Missing whiskers

[reuben2009]

Hi evryone! Just a quick update first, Reuben now has a new little brother who is 2 months old. They get along for short periods of time, then it seems like reubes gets a little annoyed so we are taking it one day at a time.

The real reason I am posting is that something really freaky happened last night and we can't exactly figre it out. My boyfriend ( the chins are in his room) was abruptly woken up by a HUGe boom sound and opened his eyes to see what he called a "ball of fire" shoot across the room- I know this sounds too outrageous. He stayed up for 20 minutes trying to figure it out bt didn't see any problems, they still had power. So incame over today to see the babies and Reuben had what looked like dust stuck in his whiskers and my boyfriend said he couldn't get it out so I held him and mike tried to clean I off. Reuben got close to my face and he smells like burnt hair and we realized his whiskers have been seared it looks like. The ones on the right side right near his mouth are curly at he ends... Althought he didn't loose them all. Should we be worried? Will it throw him off balance? Can he smell right?? Help!! Any advice is great!!

Happy Friday in a few hours!!! ;-)

[olivia41]

that is so freaky! i can't explain what could've happened, but i can give you some info about the whiskers haha. if somehow part of some of his whiskers were removed, they WILL grow back. its like most other parts of chinnie's bodies, it just takes a little bit of time. he may be a little off balance for a little while but he'll get used to it. his smelling should be fine as long as some of his whiskers are still there. i understand, just a worried pair of chin parents 

[chinclub]

I agree, whiskers are no big deal, but I would also check his paws and mouth for burns.  Is the cage close to an electrical outlet or power cord?

[Debbie.nl.ca]

Now that's wild, I wonder what could have happened???

Is his cage near a heater or some kind of electric source?


Yes not to worry about his whiskers, have several with very shorts ones. When they are snuggled up together the whiskers can get in the way of the chin next to them and will get chewed off.
I have one cage with 3 females in it and they sleep the same every day. Well the one who sleeps in the middle has very short whiskers all the time. She doesn't seem to mind, but just as we see them growing out a bit, they get chewed down again.

[Jo Ann]

  

Power/electric cords are a favorite of any chin that gets out or can pull one into his cage.
    Yum yum ...  ...  EEEK!   

Also ... keep in mind that water conducts electricity ... and ... urine is mostly water.  Some chins, especially males, will often spray to the outside of the cage towards the wall ... and everything on it.  Plug covers are always a good idea ... if urine is sprayed in/on them ... the electricity "follows" the water back to it's source! 

   Jo Ann