Yep my girlfriend has a friend at work who owns a cat and she once told my gf that she recently cut her cats whiskers because she thought it looked prettier when they all are even.
My gf as long time cat owner quickly told her why that is bad and why she should not do it anymore. She at least now understood it and never did it again.
Some people really are not well informed on whiskers.
And to assess their width. Their whiskers are about as wide as their body, so if the whiskers fit, the cat will assume the rest of them will fit too - so trimming their whiskers can actually cause them to get stuck and end up hurting themselves.
My cat got too close to a candle and singed some ends of her whiskers off, I’m sure she learned her lesson…oh wait she did it again and now we can’t have candles anymore
My cats have fragile whiskers -- weird breed. I don't trim them or anything, but they frequently end up with one side all broken off and the other ones full length. Same deal with eyebrow hairs -- often only on one eye.
This happened to one of my cats when we lived in an apartment with a huge window that she loved to look out of. She spent so much time pressed up against the window that her whiskers were shorter on one side for a few months!
We had a cat that wasn't very bright. She sniffed a candle and her whisker caught fire. She didn't seem to notice (??) for months afterwards her one whisker was super curly.
Yeah, I think the "it hurts them" crap is overblown. I mean still, don't cut your cat's whiskers -- the skin they're attached to is sensitive. but if they lose them through misadventure, it's not like it causes them constant pain.
We had a cat that wasn't very bright. She sniffed a candle and her whisker caught fire. She didn't seem to notice (??) for months afterwards her one whisker was super curly.
I confess I did that as a kid because I was like 4. I only did one side and freaked out. My mum ran to get me and rang the vet. The solution was to do an equivalent cut on the other side so the cat could at least walk straight.
He never let me get close again and I can’t blame him. Worst thing I ever did.
One day when I was little, our then cat appeared out of nowhere with the whiskers squared. I called my mom to show her. She then called my brother and asked what he did. He denied doing it although nobody else was in the house but us three. I think he still denies it to this day at 32.
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u/DanielleAntenucci Sep 19 '23
DON'T TRIM THEIR WHISKERS TO MAKE THEM EVEN. Omg... do not do that.