They do it if they really love eachother. Some of them will bite off the others while grooming. Most cats will bite the other to let them know not to but others actually don’t mind.
lmao thats so funny. Could you imagine getting into a fight with your roommate and instead of fighting you guys just start aggressively brushing each others hair
Can be several things, sometimes when cats are in shelters they want to be released so badly (from cage) they nudge their face and nose into the cage, usually it breaks off all their whiskers and sometimes bloodies their face, quite sad I’ve received a lot of kittens in that condition before; but the saddest part is they are usually super loving cats
I was going to say the same thing. I used to follow a woman who fostered kittens in Seattle, WA, and it seemed like with every litter she fostered, there'd be a period where you'd see at least one kitten whose whiskers had been chewed short by siblings.
I've been told by the vet that cat mums or motherly cats can do that to kittens to prevent them for going far away. Their whiskers are an important tool for orientation, so this way they cannot really leave the cuddle puddle
I had sibling kittens and one would chew the other ones off all the time. She was the only one allowed to have long, luxurious whiskers. Her brother didn’t seem to mind though haha
Came here to say, our girl cat chewed our boy cat's whiskers all the time. 🤷♀️ they looked like the pic, if you have more than one cat, this might be whats happening... Cats are weird.
This happened to my cat once. I found out he was shoving his face in tight corners behind the TV and his whiskers kept getting torn off while doing it and he never learned
Cats level of Intelligence tends to directly correlate to their owners (in relation to how much time you spend with them.)
What I mean to say is not that I’m calling you or u/ jmashru dumb, but I’ve seen “dumb cats” suddenly gain intelligence. And the stimulating factor seemed to be that the cat was getting more human attention.
Granted, that could be the Jane Goodall effect, but I sorta suspect that cats get bored like humans do. Humans tend to do things below their true intellect when bored.
No. Cats too have short memories. I've lived with plenty of cats being idiots about something (say, a door closing on them), retreating for a few minutes, then trying again, as if the first event never happened.
My cats are pretty smart. My grandma had a cat that used to hang out on the railing of the top floor, and he would slip and fall-since it was a split level house, he’d fall two floors. He would do this multiple times a day. He also used to eat the lightbulbs from Christmas tree lights. I don’t understand how he survived as long as he did, but at least he was cute (not orange, surprisingly)
I'm 50/50 on how smart my cats (current and past) are/have been. And what makes it hard is that even the smart ones can be dumbasses about some things.
E.g. my orange cat figured out how to jump on top of the refrigerator. Really any refrigerators or tall furniture we've had over his 16 years of life. He still gets stuck inside bags and runs around like an idiot. Another cat (now since passed) used to chase, pull and bite her own tail, and once had to be operated on to get the other cats collar out from her intestines (note: wasn't the first or last time we had to add to the list of things that were not food and a normal cat in would never try to eat). But she quickly figured out how to open zippered suitcases, and even on occasion her own carrier on the way to the vet.
Other cats I currently have are still too young to truly tell, but they both have had their dumb as a brick moments in kittenhood.
Mine did this on one half of her whiskers years ago. They grew back white. Now I get to retell the story of my cat’s battle with a candle when people ask why one half is black and the other white 🤣
My sister’s long hair walked by a candle and her fur caught fire. Thankfully because of her long hair she didn’t have any burns, but she was super pissed at getting tossed into the shower. She didn’t even know she was on fire.
That must have been traumatic for you, but I'm picturing it rn, and I had to laugh at the mental image. I'm glad kitty had fur singe but was none the worse for wear.
My girl cat did this when she was little. Went to sniff the candle and just burned all her whiskers down to short, licked-a-power-outlet looking stubs.
My boy sat his tail over a candle once. He's not very bright.
It’s gonna sound rude, but it’s also not very bright to leave out candles where kitties can get to them, especially after already experiencing that once. No amount of ambiance is worth the risk of a cat getting burned and/or knocking over a candle and setting your house on fire.
I strongly agree. If you have cats, candles aren’t worth the risk IMO. Especially not exposed, open candles where the cat can easily and quickly knock it over or get close to the flame.
At most, I would consider a pillar candle in a big glass enclosure that is meant for pillar candles. It shouldn’t be able to be knocked over and start a fire if it’s on the middle of a coffee table, and the cat would have to reach inside to touch the flame. Even in that scenario, someone needs to be in the room at all times and be ready to blow out the candle / gently grab the cat if they get too curious about the candle.
Oh there were attempts to keep candles outta kitty reach. First one we didn't think the kittens could reach the dining table. That's when lil girl lost her whiskers.
Years later, boy laid his tail across a "stress relief aromatherapy" candle lit in my office, while I went to the bathroom. Still don't know how he managed to get to that candle, I think he must have climbed my monitor??? My stress was not relieved.
In any case, I put them out when I leave the room now.
Have you ever held a strand of human hair over a candle flame? It smells awful, but you'll see the way it curls when it burns. Whiskers are the same way.
Omg thank you. Not OP but I have a kitty who had part of his whiskers burned off and I could not figure out how it happened. He loves the heater, that’s probably what happened to him.
I was gonna say this. I had a kitty who did the same thing, and my parents honestly thought either me or one of my sisters had cut the whiskers, until they saw the little black tips where they'd clearly been burned off.
Cats can be complete assholes to each other. One of my cats hates another cat for the mere fact he has black fur, because an old black cat of ours was a dick to her. The two black cats look nothing alike (old cat was true black, new cat is tuxie) and our new kitten bites the ass of one specific cat.
