splitting whiskers

[Trish]

EEK- My cat's whiskers are breaking off and splitting. I don't know if she's eating them or what but it looks .... Well- she'd look better if she had a full set of whiskers. I've never seen anything like that before. Has anyone had this problem? What to do?

[MA]

Is she an inside/outside kitty or inside only? A cat needs its whiskers to help them measure distances. Sometimes when enough whiskers break off, the cat can become disoriented for a time until they grow back. If for example, she was outside and a mouse ran by her and vanished in a hole, she would set her face against the hole, not to see the mouse, but to measure the opening. Cat's don't have collarbones, so if her whiskers fit in the opening, then so will she (theoretically)

[Trish]

Thanks, MA for your reply. She is an inside only cat. She hasn't been acting strangely or disoriented so it's not really that that I'm worried about. I worry that I'm not giving her the right food or she's missing something in her diet to make her whiskers brittle. That's what my hair dresser tells me when I complain about my hair being dry and fragile. She's eaten the same food since she was very young (she's 3) and has never had this problem before. I can live with her looking goofy as long as I know she's healthy. I'd appreciate anyone's ideas.

[kate & kobi]

Hi Trish, do you have any other cats? Someone else here recently said that if cats eat together at their food dish, they can accidentally munch on each other's whiskers.

Also, what are you feeding her and how old is she? It's probably not a bad idea to switch brands periodically (do it gradually), to make up for any deficiencies that one brand might have. You could try that anyway and see what happens!

Good luck!

[Mona Jean]

IF your cat has been eating the same food all the time, I would suspect something may be causing this. Please have her checked by the vet first for illness etc or other condition.

You can add a supplement to her food called Linatone for extra moisture and nutrition. Mona