Young kitten losing most of his whiskers overnight?

[jmarkitell]

I had the same problem years ago with my new Orange Kitten, Thor. I later found out that my daughter, who was around 4 or 5, decided he needed a "trim". As for being cut in a straight line...with the kitten squirming and the whiskers moving, the result was identical to yours. Finally my daughter fessed up...20 years later!

Jim M.

 

[michelleg]

Hi surviver!

I wanted to add my experiences here for your consideration.
I've rescued many cats and kittens and on two occasions Cats have lost their whiskers overnight, seemingly broken right off!
After much research and consultation it was determined that Stress was most probably the underlying factor.
After a few weeks of loving care these cats regret their whiskers however one of them did lose his on another occasion when the household Stress level was high.

Now when it happens I don't feel the need to panic. I can always trace it back to significant Stress. What we may not consider stressful can have a huge effect on our animal companions but especially rescues and fostered pets.

I hope this helps. Kudos to you for caring so much Michelle

 

[michelleg]

Re-grew their whiskers not 'regret', silly autocorrect!

 

[Jacqueline Rae]

Yeah, I was just looking up this, I had got a kitten from a friend, and when I got her it looked like her whiskers were cut cause they were little stubbles, than when I pet her the rest of them fell out, now that I know the reason I feel better I didn't think it was two serious cause she's a very Happy kitten, and Gets along with all 3 of my other cats. ♡ I'm a cat lady.

Jacqueline

 

[Pebbles68]

I want to thank everyone who has responded to this question because you have helped me immensely! On Memorial Day a friend found 3 kittens (1 female and 2 males) in his basement and he brought them to me since I'm experienced with saving many kittens. They were still quite young because their ears were still curled. The kitten that appeared to be the runt almost died several times but after 24/7 care, he's doing quite well and has caught up to his siblings! He too appears to have gotten his whiskers cut overnight but now I'm suspecting that he lost them due to being malnourished prior to my taking him in. He's now a very vibrant, happy playful kitten that plays with his siblings as well as the 2 adult cats that I have. The kittens will be seeing the vet this week but I'm feeling better about it not being something serious that has caused him to lose his whiskers. My kids (ages 24, 18 and 13) and I would be lost without him (or any of our fur babies)!

 

[GizmoX]

I have a 4 month old kitty and he bites his own whiskers off and kicks them at the root with his back feet

 

[tmactoth]

This is exactly what my new kittens looked like. It looked like their whiskers were cut off with scissors and I briefly suspected my kids. However, it turned out they both had a serious case of ringworm. Ringworm eats at the keratin at skin level, weakening or eating thru the hair shaft. The face is the most common location of ringworm in kittens. So basically the ringworm made all the whiskers break off very evenly. My kittens were lab tested positive for ringworm after obtaining facial samples. So please consider ringworm as a possible cause of evenly broken off ringworm, especially in kittens.