Whiskers broken on one side

[ziggy'smom]

One of my fosters have all his whiskers broken on one side. The whiskers on this side are all different length but all are rather short, some less than 16th of an inch. On the other side they are all normal. This is the second time his whiskers break but last time, if I remember correctly, they broke on both sides and not as short as this time.

I can't figure out what's causing it. The kitty is healthy otherwise and eats a good quality food. He's about 8 years old and he's been with me for quite a while. Does anyone have a clue what could cause all of his whiskers on one side to break off? 

 

[stephenq]

Hi,

Are there children in the home? :-)

 

[andrya]

How is the texture of his whiskers?

Two of my cats have long, lush, very soft and flexible whiskers. The Cornish Rex with the curly hair also has curly whiskers which are quite brittle. They break all the time. lt's like a person with "frizzy" hair, it's more brittle than someone with fine, straight hair. Maybe his whiskers are brittle and if he lies on them the wrong way they might snap.

 

[nycats]

My boy had broken whiskers on one side last Summer. I suspect that he got a bit too close to the little tabletop fan.

 

[skyefoxx]

Another question, do you have other cats in the home? 

I have two cats, Marlie and Abby.  A little while ago I noticed Marlie had a whole bunch of short whiskers on one side of her face and I wondered about it until the two cats were in my bed one night.  I noticed Abby will lean over and chew on Marlie's whiskers, sometimes she'll go as far as to try and pull them out.  (They're not aggressive toward each other.  They're a mother and daughter and actually get along perfectly.)  Why she's doing this, I'm not sure, but it definitely answered my question!

 

[di and bob]

He had to have had them cut off by something or maybe just lost them for some reason and they are now growing. That is strange, I've seen my cats with a few growing back, but not all! Good luck !

 

[ziggy'smom]

Thanks for all the responses. To answer the questions; no, there are no kids in the home but there are several other cats. I suspect that the whiskers are brittle for some reason. Yesterday he was laying in the couch and close to him lay two short whiskers that looked like they had broke off. It''s very odd.

Is there any illness that can cause brittle whiskers?

 

[ayeshajae]

Hey just wanted to say that this happened to me as well, my other cat took them out on accident while rough housing

Interestingly he has white whiskers but they grew back black!

 

[stephanie42]

i have three cats and we find whiskers all the time, all over the house.  i like trying to figure out who they belonged too it's not too hard; one has whiskers that are darker brown toward the root, one has grey toward the root, and one has all white whiskers.  and the one with all white whiskers has brittle whiskers - they break off quite often, and even look like they get little split ends sometimes!  i asked our vet about it years ago, and she asked if this cat (samantha) rubbed on things a lot.  the answer is YES ALL THE TIME.  anything that can have a cat face rubbed on it, samantha rubs on it.  the corner of a wall; my face; table and chair legs; other cats; knick knacks; groceries; foot stools; the scale in the bathroom; legs; surround sound speakers; shoes and boots; the edge of the litter box; my nightstand; craft supplies.... you get the idea.  the vet said that can cause them to split and break, especially if she has naturally dry or brittle whiskers.

so it's likely that there's nothing wrong with you furbaby.  if he's not showing any other symptoms of anything being wrong, just keep an eye on them to make sure they grow back.  if you see him excessively grooming his face, there may be an underlying cause and i'd say phoning the vet would be a good idea.

 

[stephenq]

I found this. http://www.thecatsite.com/t/4584/broken-whiskers

 

[tmactoth]

I got kittens with broken off whiskers: I got 2 kittens and they had very evenly broken off whiskers. They had ringworm, diagnosed by lab test. Ringworm eats thru keratin at skin level, eating thru or weakening hair shafts, making them break/fall off. Consider ringworm as a possibility when you see broken whiskers.