I have a 7 month old cat and he chews the whiskers off of his 2 playmates. Has anyone ever had this problem and does anyone know why he does this?
2007-01-30 08:43:49 · 4 answers · asked by ♥♥♥Wendy♥♥♥ 2 in Pets ➔ Cats
He also likes to chew my husbands beard.
2007-01-30 09:14:40 · update #1
It's a learned sign of affection. Within a litter the mother cat will sometimes chew the whiskers off of one side of the "alpha" kitten for some reason. No one has been able to figure out why she does this.
The trouble is the kitten can learn this behavior from the mom and adopt it himself -- taking to chewing the whiskers off of siblings and other cats it associates with.
He should be discouraged from doing this gently, but firmly. Cats depend on their whiskers to navigate, express emotion and gauge what spaces they can crawl into. Missing a set of whiskers will hinder these abilities and make them look -- well -- lopsided (if being done on just one side)!
2007-01-30 09:00:12 · answer #1 · answered by Andy 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, Ive never gotten a straight,valid answer as to why but when my foster cats litter were kittens, one of them chewed one of the kittens whiskers off. I was shocked and wonder where his whiskers went lol. They grew back and didnt effect him at all. It was just wierd that one day they were there, the next they were gone!
2007-01-30 09:08:19 · answer #2 · answered by mushroompumpkin 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When my two cats were formerly feril (strays) kittens, they chewed each other's whiskers off as well. As soon as I put them on premium kibble, they stopped doing that, and their whiskers grew in just fine. I think they just had a deficiency in their diet, kind of like when you hear about people who eat dirt when they lack minerals in their diet.
2007-01-30 09:04:44 · answer #3 · answered by tiredofbabysittingfools 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Maybe he's just playing with them. Ask a proffesional person like a vet.
2007-01-30 08:51:06 · answer #4 · answered by . 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