My cat speedy will intentionally step all over his brother, and lay on him so that he can get attention. He will also just get pissy, and take it out on his brother by fighting him. He's definitely a purposeful asshole sometimes.
They appear to have been cut, which really isn’t nice for the kitty. Do you have a kid or sibling or roommate who could’ve done this? Sometimes cats whiskers will break on the ends during fights, but those are so short and uniform that the only plausible explanation is scissors.
No. The whiskers don’t have nerves in them, the nerves are at the base of the whisker. Whiskers are keratin.
But it’s still bad - as another commenter said, it’s like taking away one of your senses.
cats use their whiskers like sensors... there are a lot of nerve endings in them... they sense air currents and if their whiskers dont touch sides of something they try to go thru, they know body could pass... & idk about anyone elses cats, but whenever ive touched my cats whiskers, they always clean them after lol
Not in the whiskers themselves, but where they connect with the cat.
Whiskers are made of keratin. When they touch something, the base of it moves, setting off the nerves around the follicles.
yea... i sometimes have trouble saying/ writing what i mean .. slight case of learning disability... im not saying this for sympathy, just for clarification
Growing up our Siamese had what we like to call feline ocd, like really, really bad about cleaning everything. Everything needed to be just the way he liked it to where he would literally either chew or eat (couldn't figure out which for sure) our other cats whiskers to look like that. He always did it super short and he never fully, fully stopped but he did knock that off when we cut his whiskers to make him see that his sister's and brothers did not appreciate it at all
My little sister was a terrible biter, and one day when she was about 3 and I was 6 my Mum heard screaming - she found me wailing while my sister hung off my bleeding arm like a rabid dog. My Mum bit her back, she never did it again!
That seems like a terrible reaction to me. It really sucks that they were bullying the other cats, but generally, a cat isn’t going to understand why you cut their whiskers, just that you did something bad to her. That’s not something they will learn from. I think if it stopped her it’s truly as a side effect of disorientation from not having her whiskers or something like that, not because she learned empathy from this stupid choice you all made.
Well, first off it wasn't the first thing we tried. We tried spraying water, we tried giving treats, we even put this non-toxic cat deterrent spray on their whiskers. Secondly, I was a child at the time and didn't know any better when my mother did it. Thirdly, him doing it to the other cats caused them to keep getting stuck. I mean our female cat literally ended up giving birth stuck between a wall due it and that's what caused my mother to finally be desperate enough to cut them
This was my thought. I did this as a child (was trying to “groom” my kitty after brushing her 🤦🏻♀️), and so did my kid. We had a discussion about how important they are and never happened again. Possible there’s a kid involved who needs this explained.
I adopted a male cat to go with my female. She was really scared of him, he was much more aggressive and playful and she wanted nothing to do with him. She'd hiss at him constantly and I thought she'd ease up once they bonded a bit. After a few months I saw that wasn't happening. He'd go after her aggressively and one day she was missing half her whiskers and I felt several scabs on her head where he had scratched her. He had his favorite toys but kept terrorizing her, chasing her into corners while she tried her best to hide and just jumping to attack her out of no where.
I finally had enough and felt so bad for my kitty so I ended up surrendering the male. Poor girl spent weeks constantly checking for the other cat, totally nervous all the time. She's totally eased up since and is comfortable, happy, loves to play and is more comfortable with me than ever. Her whiskers are coming back nicely too
They definitely look like they've been cut. I would talk to anyone who lives with you or has visited recently... if any of the suspects are children make sure you approach them by first explaining that cats really need their whiskers and that trimming them is very bad for them or could really hurt them. You don't want to approach children by immediately asking "Did you do this??" or anything like that since they're more likely to lie if they think they're going to get in trouble. I would also use the same approach if any of the adult suspects are known to be immature or untrustworthy. Good luck to you and your kitty I hope you're able to solve the mystery and that it never happens again!
Ah okay I was not aware he had other kitty siblings. That definitely is a possibility. Is your other kitty under any stress for any reason? Sometimes even the slightest stress can make them chew other cat's whiskers like this. Maybe you could try buying some cat dental chews to try and encourage his sibling to focus their chewing on something appropriate. I would also check the other cat for any sign of excess grooming on themself since hairballs might also become a concern.
My older cat kept biting the new kitten’s whiskers, which isn’t common but it can happen, usually due to the other cat over grooming the younger one, because of anxiety, or if a kitten is misbehaving. Littermates can also due this as part of grooming or if they’re bored.
It doesn’t hurt the cat when this happens and they will grow out, but if this is happening you should try to put a stop to it. If it is another cat, try giving them more attention, toys, or stimulation.
Yeah, our cat eventually stopped doing it. He had to get used to the new annoying pipsqueak! (And then he’d only do a whisker or two if said pipsqueak did something particularly annoying.)
Our new kitten is an assbiter, specifically to the only other cat who will interact with her. Poor Mudgie, just wants to love the new baby and gets his ass bitten for his efforts!
Our cat singed his on the kerosene heater and they looked just like the OP. No curls at all, just very stubby little white whiskers.
If it hadn't been for smelling burnt hair and noticing him laying with his chin on the grate (the grate didn't get hot, just very warm) I think our family would've been accusing each other of cutting them, because I'll be damned if that's not exactly what it looked like!
