Do Cats Have Such Amazing Balance?<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to another installment of \u201cDebarking Pet Myths,\u201d our monthly series that addresses common myths, misconceptions and old wives\u2019 tales about dogs, cats and their nutrition. All cats (and dogs) have whiskers on different parts of their faces \u2014 it adds to their cuteness, for sure. But what do they actually do? Some people believe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":13187,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Do Cats Use Their Whiskers for Balance?","_seopress_titles_desc":"Have you ever wondered if whiskers actually do help cats with balance, or is that just a myth? We've put our feelers out to find the answer. Learn more!","_seopress_robots_index":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[158,275],"tags":[100,461,780,134],"class_list":["post-13184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-myths","tag-cat","tag-cat-behavior","tag-cat-whiskers","tag-diamond-pet-foods"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}