ingrown cat claw, and what I did..

[Ginevive]

My neighbor called me up yesterday. His outdoor cat had bleeding in one of its paws. Turns out.. one of the claws was SO overgrown, that it was cutting into the pad of the foot. He told me.. that he never knew that cats' nails need to be trimmed.. and never had done it before! Yikes.. this cat was his for about 5 years now. It is actually indoor/outdoor but mostly indoor; a bit fat and spoiled..
So.. I went over with my cat nail clipper. I could not use it because it is not wide enough to go around the claw; you have to put it down over the tip, and well, the tip was inside of the pad. I knew that I had to do something, and it being Memorial Day, he could not go to the vet.I got a human nail clipper and cut the nail free (It was sooo thick.. like the width of a pencil..) It was not hard at all to remove the tip.. there was some bleeding that he stopped with a styptic (I think that's how it is spelled?)
Today, he was going to take the cat to the vet. He said that the bleeding has stopped, had stopped soon after I left, and it looks fine. I told him that yes, I will be up there in the next month or so to trim her nails, as he does not know how and I don't mind it. But yikes, was it quite n experience!

[littleindiangirl]

Wow, I always figured being outside keeps the nails trim. I've never trimmed my cats claws until this one. He gets little nubs now!

[daniel1983]

Jen to the rescue!!!!

Sounds like you did a great job on the kitty.

Our cat Miss Shadow is indoor....we rarely have to trim though...but our furnature does not last long

[Ginevive]

Thanks My cat is indoors and he does use his scratching post.. But I still trim them, because they tend to get really long and catch on things like blankets and the couch. We made his scratching post out of a 4x4 piece of wood, with thick sisal rope wound tightly around and carpeting.. just replace the rope once it is scratched too much!