Scraggly whiskers?

When I first brought Niko home from the shelter, his whiskers were thin and very scraggly... almost as if someone had taken a crimping iron to them (gotta love the 80s, lol). Thankfully, they're now thick, long and straight. The other day, I went to visit a friend who has a cat, and he seems to have the same issue Niko had.

I was wondering.. what causes this? Is it a sign of improper nutrition or poor heath, or is it just a random occurrence that really had no cause for concern?

Pretty sure it's caused by other cats chewing on their whiskers. The shelter where I adopted Gizmo had a room where most of the kittens were kept, and many of them had short and scraggly whiskers from the other kittens holding them down and chewing on them.

Hrm, well.. that doesn't explain Niko's case, at least, 'cause he was kept in a cage by himself for his stay at the Shelter because of health issues. And my friend's cat has been with them for over two years, and he's an 'only child'. *giggles*

Keeba's whiskers were like that when she was a kitten! We asked the vet and they said it wasn't any thing to worry about and she'd grow out of it. Sure enough, she's two years old now and she has really long smooth whiskers - not crinkly at all!

Lola had short broke off whiskers on one side when we caught her. She was malnourished, so we think it was a combination of that and maybe an encounter with a predator. Since arriving here and having nutritious regular meals, she has full whiskers now.