Ophelia has no whiskers

[sadie7684]

My liitle Ophelia has lost her whiskers. In the past month or so, I have had a lot going on in my life and had to move. Jonah seemed to be a bit stressed out but Ophelia was always her usual self. I noticed a few weeks back that she was missing her whiskers. Everything. Else about her seems fine. Is this stress related? How long do they usually. Take to grow back?

[Milo's Mom]

Sadie, this is a very interesting question.
Last winter while overwintering 4 siblings, I noted that one of them, Sid, lost all of his whiskers, the other 3 still had all of theirs. Then as the winter went on I noted that 2 others had thinning whiskers. I am 100% positive that for my guys it was NOT diet related. I am totally anal about their diets from the day they come in to the day they leave the release cage and for some much longer (some of my releases still eat from their bowl on the porch).
I was worried about some sort of a bug infection, stress, EVERYTHING! I washed their bedding daily, treated them for buggies, powerwashed the entire cage in the middle of the winter on the deck. I looked at every possible scenario, talked to Rehabbers...I never came up with anything.
By the time they were ready to be released the whiskers had started growing back.
It could have possibly been the stress from being overwintered (overwintering is stressful for all involved...humans too), but the environment they were in had NOT changed since the day they came into my care, so it was not environmental stress (unless just being in the cage in the house is considered environmental stress).

I know this does not answer your question, but hopefully it will assist those who may know to hear that it's not just your squirrels. Maybe? :dono

[sadie7684]

Thanks MM! I am pretty certain that it is not diet related on my end either. I am very careful about what they eat. HHB's, Lots of veggies from Group 1, at the most 4 nuts a week and a little bit of fruit. Both Ophelia and her brother are also still drinking FV at night, anywhere from 15-30 or so cc's. And I forgot to add that Jonah still has all of his whiskers as well. She seems to be healthy with the exception of her whiskers. I guess I just want to be certain that it's nothing serious. Any help would be appreciated. :)

[sadie7684]

So...nobody else has any idea what could be causing this? The only other thing that I can think of is that after she finishes her FV, she wipes her face on the cage or the rug. I sometimes manage to clean her up but most of the time she is too fast for me!!

[Nemehoto]

Cats shed their whiskers off and on throughout their lives. Kittens shed their baby whiskers and get adult ones. Most often whiskers are usually shed one a time when they become damaged, no longer function correctly (they are a sensory organ), or "die" like hair does. Normally they are shed one or two at a time not all at once so people don't notice "a" whisker missing... but we do notice when they shed them all.

Most likely it is just a case of her shedding them all versus one or two at a time. It's unusual but not unnatural. Whiskers are shed on a regular bases.

Dogs and horses are the same as cats with their whiskers so I don't see why squirrels would be different.