Unfortunately, I don’t have any information regarding the back story to this photograph or any detail about how it could possibly have happened. But here we have a photograph of a tabby cat in a cage on the Reddit.com website and the caption states that “this vet didn’t notice that she cut his whiskers, she just apologised and said they’ll grow back”. The person who posted the photograph said that “he keeps tilting his head as in discomfort, what’s the best option?”
Well, the best option is to simply leave things alone and let the cat grow his whiskers back. Also provide plenty of tender, loving care and reassurances because he might feel a little bit put out and disturbed by not having those all-important whiskers on one side of his face.
Whiskers are very important to a cat. I have an article about twenty facts on cats whiskers which points to the importance of this piece of feline anatomy.
RELATED: 20 facts about cat whiskers.
I am trying to imagine the circumstances under which a veterinarian might end up accidentally cutting off the whiskers of a cat on their consultation table. Perhaps they were cutting something else such as the fur on the side of the face and while doing that and without paying proper attention they cut off the whiskers on that side. We don’t see the side of the face where this veterinarian might have been applying treatment and which required the removal of fur.
I just think that it makes an interesting little story because it’s the first time I have read a report like this. It does point, to me, to negligence and carelessness.
How might this cat feel with his whiskers removed on one side? He might feel uncomfortable but will get used to it. It will take some months to regrow his whiskers to their full-size.
As he is a domestic cat, he is less dependent upon his whiskers for hunting and travelling at night. Whiskers are very sensitive and it is said that they can pick up air currents around objects that can hardly be seen. In this way they can guide themselves in very subdued light. And whiskers are used to feel the prey animal in the jaws of their mouth to know where to apply their bite to kill the animal efficiently. So having the whiskers cut off on one side will affect the efficiency of this cat’s hunting technique but as he is fully domesticated and quite possibly a full-time indoor cat it should not make any difference practically but, as mentioned, he may feel a little bit out of sorts until they grow back sufficiently.
Below are some pages on dog anatomy.