People who cut cats whiskers!

[Red_Dazes]

I'm still just upset about it. I saw this wonderful sweet little kitten at the pet store today... the only thing that stopped me from snatching him up and bringing him home was the level of DEATH I would have been met with from the cat ...the ferrets...and the Beau. I fear the DEATH.

But this poor kitten had had his whiskers CUT! I don't mean like trimmed because MAYBE there was something stuck in them.... I mean less than a quarter of an inch, cut down to little stubs. ALL his whiskers, not just the ones by his nose. the ones above his eyes and the ones on the side of his face.

Now I am not an expert on cats, and I don't know if cutting a cat's whiskers hurts the cat... I have heard both ways. And I KNOW they will grow back... but come one, cat's use there whiskers for balance, they use them to find there way around and to judge spaces. It's not like they are "just there for decoration" or something.

It just baffles me why someone would think it's okay to cut a cat's whiskers... but more than that... why in HELL would you want to cut the whiskers of this OH TOO CUTE kitten? just... not... right...

[Dreamstalker]

When the veterinary ophthalmologist removed McGriff's sutures, a few of his whiskers were cut just a bit. We don't think it was deliberate--his whiskers are fairly long.

From what I've observed with the fuzzball, the "stubs" are much sharper than the whiskers themselves if left alone. I know they'll grow back eventually though.

Maybe some people see whiskers the same as unwanted facial/leg hair on humans? That's the only real explanation I can come up with, anyway.

[violetyoshi]

From what I can see here, I don't believe it's a matter of animal abuse, so what can I say?

[TehShush]

... but come one, cat's use there whiskers for balance, they use them to find there way around and to judge spaces. It's not like they are "just there for decoration" or something. ...

From what I can see here, I don't believe it's a matter of animal abuse, so what can I say?

I partially disagree, as a human who lacks balance and ability to judge distances fully. While one can compensate for lack of ability to fix the problem (such as walking differently or holding a railing, when balance is the issue), it is still very difficult to deal with the problem sometimes. A house cat who has difficulty balancing and judging spaces will be in a lot of danger if it gets outside- falling from a tree or roof, losing a fight to another animal, and other such situations will pose a potentially fatal threat to any cat that is unable to function properly.

I do not, however, know the extent of these problems when whiskers are cut, so I apologize if I went a bit over the top.

[Red_Dazes]

From what I can see here, I don't believe it's a matter of animal abuse, so what can I say?

I have no way of knowing for what reason the kittens whiskers were cut. and I wasn't really trying to yell "ABUSE OF THE POOR LITTLE FUZZY" It just made me sad to see. I had a neighbor(about my age)... who was horrible to his animals when I was little, he cut ALL of his cat's whiskers just because he thought it was funny... when I was 6 he cut MY cat's whiskers off and I gave him a black eye.

And sometimes it can happen on accident. I mean if you had to trim a cat's coat and didn't notice the whiskers... yeah that's okay. But this was just so obviously ALL the whiskers... not just OOOPs one or two.

So I guess it's just something that really bothers me to see. Sometimes it might be necessary...but I think for the most part it is not.

[Dreamstalker]

I agree. I love long, full whiskers on cats--the whiskers are part of their purrsonality (sorry ).

It could be that the previous owners had a newborn and were concerned about the whiskers near the baby...but that sounds a bit silly now that I think about it.

[Cat]

My vile brother once cut the whiskers off one side of out old cat. Poor thing walk off balance til they grew back

(funny OT about that cat....when I was young...about 8, she scratced up my forehead something awful...my mom threw her down the stairs in anger...I burst into tears....because she hurt the cat! Cat was ok)

Cutting off whiskers for no reason is mean....but at least they do grow back

[Cats]

Was kitty near other young kitties? Sometimes when they playfight, they end up chewing each other's wiskers off. If all of them were evenly cut back though, then yeah, they were definately cut intentionally. Usually chewed-off whiskers are obvious (usually cause they're uneven).

And while they do go back, I think that's just messed up. I mean, imagine if someone just fucked with your inner ears for a few weeks so you couldn't have proper balance. It's not nice!


I love my kitties whiskers. One of them has all black ones, which are thinner than most cat's, and they blend in with her coat so well you can't even see them most of the time unless you're in her face. The other cat has a black and white mixed (mostly black), but since her face is black, you can only see the white ones, so it almost looks like she only has 6 whiskers!