Cat works out unique way to get through narrow gap without her whiskers touching the sides

This is an extraordinary little video because it shows a domestic cat getting through a partly opened patio door leaving a very narrow entrance which the cat decided was too narrow to pass through in the conventional way, on all fours and headfirst.

Cat gets through narrow gap in a unique way
Cat gets through narrow gap in a unique way. Screenshot.

So he/she worked out a system that you see in the video which was highly effective. But did she need to do it? Could she have got through in the normal way? The answer must be yes because she got her body through but it would have meant that her whiskers would have brushed hard against the sides of the door and door frame. She found this unsatisfactory.

In effect she though that she could not do it because of the signals provided by her whiskers. So keen was she to get in she devised something very acrobatic and unique.

If you watch her head which passes through at the end, she ducks it downwards so that her head passes through in a vertical position without the whiskers touching the sides. That is the clue as to why she did this, in my opinion. Extraordinary and brilliant. What do you think?

These are my personal thoughts. No one has prompted me on this. But I feel that this is the most likely reason as her head is very noticeably in a position which avoids the sides of her face (and therefore her whiskers) touching the sides. There was no other way to achieve this. I think this is a brilliant cat 🙂

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