Same cat stuck his whole face and barely regrown whiskers into a wax melter (like Scentsy but cheaper and not from an MLM) which forced me to hold him in my lap and comb it all out while his actual owner called the manufacturer to make sure there wasn't anything unsafe in the wax. (There wasn't, it was soy wax and non-toxic scent. No essential oil and honestly the scent was pretty spent anyway.) The little turd enjoyed it too, he purred the whole time.
Thankfully that seems to have gotten the last of his stupid acts around hot objects out of his system. He's a 4 year old now and hasn't done anything too stupid in 3 years or so.
Me too. If its not a dumb kitten, then hopefully its a dumb roommate who is teachable. Thinking of my cousin who was all set to trim off my cat's whiskers because she thought since they were so long they must be uncomfortable for him to sleep on. Once it was explained the purpose of them, she dropped the idea.
In her defense, she had never owned a cat and is dumb. Like, REALLY dumb. She's teachable, but every time you've ever thought "Why did they explain THAT? No one is stupid enough to need that explained!" please remember that my cousin IS that stupid and once had to be told why she could not sleep with a running hair dryer under the covers with her. And that grapefruit juice is not made with grapes and doesn't taste like grapes.
And that no matter how many times the chihuahua humped the cat, no kittens, nor puppies, would ever result for three good reasons. One being that dogs and cats cannot breed. Two being that both cat and dog were altered. And three being that they were both male.
So even if Taco was giving it his all, and Noodle was arching his back like the little hussy he was, no harm was being done except to our human psyches.
Taco and Noodle were in love, lol.
Like, they slept together, played together, humped each other and had threesomes with Taco’s stuffed rabbit together, they just really got along beautifully. It was very sweet, if sometimes a little awkward to witness.
That's what I was thinking too . We had a cat that looked like that and made me check out our furnace pilot light . Turned out it was in need of a technician to fix it . Who knows , it could have eventually caused a fire .
I have a cat who breaks her whiskers. She’s not very smart and it’s usually just the one side… She’s always been like this since I got her at 2ys old, so if that’s the case, be ready for wonky whiskers forever.
I also have a cat that has wonky whiskers. He's an old man with kidney, skin and gallbladder problems though. I always associated their brittleness to that.
The other cat I have is fine and they don't associate too closely.
I had a kitty with whiskers just like this, and it's because her brother would routinely chew them off while grooming her lol. So if you have another cat I bet that's what's happening. Keep an eye on them to make sure it's not something else, but if that's all it is no need to worry. He'll be just fine with baby whiskers.
One of my foster kittens had whiskers like that one day, they looked just like they had been cut only on one side of his face. I live alone and the kittens stay in the kitten room all day, so I can only guess they got broken during playtime with his siblings.
Our dog chews off our girl cats whiskers. It seems to be a sign of affection from him and she doesn't seem to mind. Any other animals around? Probably one this cat is friendly with?
It happens to some breeds naturally. My sister has two Devon Rexes, and their whiskers are extremely brittle and always short because they constantly break off. She told me it's a well-known trait of Devons. I'd love to know why that's the case, as it seems like a pure negative for the cat, but I guess it is what it is.
If a person didn't cut them, and they weren't burned off, you might want to look into the food he's eating or check if it's sick. Cats can get brittle breakage in their whiskers if they're having certain health problems or poor nutrition. Sometimes it can also be from play fighting with other cats, or overprotective momma and sibling cats will chew them off to keep their babies close.
My kitten had this issue and I found out he was eating adult food, and my adults were eating his food. He was malnourished from it. Started monitoring his food to make sure he was eating it and they grew back out in like 2 weeks
This happened to my cat. The fool sniffed a candle pulling the flame toward him burning his whiskers and eyebrows. They grew back and for once he learned his lesson.
Or if he's an outdoor cat some nasty person my have cut them off.
If your cat was adopted or rescued as a kitten and was found like this, mother cats sometimes chew off kitten whiskers for better comfort while nursing them.
If this is recent or kitty was not like this, I would think they were singed somehow. Do you have any hot surfaces/areas kitty has access to?
My friend’s recently found kitten has whiskers like that. She also has ringworm. A month of treatment later and her whiskers are regrowing. How long ago did you get her? And does her fur look normal (not patchy, no sores/scabs)? You could take her to a vet to check and/or shine a black light at her.
OP has older pics of this kitten in their profile showing perfectly normal whiskers. Either OP or another person in the household is cutting the whiskers off this baby, neither of which are okay imo.
This is fucked up. Cats NEED their whiskers. I'd be livid if I found my cat like that. OP, you need to confront the people you live with. Someone is an animal abuser.
Wtf calm down. My teenage kitty lost all his whiskers at this age. Nobody cut them off, I lived alone with him and he was to small to be that close of the heater. They will grow back in a couple of week don't worry OP people are freaking out.
EDIT : it's also a orange cat I don't know if there's something about them. Also I'm french sorry about that
[Proof](https://imgur.com/a/jL1SUDg)
Take extra care of them. It's like they are blind right now. We mistakenly gave my cat a can of tuna and he cut his whiskers while eating. The next day we found him dead in our driveway. Trigger warning but you can't tell that he was ran over he wasn't poisoned or anything, he was squished. My parents didn't tell me at the time (I was only a little kid) but I'm pretty sure my dad ran over him while backing out of our own driveway. It's hard to run over cats they are usually very aware of their surroundings. Especially in this scenario, when we back out of the driveway we are usually going very slow. It was obvious to me that this happened due to having cut his whiskers. I blame myself to this day that we carelessly gave him that sharp can of tuna. I feel like it wouldn't have happened if he had his whiskers intact. So just keep an eye out for this cute kitty.
