[Search for users] [Overall Top Noters] [List of all Conferences] [Download this site]

Conference misery::feline

Title:Meower Power - Where Differing Opinions are Respected
Notice:purrrrr...
Moderator:JULIET::CORDES_JA
Created:Wed Nov 13 1991
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1079
Total number of notes:28858

67.0. "HELP - "cut" whiskers!" by SELL3::FAHEL (Amalthea Celebras/Silver Unicorn) Tue Dec 10 1991 05:44

    I have a bizarre question...
    
    Our 5 year old Burmese, Ricardo, had beautiful long, slightly curled
    whiskers.  They were virtually useless (he still gets stuck in places),
    but they were pretty.
    
    One day a few weeks ago we noticed that ALL of the whiskers on one side
    of his face were noticeably shorter, and even, like they were cut!  2
    days ago, we noticed the same thing happened on the OTHER side, to only
    some.
    
    How can this happen?  We double lock our doors, so no one can get in to
    do the deed (and Rico will NOT let strangers near him unless I'm right
    there), and he does NOT go outside - he is afraid of the outdoors.  Can 
    this be accidental?  How?
    
    K.C.
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
67.1LATARE::GASKELLTue Dec 10 1991 06:258
    If Ricardo were a kitten and still living with mother, Mom's sometimes
    chew off the whiskers of their favorite kitten.  I don't mean to ask
    dumb questions, but are the ends of the whiskers blunt? The older,
    larger whiskers could have fallen out for what ever reason and left the
    newer, shorter whiskers; however, that should happen on both sides.
    
    There may be a more mundane explanation, he caught them in a door (or
    whatever) and broke them off.  It is indeed a worry though.
67.2WILLEE::MERRITTTue Dec 10 1991 06:298
    Could they have been singed by flames....or has anyone been
    using sissors why he was around.   I know one of the shelter
    kitties accidently had his whiskers cut...because he was being
    nosey while someone was cutting ribbon.  
    
    Just my guess..
    
    Sandy
67.3SELL3::FAHELAmalthea Celebras/Silver UnicornTue Dec 10 1991 07:1122
    OK...more info...
    
    Rico is 5 years old, and now the elder of 2 cats (In September his "Big
    Brother" Tiki II died, and we got a "little sister", Alexandra).
    
    The ends ARE blunt.
    
    I don't think that it is just old ones dropping out and new ones
    growing in, because they went instantly from 5" long to about 2 1/2". 
    And as I see him every day (and usually play with his long whiskers) I
    know it wasn't a gradual change.
    
    Could leaning on an electric radiator do this?  Our oven doesn't work,
    and no one has been using scissors recently (and he doesn't like them
    anyway).  And re: a momcat doing it...would a loving little sister?
    
    *sigh*  Together we've had cats for 9 years, and we have each had cats
    before, but I feel like a novice.
    
    Thanx for all the help!
    
    K.C.
67.4MUTTON::BROWNTue Dec 10 1991 09:2512
    I would be willing to bet that your other cat chewed them off during a
    couple of intense grooming sessions.  That happens at our house, even
    when the cats are grown and not with their mom's anymore.
    
    Momcats will sometimes chew the whiskers off of particularly active
    kittens.  The theory is that they do this to qwell the adventuresome
    spirit of the kitten and keep it closer to the nest.
    
    I wouldn't worry about it.  I know of no disease process that involves
    the shearing off of whiskers.
    
    Jo
67.5CAPITN::CORDES_JASet Apt./Cat_Max=3..uh,I mean 4Tue Dec 10 1991 10:096
    I second the idea that the other cat chewed them off.  Bailey does
    this to Amelia on a regular basis.  Last show I took Amelia to the
    judge commented on her 1/4 inch whiskers.  Bailey and Amelia are 
    inseparable and spend hours grooming each other.
    
    Jan
67.6COASTL::NDCPutiput Scottish Folds DTN:297-2313Wed Dec 11 1991 05:136
    Do you have a playful husband in the house?  Once Mao was missing
    the wiskers over her eyes.  Turns out my husband decided to give
    her a punk grooming and cut them off.
      Jack is such a brat!
      Nancy
    
67.7Thanx...keep the suggestions coming!CIVIC::FAHELAmalthea Celebras/Silver UnicornWed Dec 11 1991 05:5114
    Re: .6
    
    My husband has an airtight alibi.  ;^)  But seriously, he was as
    shocked as I to find the shortened whiskers.  He thought that someone
    might have broken in and "done the deed" (but that is near impossible;
    also why would someone break into a home and JUST cut a cat's whiskers?
    And not break or take anything?  Also, if Rico doesn't WANT to be
    gotten, he isn't gotten).
    
    The more we think about it, the more the suggestion that it is his
    little sister Alex doing it.  This is funny, because this never happened
    between Rico and Tiki II before.
    
    K.C.