Broken Whiskers?

[tigger99]

I only have one kitten about 3 months old. When I adopted him he had long whiskers but recently I noticed a lot of them are shorter and stubbly. He only has a few long whiskers left. Could this be self inflicted or do they break off when he’s playing rough or what? I’m not sure if this is normal

 

[verna davies]

My cats always end up with broken whiskers after a visit to the vet. They rub against the mesh door of the carrier. Has your kitten been in a carrier lately. He could be rubbing against almost anything and breaking them. The good thing is they soon grow back.

 

[Gizmobius]

I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. When I first got my kitten at 10 weeks, I was confused why some of his whiskers were snapped in half but he was a rowdy kitten zooming all over the place and getting in all sorts of trouble so I just assumed he was breaking them somehow. As he grew up, so did his whiskers! He’s a year old now and all whiskers are normal.

 

[puwdytat]

We adopted a malnourished kitten that was found in a construction site. Her whiskers were missing too. I think stress and/or malnourishment causes this.

 

[tmactoth]

So I got two new kittens, and each had broken off whiskers. It turned out that broken whiskers were their only visible symptom of ringworm. They had it, and we all got it. I am sure there are many reasons for broken off whiskers, but ringworm should be considered as a possible cause.