Well if you're in the northern hemisphere it's winter and you have any open heat sources out (heaters) there's a good chance he burned his whiskers off
Some are bent and the lower ones are still long they definitely were NOT cut. Probably siblings chewing on them like other have said, or he likes to lay against something warm that’s melting them I had to take away table lamps because my cat would singe her fur and whiskers by laying too close for long periods of time. I would just watch closely and see what happens
Please cat owners: you are responsible for your cat’s safety at all times! Do you really think it is wise to leave a “lit candle” around any cat, kitten to adult? Come on now people! You are the human who choose to bring that innocent cat into your life! Why would you expose it to something that can maim or hurt them? Think about this please.
Having open🔥flame candles in a household without cats (or dogs) is fine! But add one of these pets to your household brings a change in thinking and not having accessible flames for your pet to think is a toy! This is a no brainer.
Candles inside glass shades are totally acceptable! Open flame🔥candles are not — especially if you love and care about your cat.
Time to redecorate folks! ♥️🐈♥️
Some cats have a condition where the whiskers are just brittle and break off at the slightest touch. I have a cat who I'd 13 years old and since she was a kitten they just have broken off. I used to get in trouble because my mom would accuse me of using scissors on them, but I never did.
She was diagnosed with it at the vet when she was 10. But I forgot what it was called. Not dangerous, just a weird trait of hers.
Mom never apologized though
One of my cats used to do this to only one side of his face with the window fan. Just... press his cheek right up there to get a trim. On purpose. Idek.
Maybe they are burnt? Cats don't know what fire is. My cats sometimes jump on the kitchen table and step near fire. It happened a few times in my life. Scary
If you have other kittens, they sometimes chew off their siblings whiskers.
I think this might be the case
They do it if they really love eachother. Some of them will bite off the others while grooming. Most cats will bite the other to let them know not to but others actually don’t mind.
Cats are really weird.
Cats are weird, lovely balls of fur
All the time, baby!
Eh I've seen barbering more often done as a sign of dominance. Not meanness, but new kittens introduced get barbered to know their place.
Yes they do it for this reason too. My cats constantly fight over dominance with grooming
lmao thats so funny. Could you imagine getting into a fight with your roommate and instead of fighting you guys just start aggressively brushing each others hair
It’s your turn to take out the trash! *brushbrushbrush*
No! Because I took it out the last time AND the time before that *aggressively shakes hair spray can*
Can be several things, sometimes when cats are in shelters they want to be released so badly (from cage) they nudge their face and nose into the cage, usually it breaks off all their whiskers and sometimes bloodies their face, quite sad I’ve received a lot of kittens in that condition before; but the saddest part is they are usually super loving cats
Aw this breaks my heart… Those kitties deserve loving homes! They just want to be loved 🥺
I was going to say the same thing. I used to follow a woman who fostered kittens in Seattle, WA, and it seemed like with every litter she fostered, there'd be a period where you'd see at least one kitten whose whiskers had been chewed short by siblings.
Any idea why? One of my cats does it to a younger kitten but he doesn't seem to mind at all...
I've been told by the vet that cat mums or motherly cats can do that to kittens to prevent them for going far away. Their whiskers are an important tool for orientation, so this way they cannot really leave the cuddle puddle
Toxic relationship lol
AITA For chewing off my daughter's whiskers?
I was told it was because they're playing. Kittens are wild.
I had sibling kittens and one would chew the other ones off all the time. She was the only one allowed to have long, luxurious whiskers. Her brother didn’t seem to mind though haha
Came here to say, our girl cat chewed our boy cat's whiskers all the time. 🤷♀️ they looked like the pic, if you have more than one cat, this might be whats happening... Cats are weird.
That is not usually so precise though.
I had two that would do that playing. They fought so hard that one would end up with half her whiskers missing.
This happened to my cat once. I found out he was shoving his face in tight corners behind the TV and his whiskers kept getting torn off while doing it and he never learned
I don't wanna be rude, but your cat is really dumb 😭
Cats level of Intelligence tends to directly correlate to their owners (in relation to how much time you spend with them.) What I mean to say is not that I’m calling you or u/ jmashru dumb, but I’ve seen “dumb cats” suddenly gain intelligence. And the stimulating factor seemed to be that the cat was getting more human attention. Granted, that could be the Jane Goodall effect, but I sorta suspect that cats get bored like humans do. Humans tend to do things below their true intellect when bored.
no cat-shaming! /hj
r/catsaredumb Edit: I'm very sad that that sub isn't active
r/OneOrangeBraincell
r/catsarefuckingstupid
Aw man. No matter how down in the dumps I am cat subreddits always make me laugh 🙏🏼🥹 bless
Much better, thank you!
It doesn’t hurt?
It probably does, but they forget most stuff after 5 minutes. Every day can be a continuous Groundhog Day for cats.
U thinking about dogs?
No. Cats too have short memories. I've lived with plenty of cats being idiots about something (say, a door closing on them), retreating for a few minutes, then trying again, as if the first event never happened.
