-
Too many ads? Join our community of cat lovers now to reduce ads by 90%! Click here to join for free!
strange whiskers
- Thread starter alfie
- Start Date
Kittens have short, stubby whiskers, takes time for them to grow to real cat whiskers. Don't know if this helps or not
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2006
- Messages
- 3,152
- Purraise
- 86
Seals do have short, stubby whiskers...
Kittens can be pretty clumsy--they get into scrapes and squeeze into tiny spaces so their whiskers break off; or they play with littermates and their whiskers get chewed on. Just so long as the kitten's getting a good high-quality diet, I wouldn't worry! Her whiskers should grow in properly eventually.
Is this your first cat? She'll grow out of that awkward, stumble-footed, half-grown kitten phase. When she's grown she'll be much more graceful and generally sleek-looking. You won't believe your eyes when you look back at those old kitten photos and compare them to your grown-up kitty! They lose the "I have no idea where my own paws are" tendencies by the time they're a year old--though I can't say too many of them lose all the mischief and silliness of their kitten days. They do like to pretend they're all grown up and dignified; but just like grown-up humans, they're usually still kids at heart.
Kittens can be pretty clumsy--they get into scrapes and squeeze into tiny spaces so their whiskers break off; or they play with littermates and their whiskers get chewed on. Just so long as the kitten's getting a good high-quality diet, I wouldn't worry! Her whiskers should grow in properly eventually.
Is this your first cat? She'll grow out of that awkward, stumble-footed, half-grown kitten phase. When she's grown she'll be much more graceful and generally sleek-looking. You won't believe your eyes when you look back at those old kitten photos and compare them to your grown-up kitty! They lose the "I have no idea where my own paws are" tendencies by the time they're a year old--though I can't say too many of them lose all the mischief and silliness of their kitten days. They do like to pretend they're all grown up and dignified; but just like grown-up humans, they're usually still kids at heart.
Last edited:
Some female cats chew off their kitten's whiskers which I think is the main reason kittens often have stubby whiskers without the tapered end. I have no idea why they do this!
All the pictures I've seen of seals show great big long whiskers:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/c2dedg8
Walrus whiskers are quite different:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/czybsqe
And this one will kill you with cuteness overload, but photos of kitten whiskers...
http://preview.tinyurl.com/d4qrwtb
All the pictures I've seen of seals show great big long whiskers:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/c2dedg8
Walrus whiskers are quite different:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/czybsqe
And this one will kill you with cuteness overload, but photos of kitten whiskers...
http://preview.tinyurl.com/d4qrwtb
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2006
- Messages
- 3,152
- Purraise
- 86
I think it's over-grooming. Some momma cats can be pretty picky about their kittens' cleanliness. But if it's just the whiskers, it's nothing to worry about. If they start licking the fur off, then you have to intervene, but I've never seen anything like that, only heard of it.
Oh, I did once hear that momcats may do it to stop kittens from exploring too much and getting into danger; but that doesn't sound like something you could know about a momcat because you'd need to know her internal motivations, and since cats don't speak English...
Oh, I did once hear that momcats may do it to stop kittens from exploring too much and getting into danger; but that doesn't sound like something you could know about a momcat because you'd need to know her internal motivations, and since cats don't speak English...
Kittens always have whiskers like that they will go away when they turn into an adult. ~Slikkuz
When I volunteered at a shelter, I saw one adult cat with no whiskers. Try explaining that one.
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2012
- Messages
- 1
- Purraise
- 1
As soon as my battery gets charged up, I'll try for some photos. I foster for the local humane society. I have 6 kittens I got as 4 ouncers when they were about 1 week old. The largest 3 are up to 1.2 lbs and the smaller 3 are approximately 8-10 ounces. Everyone is now healthy. 4 of the 6 have the aforementioned "seal whiskers". They don't have a mother. They don't chew on each other's faces. I have not cut them. The ones with long whiskers have very fine, thin long whiskers. The one with these short "seal" whiskers have very dense rather coarse hairs that are all the same short length. I am fairly certain this is a genetic oddity. They have shown no signs of getting any longer with age. I have been reading everyone talking about babies chewing each others whiskers off and queens over grooming their babies etc. This MAY happen sometimes, however, I am pretty sure that at least on my gang of 6, it's genetic. What they will look like as they age, I can't say, but the proportional coarseness of the whisker hairs on the short-whiskered ones is quite remarkable and IF they ever grew out long it would make for a cat with whiskers the diameter of heavy fishing line.
Odd... Please take some photos of both normal and "mutant whiskers" for us to compare and contrast between the two.
- Joined
- May 8, 2005
- Messages
- 9,234
- Purraise
- 254
One of my boys chews whiskers off the other adults.
Do you have any idea why he does that?
- Joined
- May 8, 2005
- Messages
- 9,234
- Purraise
- 254
Just over grooming them I guess. Some of my litters chew off mums whiskers too, my girls don't usually touch their kittens whiskers.
My momma cat had a litter in February of 2 and a little in August of 4 (which was my fault for being very irresponsible, but she's getting spayed in a couple weeks) All of which I still have. As kittens, they ALL had these short stubby whiskers (the August litter still do). My boys from February grew out of them at maybe 4 months, and now have crazy long whiskers.
I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, and as you said, it's most likely genetics)
I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, and as you said, it's most likely genetics)
Same as missymotus, in each of my cages of kittens there is almost always one that the others have chewed the whiskers off of, most of the time it's the smallest of the bunch but not always, maybe the most submissive? Sometimes even a few of the kittens are chewed off.
Then when they are growing bak they appear thicker and trimmed, but this grows out just fine later.
It's fairly common, at least here at my house!
Ive also noticed it happens alot more with kittens taken away from their moms too young, they chew and suck on each other.
Then when they are growing bak they appear thicker and trimmed, but this grows out just fine later.
It's fairly common, at least here at my house!
Ive also noticed it happens alot more with kittens taken away from their moms too young, they chew and suck on each other.
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2013
- Messages
- 1
- Purraise
- 10
My cat/kitten is nearly 6 months old and has really short stubby unequal length whiskers, they're thick but not extremely so. All 3 kittens in that litter had the same kind of whiskers. Even the whiskers above his eyes are short. It must be something genetic.. Although I can't seem to find much about it on the internet!
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2016
- Messages
- 1
- Purraise
- 1
So funny cause I see how old this post is but i cant help but comment. My first rescue was a normal all black short hair had fine baby whiskers and grew into a strong beautiful female, still with normal fine whiskers. I recrudesced another baby kitten at 6 weeks old and he has the coarsest thickest whiskers iv ever seen on a feline... Im thinking maybe a mix breed since he appears to be medium/ long hair at this point?
