Soleil is grooming Singa's whiskers and it looks bad!

x-ta-z

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Hi!
I have posted before that whatever Soleil does she does excessively!

Now she will groom Singa several times a day, which is not bad, but she grooms her whiskers so much that they have split ends and fall out or get really short. She licks and chews them. So compared to her own whiskers, Singa's whiskers are about half as long....

It looks horrible and I am sure it affects her!

What can I do???
 

yayi

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Whiskers length vary in cats. Are you sure it is Soleil who is responsible? When cat's whiskers start to break or droop it may be a health issue. Is Singa losing weight?
 

coaster

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I've read about this happening to someone else, where one of their cats chewed on another cat's whiskers. If I remember right, there's really nothing you can do. I don't think it hurts the other cat. And I'm guessing it's just a phase and that eventually it'll stop.
 

callista

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Don't hairless cats get along OK with really short whiskers?...
 

clpeters23

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That happened with my first two cats. Simon would regularly gnaw Harrison's whiskers down to the nub. Harrison didn't mind; he was used to it. I asked a couple vets at the time and they'd never heard of anything like it. After Simon passed away, Harrison's whiskers grew back and he just didn't look like himself!
 
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x-ta-z

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so you mean i shouldnt be too worried?
 

bruce&sheila

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When we first got Bruce and Sheila at 13 weeks, Bruce had really short whiskers - though when we'd seen him a week earlier, they had been of normal length. The breeder told us his mum had chewed them off!

They have now grown back normally - but of course the culprit (his mum) doesn't live with us! It didn't seem to affect him too much, so I guess if Singa is not stopping Soleil from chewing her whiskers, there's not a lot you can do!

It would be interesting to know whether this was a common behavioural trait, or a stress reaction, or what - when I asked about it a few months ago there didn't seem to be many people who had experienced it.

I hope Soleil grows out of the habit soon!

Bruce&Sheila
 

mstishtwo

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I have cats that groom each other mostly at meal time. I have never heard of anything like this. Good luck and let us know how things turn out.
 

stampit3d

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Same problem here from time to time....and I think I have finally figured out what`s happening, at least with my cats.
Toby is our alpha cat, but once in awhile Tedy will try to get aggressive and assert himself to see if he can take over Toby`s position....and then Toby will hold him down and bit off Tedy`s whiskers , usually just on one side, while he`s showing him that he is still boss and can hold him down.
The whiskers grow back after a little while and remain OK until Tedy decides to try again to take over.
Both of these cats are 3 years old this month and have been together since they were 6 months old.
We also have a year and a half old "kitten". Tawny, that has only been with us less than 3 months.....and last week he tried the same thing with Toby and got the same treatment!
I`ve noticed that when Tedy gets a growing splert (as has Tawny since he`s been with us) that that`s when they decide maybe they can "take" the Alpha position......so far Toby remains in that position, which I expect him to stay there as , even though he does`nt "LOOK" much bigger than the other 2, he weighs a lot more because of his muscle tone.
Hope this helps. (And I do know they look really funny when this happens, especially if it`s only on one side of thier face....makes um look rather lopsided for awhile.)
Linda
 
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x-ta-z

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Yes... it is quite awkwardy looking..
It is only Soleil trying to groom Signa, never the other way around.
Singa does try to stop her at times by pushing her away with her paw, but Soleil is persistant. It usually ends in some fight / play fight.

But she seems ok. Maybe a bit shy, since Soleil has been around, but maybe it's just her... as long it doesn't really affect her (like walking in circles - sorry this is what I heard would happen to cats if you cut off one side of their whiskers...)
 

lozza73

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My two kittens do this, one chews of the other's whiskers while the other chews off her eyebrows...looks really funny.
 
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