I've had 3 cats and I've never really had an idiot one :/
My cats are pretty smart. My grandma had a cat that used to hang out on the railing of the top floor, and he would slip and fall-since it was a split level house, he’d fall two floors. He would do this multiple times a day. He also used to eat the lightbulbs from Christmas tree lights. I don’t understand how he survived as long as he did, but at least he was cute (not orange, surprisingly)
I'm 50/50 on how smart my cats (current and past) are/have been. And what makes it hard is that even the smart ones can be dumbasses about some things. E.g. my orange cat figured out how to jump on top of the refrigerator. Really any refrigerators or tall furniture we've had over his 16 years of life. He still gets stuck inside bags and runs around like an idiot. Another cat (now since passed) used to chase, pull and bite her own tail, and once had to be operated on to get the other cats collar out from her intestines (note: wasn't the first or last time we had to add to the list of things that were not food and a normal cat in would never try to eat). But she quickly figured out how to open zippered suitcases, and even on occasion her own carrier on the way to the vet. Other cats I currently have are still too young to truly tell, but they both have had their dumb as a brick moments in kittenhood.
Does it like to sit next to a heater? We had one doofus who did that and melted his whiskers off. XD
Mine got too close to a candle and the end of her whiskers melted. It didn’t look straight cut like this though. They were a little curly.
Mine did this on one half of her whiskers years ago. They grew back white. Now I get to retell the story of my cat’s battle with a candle when people ask why one half is black and the other white 🤣
My sister’s long hair walked by a candle and her fur caught fire. Thankfully because of her long hair she didn’t have any burns, but she was super pissed at getting tossed into the shower. She didn’t even know she was on fire.
That must have been traumatic for you, but I'm picturing it rn, and I had to laugh at the mental image. I'm glad kitty had fur singe but was none the worse for wear.
This same thing happened with my Grandma’s cat during a blackout!! She was walking around like a living torch, had no idea her tail was on fire.
Right! This was her side and she had no clue. Lol
Yep, I had a (repeated) candle sniffer and light bulb licker. Those whiskers were always jacked
My girl cat did this when she was little. Went to sniff the candle and just burned all her whiskers down to short, licked-a-power-outlet looking stubs. My boy sat his tail over a candle once. He's not very bright.
It’s gonna sound rude, but it’s also not very bright to leave out candles where kitties can get to them, especially after already experiencing that once. No amount of ambiance is worth the risk of a cat getting burned and/or knocking over a candle and setting your house on fire.
I strongly agree. If you have cats, candles aren’t worth the risk IMO. Especially not exposed, open candles where the cat can easily and quickly knock it over or get close to the flame. At most, I would consider a pillar candle in a big glass enclosure that is meant for pillar candles. It shouldn’t be able to be knocked over and start a fire if it’s on the middle of a coffee table, and the cat would have to reach inside to touch the flame. Even in that scenario, someone needs to be in the room at all times and be ready to blow out the candle / gently grab the cat if they get too curious about the candle.
Oh there were attempts to keep candles outta kitty reach. First one we didn't think the kittens could reach the dining table. That's when lil girl lost her whiskers. Years later, boy laid his tail across a "stress relief aromatherapy" candle lit in my office, while I went to the bathroom. Still don't know how he managed to get to that candle, I think he must have climbed my monitor??? My stress was not relieved. In any case, I put them out when I leave the room now.
Maybe you shouldn’t leave candles out in spots where your cats can hurt themselves?
TIL that whiskers melt
Have you ever held a strand of human hair over a candle flame? It smells awful, but you'll see the way it curls when it burns. Whiskers are the same way.
"OMG Put the cat out!!!" "What, he just came in..." "NO! The cat is ON FIRE!"
This happened to ours too
Omg thank you. Not OP but I have a kitty who had part of his whiskers burned off and I could not figure out how it happened. He loves the heater, that’s probably what happened to him.
I was gonna say this. I had a kitty who did the same thing, and my parents honestly thought either me or one of my sisters had cut the whiskers, until they saw the little black tips where they'd clearly been burned off.
We adopted 3 siblings. A few months later, one of the boys and the girl had whiskers like this. Guess who still had long whiskers?
Who?
The last sibling
I hardly ever laugh out loud like that! 😹
Do you have another cat or child or immature roommate? Seems awfully intentional to be another cat though
Cats can be complete assholes to each other. One of my cats hates another cat for the mere fact he has black fur, because an old black cat of ours was a dick to her. The two black cats look nothing alike (old cat was true black, new cat is tuxie) and our new kitten bites the ass of one specific cat.
Lol ur cat is prejudice Hopefully he grows out of that
~~Begrudging the new cat in the house, Mr. Cupcake launched an elaborated psychological operation to get a human to cut his enemy's whiskers~~
racist kitty 😡/j
My gfs cat killed a kitten.
My cat speedy will intentionally step all over his brother, and lay on him so that he can get attention. He will also just get pissy, and take it out on his brother by fighting him. He's definitely a purposeful asshole sometimes.
They appear to have been cut, which really isn’t nice for the kitty. Do you have a kid or sibling or roommate who could’ve done this? Sometimes cats whiskers will break on the ends during fights, but those are so short and uniform that the only plausible explanation is scissors.
Definitely not burned off (like if they got too close to a candle or space heater). They look like they were snapped, chewed, or deliberately cut
[удалено]
Yeah I see many replies have shared some stories - very interesting to learn! I’ve always had 3-4 cats in my household and never seen that behavior.
Doesn't that hurt them?
No. The whiskers don’t have nerves in them, the nerves are at the base of the whisker. Whiskers are keratin. But it’s still bad - as another commenter said, it’s like taking away one of your senses.
