Outdoor Cat Shelter
When i was putting together my outdoor cat shelter I wanted to be sure that it would serve my cats well. Not only was I worried about the way it looked but also the functionality of it. One thing I know is that cats are often very active at night. At one point I was worried about lighting for the outdoor cat shelter but then I attended some courses about felines and learnt more about how their whiskers work. Whiskers (Vibrissae, the singular is vibrissa) are hairs  that grow around the nostrils and face. In addition to the facial area, they can also be found on the wrists of the forelegs of cats. Vibrissae consist of inert material and contain no nerves. What makes vibrissae different from other hairs is that they are implanted in a special follicle sealed by a capsule of blood, called a blood sinus. The blood amplifies the movement and allows the nerves at the base to detect extremely small sensations. Vibrissae offer an advantage to cats when they don't have their sight to rely on to navigate, or to find food, or when the usefulness of non-tactile senses is limited. Cats generally have about a dozen whiskers in four rows on each upper lip, a few on each cheek, tufts over the eyes and bristles on the chin. Whiskers may detect very small shifts in air currents, enabling a cat to know it is near obstructions without actually seeing them. The upper two rows of whiskers can move independently from the lower two rows for even more precise measuring. The whiskers also spread out roughly as wide as the cat's body making it able to judge if it can fit through an opening. After learning all of this I was able to rest easy that regardless of whether there was enough light in the outdoor shelter or not.Kitty Site Map
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