#1
|
||||
|
||||
cat whiskers
I was wondering if it is okay to cut a cat's whiskers? Amos has ONE whisker that is growing straight up into his eye. It has a curl to it also,so the curl let's more of the whisker touch his eye, and it is really bothering his eye. It is constantly poking him, and his eye is always wet. He walks around squint eyed. I have tried to smooth the curl out with my fingers, but it just goes "sproing" right back up into his eye. I have heard to never ever cut a whisker....so I thought I would ask here. I dont want to cause him any pain.
__________________
My personal take on cat purring: 1 cat Mono 2 cats Stereo 3+ cats......Surround sound |
#2
|
||||
|
||||
Quote:
Whiskers do fall out on occasion and a new one grows in it's place. It will be interesting to see if once you trim back that troublesome one if it comes back as kinky.
__________________
Assumptions do nothing but make an ass out of u and me. We can stick our heads in the sand for only so long before it starts choking us. Face it folks. The pet population is bad ALL OVER THE WORLD! |
#3
|
||||
|
||||
hmmmm well technically you aren't supposed to, but if it's poking him in the eye I guess you don't have a choice. I've had to cut cats whiskers before for surgeries, like facial and eye surgeries.. but the cats have all been more or less asleep when I've done it. If I were you I'd get a tiny pair of scissors or nail clippers and quickly just snip the whisker.. like a pair of manicure scissors or something so you don't come at your cats face with a giant pair of kitchen shears..
__________________
My cat is smarter than your honor student. Stop Dog Fighting ~ Neuter Mike Vick! ~ RIP Timmy ~ May 2009 - November 6th 2009 |
#4
|
||||
|
||||
thanks +14 and Kathryn. I was just going to trim it below the curl, it is one extremely long whisker. I call it his "old man" whisker, like the hair that grows out of some old men's ears.... Seeing his head is the size of a small pumpkin he has got some mean ones.
Dexter has one interesting whisker also, he has got a face full of white and ONE black whisker. And Olivia's are finally fully back, when I adopted her, someone had cut all the whiskers off her left side. So I am off to do the ninja sneak on Amos, and get that nasty whisker.
__________________
My personal take on cat purring: 1 cat Mono 2 cats Stereo 3+ cats......Surround sound |
#5
|
||||
|
||||
Quote:
__________________
Assumptions do nothing but make an ass out of u and me. We can stick our heads in the sand for only so long before it starts choking us. Face it folks. The pet population is bad ALL OVER THE WORLD! |
#6
|
||||
|
||||
I think Dexter tipped him off, Amos is MIA. Dex was sitting on my lap when I was typing.......grrrrr........so Dex got his nails cut
__________________
My personal take on cat purring: 1 cat Mono 2 cats Stereo 3+ cats......Surround sound |
#7
|
||||
|
||||
__________________
Assumptions do nothing but make an ass out of u and me. We can stick our heads in the sand for only so long before it starts choking us. Face it folks. The pet population is bad ALL OVER THE WORLD! |
#8
|
||||
|
||||
__________________
Cat maid to: Rose semi feral, a cpietra rescue, female tabby (approx 13 yrs) Jasper RIP (2001-2018) Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014) Puddles RIP (1996-2014) Snowball RIP (1991-2005) In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.-English Proverb “While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.” Stephen R. Covey |
#9
|
||||
|
||||
You'll likely have to keep clipping off this one whisker as it will likely grow the same way as before.
As far as cats without whiskers needing them to balance and bump into things at night? This is an "old wives' tale" or something. My two Devon Rexes have very short twisted whiskers, and Sphynx the same or even less so. Both these breeds are extremely athletic, and my Devons have absolutely no balance problems at all, nor do they bump into things at night. I have a railing that goes along stairs, and I used to have fits that they would fall off the railing and land way down the stairs. In 6 yrs. it's never happened (not to say it might not), but I no longer worry about it when I see them getting into their chase games and try to knock each other off the railing. Another thing about balance myths is that cats need a tail to balance. Never had problems with Manx and I had a lot of them for many years. Naturally bobbed-tailed cats, like Lynx and Bobcat, don't have a problem balancing either. The shorter body length compensates for the tail.
__________________
"We humans are indeed fortunate if we happen to be chosen to be owned by a cat." -- Anonymous |
#10
|
||||
|
||||
Wow, lots of false info out there.................
http://animals.howstuffworks.com/pets/question592.htm http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...ed.html?cat=32 http://www.inspirationline.com/Brainteaser/whiskers.htm http://www.pet-tails.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=282 http://www.pets.ca/dogs/articles/whiskers/ http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...nse-of-balance
__________________
Assumptions do nothing but make an ass out of u and me. We can stick our heads in the sand for only so long before it starts choking us. Face it folks. The pet population is bad ALL OVER THE WORLD! |
#11
|
||||
|
||||
i know, that is why I thought I would ask here first. If not it was vet visit, but I didn't want stress the big boy out. So many well seasoned cat owners, and I know if it was of great importance, I would have been told to take my cat immediately to the vet.