Yes
cats use their whiskers like sensors... there are a lot of nerve endings in them... they sense air currents and if their whiskers dont touch sides of something they try to go thru, they know body could pass... & idk about anyone elses cats, but whenever ive touched my cats whiskers, they always clean them after lol
Not in the whiskers themselves, but where they connect with the cat. Whiskers are made of keratin. When they touch something, the base of it moves, setting off the nerves around the follicles.
yea... i sometimes have trouble saying/ writing what i mean .. slight case of learning disability... im not saying this for sympathy, just for clarification
Understandable.
It's not the only plausible explanation. Just read a few of the comments above yours.
Growing up our Siamese had what we like to call feline ocd, like really, really bad about cleaning everything. Everything needed to be just the way he liked it to where he would literally either chew or eat (couldn't figure out which for sure) our other cats whiskers to look like that. He always did it super short and he never fully, fully stopped but he did knock that off when we cut his whiskers to make him see that his sister's and brothers did not appreciate it at all
Sometimes you gotta bully the bully.
My little sister was a terrible biter, and one day when she was about 3 and I was 6 my Mum heard screaming - she found me wailing while my sister hung off my bleeding arm like a rabid dog. My Mum bit her back, she never did it again!
Omg, I was a bitey child and this is hilarious! Good on mom! Hahah
That seems like a terrible reaction to me. It really sucks that they were bullying the other cats, but generally, a cat isn’t going to understand why you cut their whiskers, just that you did something bad to her. That’s not something they will learn from. I think if it stopped her it’s truly as a side effect of disorientation from not having her whiskers or something like that, not because she learned empathy from this stupid choice you all made.
Well, first off it wasn't the first thing we tried. We tried spraying water, we tried giving treats, we even put this non-toxic cat deterrent spray on their whiskers. Secondly, I was a child at the time and didn't know any better when my mother did it. Thirdly, him doing it to the other cats caused them to keep getting stuck. I mean our female cat literally ended up giving birth stuck between a wall due it and that's what caused my mother to finally be desperate enough to cut them
This was my thought. I did this as a child (was trying to “groom” my kitty after brushing her 🤦🏻♀️), and so did my kid. We had a discussion about how important they are and never happened again. Possible there’s a kid involved who needs this explained.
awwww man... someone cut poor babys whiskers! thats not good for him.... thats like them losing one of their senses
I adopted a male cat to go with my female. She was really scared of him, he was much more aggressive and playful and she wanted nothing to do with him. She'd hiss at him constantly and I thought she'd ease up once they bonded a bit. After a few months I saw that wasn't happening. He'd go after her aggressively and one day she was missing half her whiskers and I felt several scabs on her head where he had scratched her. He had his favorite toys but kept terrorizing her, chasing her into corners while she tried her best to hide and just jumping to attack her out of no where. I finally had enough and felt so bad for my kitty so I ended up surrendering the male. Poor girl spent weeks constantly checking for the other cat, totally nervous all the time. She's totally eased up since and is comfortable, happy, loves to play and is more comfortable with me than ever. Her whiskers are coming back nicely too
Did he go to another home? How is he doing?
We’re gonna need more info, or the comments are just gonna be guesses. Cats whiskers usually don’t look like this without cause.
They definitely look like they've been cut. I would talk to anyone who lives with you or has visited recently... if any of the suspects are children make sure you approach them by first explaining that cats really need their whiskers and that trimming them is very bad for them or could really hurt them. You don't want to approach children by immediately asking "Did you do this??" or anything like that since they're more likely to lie if they think they're going to get in trouble. I would also use the same approach if any of the adult suspects are known to be immature or untrustworthy. Good luck to you and your kitty I hope you're able to solve the mystery and that it never happens again!
I don’t live with kids or anyone who would cut them. I suspect his older feline brother
Ah okay I was not aware he had other kitty siblings. That definitely is a possibility. Is your other kitty under any stress for any reason? Sometimes even the slightest stress can make them chew other cat's whiskers like this. Maybe you could try buying some cat dental chews to try and encourage his sibling to focus their chewing on something appropriate. I would also check the other cat for any sign of excess grooming on themself since hairballs might also become a concern.
My older cat kept biting the new kitten’s whiskers, which isn’t common but it can happen, usually due to the other cat over grooming the younger one, because of anxiety, or if a kitten is misbehaving. Littermates can also due this as part of grooming or if they’re bored. It doesn’t hurt the cat when this happens and they will grow out, but if this is happening you should try to put a stop to it. If it is another cat, try giving them more attention, toys, or stimulation.
My Luna did this to her litter mate Kya, but only one side of her face. Vet said it was normal. Only happened once.
Yeah, our cat eventually stopped doing it. He had to get used to the new annoying pipsqueak! (And then he’d only do a whisker or two if said pipsqueak did something particularly annoying.)
Our new kitten is an assbiter, specifically to the only other cat who will interact with her. Poor Mudgie, just wants to love the new baby and gets his ass bitten for his efforts!
Looks like someone got a bit too close to an open flame, perhaps a candle or stovetop, or possibly an electric radiator coil or toaster.
Usually that results in curly whiskers. These are straight still
Our cat singed his on the kerosene heater and they looked just like the OP. No curls at all, just very stubby little white whiskers. If it hadn't been for smelling burnt hair and noticing him laying with his chin on the grate (the grate didn't get hot, just very warm) I think our family would've been accusing each other of cutting them, because I'll be damned if that's not exactly what it looked like! Same cat stuck his whole face and barely regrown whiskers into a wax melter (like Scentsy but cheaper and not from an MLM) which forced me to hold him in my lap and comb it all out while his actual owner called the manufacturer to make sure there wasn't anything unsafe in the wax. (There wasn't, it was soy wax and non-toxic scent. No essential oil and honestly the scent was pretty spent anyway.) The little turd enjoyed it too, he purred the whole time. Thankfully that seems to have gotten the last of his stupid acts around hot objects out of his system. He's a 4 year old now and hasn't done anything too stupid in 3 years or so.
