cat whiskers - Pet forum for dogs cats and humans

dogcatharmony · #1 April 5th, 2011, 10:15 AM

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.

14+kitties · #2 April 5th, 2011, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dogcatharmony

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.

Hi DCH.

I don't think cutting just the one whisker is going to harm him. If it's hurting his eye it would be a good idea. It's when they are all cut that cats lose their balance and bump into things at night. If you notice cats' whiskers they are in direct proportion to the size of the cat. A smaller cat will normally have smaller whiskers. A larger cat will normally have longer whiskers. This way they can judge a small space they are wanting to explore. If their whiskers get jammed up and squashed they know the area is small. Doesn't always stop them from exploring it (and getting stuck) but at least they know.
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.

kathryn · #3 April 5th, 2011, 10:24 AM

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..

dogcatharmony · #4 April 5th, 2011, 10:34 AM

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.

14+kitties · #5 April 5th, 2011, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dogcatharmony

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.

Luck with that my friend!!