__________________
My personal take on cat purring: 1 cat Mono 2 cats Stereo 3+ cats......Surround sound |
#12
|
||||
|
||||
Quote:
__________________
Assumptions do nothing but make an ass out of u and me. We can stick our heads in the sand for only so long before it starts choking us. Face it folks. The pet population is bad ALL OVER THE WORLD! |
#13
|
||||
|
||||
I got the offending whisker, just cut the curl off of it. Amos is not impressed with me, I would like to trim it just a bit more, now it is still long and pointing straight up, it is now touching the bottom of the eyelid. That is still going to make him crazy, but at least now it isn't rubbing on his actual eye. He sneezed a bunch of times, I imagine me playing in his whiskers gave him a nose tickle. Then he got out his ol mean look, and I figured tickle time was over.
__________________
My personal take on cat purring: 1 cat Mono 2 cats Stereo 3+ cats......Surround sound |
#14
|
||||
|
||||
DCH, don't be shy, trim it down.
I would be more worried about him getting a scratch on his cornea than living with one shortened whisker. When I rescued one of my kitties he was being held "hostage" by a family with wild children. He was only a few weeks old and they had cut off ALL his whiskers as well as a patch of hair on his side. THEN they said, "oh and he won't use a litter box". DUH Anyway, the whiskers grew back nicely. Good Luck !
__________________
Bina Please have pets spayed and neutered, and wearing a collar with an ID tag. |
#15
|
||||
|
||||
LOL........Bina....you saw right thru me. I don't want to trim it too much. I kinda gave him a tiny human spit grooming (with my finger.....!!!) and it is sticking waaaaay out to the side now.
__________________
My personal take on cat purring: 1 cat Mono 2 cats Stereo 3+ cats......Surround sound |
#16
|
||||
|
||||
old man looks real impressed with me, eh?
__________________
My personal take on cat purring: 1 cat Mono 2 cats Stereo 3+ cats......Surround sound |
#17
|
||||
|
||||
If I were you, I'd be sleeping with one eye open tonight....
__________________
Owned by: Timber - Siberian Husky - 3 yrs old Jasper - Siberian Husky - 3 yrs old |
#18
|
||||
|
||||
I agree, if looks could kill...
__________________
Cat maid to: Rose semi feral, a cpietra rescue, female tabby (approx 13 yrs) Jasper RIP (2001-2018) Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014) Puddles RIP (1996-2014) Snowball RIP (1991-2005) In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.-English Proverb “While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.” Stephen R. Covey |
#19
|
||||
|
||||
Quote:
In that pic Amos looks like he's calling u a very bad name!
__________________
~Friendship is like a bank account. You can't continue to draw on it without making deposits~ ~Tegan 9 year old yellow lab~ ~Wilbur 9 year old LH cat~ ~Mirabelle 18 mos dsh~ ~O'Shawnnessey 18 mos dsh~ ~Darby 1 year old dsh~ ~Mindy 7 yr old shih tzu~ ~Dexter 10yr old Salmon (large goldfish) |
#20
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
Hahaha I agree with you huskymom,cats are "evil" he knows what you did haha. The look says it all. He WILL get his revenge. I always wondered what was true along the lines of cats and cutting their wiskers. Good to know. |
#21
|
||||
|
||||
Yup, he looks kind of grumpy in the latest pic....imagine cutting a whisker, how rude.
__________________
Bina Please have pets spayed and neutered, and wearing a collar with an ID tag. |
#22
|
||||
|
||||
Quote:
__________________
"We humans are indeed fortunate if we happen to be chosen to be owned by a cat." -- Anonymous |
#23
|
||||
|
||||
@ catlover2 - I am not going to negate years and years of education and learning from a ton of folks much more educated in all things cat just because one breed and one breeder says differently. I think it says the whiskers let the cats know how small the space is. It does not say it keeps the cats out of that space.
Does anyone know who is was that started that horrid act of "@"? I think it is very rude. I noticed it on FB first some time back. I'd like to knock them upside the head a bit for starting it.
__________________
Assumptions do nothing but make an ass out of u and me. We can stick our heads in the sand for only so long before it starts choking us. Face it folks. The pet population is bad ALL OVER THE WORLD! |
#24
|
||||
|
||||
Quote:
1. To keep the kittens from wandering away and 2. A social hierarchy issue.
__________________
Cat maid to: Rose semi feral, a cpietra rescue, female tabby (approx 13 yrs) Jasper RIP (2001-2018) Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014) Puddles RIP (1996-2014) Snowball RIP (1991-2005) In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.-English Proverb “While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.” Stephen R. Covey |
#25
|
||||
|
||||
i think i would have snuck up on him with nail clippers and got the offending whisker...pretty cat
__________________
The more I get to know people, the more I love my dog... There ain't no cure for stupid ...... but we should make sure we laugh and point it out to everyone else |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|