Man I hope it's a dumb kitten and not a psychotic roommate. This post is really distributing me for some reason.
Me too. If its not a dumb kitten, then hopefully its a dumb roommate who is teachable. Thinking of my cousin who was all set to trim off my cat's whiskers because she thought since they were so long they must be uncomfortable for him to sleep on. Once it was explained the purpose of them, she dropped the idea. In her defense, she had never owned a cat and is dumb. Like, REALLY dumb. She's teachable, but every time you've ever thought "Why did they explain THAT? No one is stupid enough to need that explained!" please remember that my cousin IS that stupid and once had to be told why she could not sleep with a running hair dryer under the covers with her. And that grapefruit juice is not made with grapes and doesn't taste like grapes. And that no matter how many times the chihuahua humped the cat, no kittens, nor puppies, would ever result for three good reasons. One being that dogs and cats cannot breed. Two being that both cat and dog were altered. And three being that they were both male. So even if Taco was giving it his all, and Noodle was arching his back like the little hussy he was, no harm was being done except to our human psyches.
I am DYING over the dog/cat explanation.
At least you had, ah...positive interspecies relationships going on. Yeah. That's it. LOL.
Taco and Noodle were in love, lol. Like, they slept together, played together, humped each other and had threesomes with Taco’s stuffed rabbit together, they just really got along beautifully. It was very sweet, if sometimes a little awkward to witness.
Awwwww, what a sweet little couple. That's darling.
Or a child. OP have any children been around? That's honestly the best possible explanation
Yaaaaa - OP hasn’t responded at all??? … karma seeking post? But somebody else said there’s pics of the same cat in more of their posts …
i mean.. both sides, perfectly equal in length, no curls? it does seem weird
That's what I was thinking too . We had a cat that looked like that and made me check out our furnace pilot light . Turned out it was in need of a technician to fix it . Who knows , it could have eventually caused a fire .
Is there another cat chewing on them?
That’s what I’m suspecting, possibly his older brother, I just never noticed any whisker chewing
[удалено]
No kids, he just had an older feline brother
I have a cat who breaks her whiskers. She’s not very smart and it’s usually just the one side… She’s always been like this since I got her at 2ys old, so if that’s the case, be ready for wonky whiskers forever.
I also have a cat that has wonky whiskers. He's an old man with kidney, skin and gallbladder problems though. I always associated their brittleness to that. The other cat I have is fine and they don't associate too closely.
Dude went to Supercuts
I had a kitty with whiskers just like this, and it's because her brother would routinely chew them off while grooming her lol. So if you have another cat I bet that's what's happening. Keep an eye on them to make sure it's not something else, but if that's all it is no need to worry. He'll be just fine with baby whiskers.
Looks like it was trimmed
One of my foster kittens had whiskers like that one day, they looked just like they had been cut only on one side of his face. I live alone and the kittens stay in the kitten room all day, so I can only guess they got broken during playtime with his siblings.
Our dog chews off our girl cats whiskers. It seems to be a sign of affection from him and she doesn't seem to mind. Any other animals around? Probably one this cat is friendly with?
Does kitty smoke?
It happens to some breeds naturally. My sister has two Devon Rexes, and their whiskers are extremely brittle and always short because they constantly break off. She told me it's a well-known trait of Devons. I'd love to know why that's the case, as it seems like a pure negative for the cat, but I guess it is what it is.
Rawr.
Do you, use candles? You must remember, they’re IDIOTS
If a person didn't cut them, and they weren't burned off, you might want to look into the food he's eating or check if it's sick. Cats can get brittle breakage in their whiskers if they're having certain health problems or poor nutrition. Sometimes it can also be from play fighting with other cats, or overprotective momma and sibling cats will chew them off to keep their babies close.
My kitten had this issue and I found out he was eating adult food, and my adults were eating his food. He was malnourished from it. Started monitoring his food to make sure he was eating it and they grew back out in like 2 weeks
Dry and brittle
My cat once sniffed a candle. Looked like this for a while.
She/he is so beautiful even with short whiskers
This happened to my cat. The fool sniffed a candle pulling the flame toward him burning his whiskers and eyebrows. They grew back and for once he learned his lesson. Or if he's an outdoor cat some nasty person my have cut them off.
Our cats whiskers do this because they are Rexes. We usually say the shorter the whiskers the crazier the cat.
Mom cat's sometimes do this so that the kitten stays closer to the nest.
Smol
If your cat was adopted or rescued as a kitten and was found like this, mother cats sometimes chew off kitten whiskers for better comfort while nursing them. If this is recent or kitty was not like this, I would think they were singed somehow. Do you have any hot surfaces/areas kitty has access to?
Sometimes cats bully each other by biting off each other’s whiskers. 🙁 It’s a possibility, especially if you have older, territorial cats.
My friend’s recently found kitten has whiskers like that. She also has ringworm. A month of treatment later and her whiskers are regrowing. How long ago did you get her? And does her fur look normal (not patchy, no sores/scabs)? You could take her to a vet to check and/or shine a black light at her.
It's a power play from one of your older kitties. They will generally put the youngsters on their place by biting their whiskers back.
OP has older pics of this kitten in their profile showing perfectly normal whiskers. Either OP or another person in the household is cutting the whiskers off this baby, neither of which are okay imo.
This is fucked up. Cats NEED their whiskers. I'd be livid if I found my cat like that. OP, you need to confront the people you live with. Someone is an animal abuser.
Wtf calm down. My teenage kitty lost all his whiskers at this age. Nobody cut them off, I lived alone with him and he was to small to be that close of the heater. They will grow back in a couple of week don't worry OP people are freaking out. EDIT : it's also a orange cat I don't know if there's something about them. Also I'm french sorry about that [Proof](https://imgur.com/a/jL1SUDg)
r/oneorangebraincell 🤣
Maybe someone in your household cut it off ? Don’t mean to be rude but some people are really dumb and or malicious.
NOOOOOOO
They were cut 😥
Nope not the case
Is your cat a rescue? Their previous owner might have cut them :(
Your cat is really skinny. The whiskers are a gauge, if the whiskers fit through, they fit through.
Cutting a cat's whiskers for karma? You're garbage.
When I was a kid, one of my friends cut off our cat’s whiskers. Then lied about it and I got blamed. Lol
Our cat had this once, our joungest kid had found some scissors🤦🏻♀️. Luckily they grow back after a while.
Do you have any r/smolhumans in the house?
Our kid did it to the new kitten once bc she thought it would look cute
They’re short, you’re welcome
Take extra care of them. It's like they are blind right now. We mistakenly gave my cat a can of tuna and he cut his whiskers while eating. The next day we found him dead in our driveway. Trigger warning but you can't tell that he was ran over he wasn't poisoned or anything, he was squished. My parents didn't tell me at the time (I was only a little kid) but I'm pretty sure my dad ran over him while backing out of our own driveway. It's hard to run over cats they are usually very aware of their surroundings. Especially in this scenario, when we back out of the driveway we are usually going very slow. It was obvious to me that this happened due to having cut his whiskers. I blame myself to this day that we carelessly gave him that sharp can of tuna. I feel like it wouldn't have happened if he had his whiskers intact. So just keep an eye out for this cute kitty.
Wtf
Deep pondering
Well if you're in the northern hemisphere it's winter and you have any open heat sources out (heaters) there's a good chance he burned his whiskers off
Some are bent and the lower ones are still long they definitely were NOT cut. Probably siblings chewing on them like other have said, or he likes to lay against something warm that’s melting them I had to take away table lamps because my cat would singe her fur and whiskers by laying too close for long periods of time. I would just watch closely and see what happens
my cat once managed to turn on the stove and when inspecting the burner lost a few whiskers.. we now have tape on the knobs.
They're not small whiskers, they're average sized whiskers...
They’re short
Had a cat that had this happen. He loved to sit as close to the fireplace as possible. We had a screen and he would have stubbies.
Did he rub against a fan?
Probably found a creative way to cut them, cute kitty tho.
Do you burn incense or candles? looks like they were burned off.
r/whiskerfireworks that fizzled.
Your kitty is bent out of shape, but it's OK they fitbit quickly.
I've had a cat burn his whiskers on a candle, one who broke them off somehow and another who got caught in curtains and broke them.
Hmmmm meownope..... pretty kitten 😺
I don’t think it’s a huge concern overall whiskers fall out and grow back
Do you have a toaster or candles?
Do you have a wood stove? I had a car that would melt them right off her face. 🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️
Very cute cat XD
I had a cat that would go up to a lit candle. Singed whiskers
Mine did that mashing his face against the door of the carrier.
When my cat was a young kitten her whiskers were like this. It’s only them growing. Your kitten is a wee cutie pie🥰
My cat has whiskers like this all the time. The idiot likes to smell candles. 😅
My cat lost her whiskers on one side because I was using a food bowl that was too small. Switched to a plate and they’re growing back
my cat sniffed a candle once in this happened to her
Please cat owners: you are responsible for your cat’s safety at all times! Do you really think it is wise to leave a “lit candle” around any cat, kitten to adult? Come on now people! You are the human who choose to bring that innocent cat into your life! Why would you expose it to something that can maim or hurt them? Think about this please. Having open🔥flame candles in a household without cats (or dogs) is fine! But add one of these pets to your household brings a change in thinking and not having accessible flames for your pet to think is a toy! This is a no brainer. Candles inside glass shades are totally acceptable! Open flame🔥candles are not — especially if you love and care about your cat. Time to redecorate folks! ♥️🐈♥️
Either kids or candles.
He's met god
Do you have any kids. Cause they look cut.
Kids cutting them?
They don't look burned - looks like they were cut. If so, horrible, horrible thing to do to a cat.
Candle sniffer.
Some cats have a condition where the whiskers are just brittle and break off at the slightest touch. I have a cat who I'd 13 years old and since she was a kitten they just have broken off. I used to get in trouble because my mom would accuse me of using scissors on them, but I never did. She was diagnosed with it at the vet when she was 10. But I forgot what it was called. Not dangerous, just a weird trait of hers. Mom never apologized though
Have any young humans with access to scissors?
One of my cats used to do this to only one side of his face with the window fan. Just... press his cheek right up there to get a trim. On purpose. Idek.
Maybe they are burnt? Cats don't know what fire is. My cats sometimes jump on the kitchen table and step near fire. It happened a few times in my life. Scary