Cat - Tastrophe

Yesterday I noticed the Oldest Beast Dinah the Cat limping when she was out in the back yard. When she came up onto the porch she held her right front paw curled underneath her. She licked it a few times but then seemed to give up. I picked her up and expected to find a pine needle between her toes. Instead, I found that one of her nails had curled under and grown into the toe pad!!

I wrapped her in a towel and set her on the counter under a good light. With a stray piece of rye grass still in her lip she, she patiently watched as I went to work on the nail.

It appears that as the nail grew so did the skin around it becoming calloused. It wasn't red, hot or inflamed. I used clean toenail clippers to cut the nail between the entry point and the quick.

After a bit of vocal protesting from Dinah, I backed out the nail. The hole had an awful stench but no puss and only half a drop of blood. I rinsed it twice with hydrogen peroxide. Then I proceeded to trim all of her nails to prevent this from happening again. See, she is very old and her self hygiene is not the best. She's not real active so her nails don't wear down like they used to. After lots of lovin' and a bit of lunch meat for a treat I put her in her bed to rest.

This is what was embedded in the poor girls toe. It was submerged up the the 1/4 inch line, where the color changes from clear to cloudy.

Dinah limped around the rest of the night, however, upon inspection this morning her toe appears to be fine. She is walking normally again and is back to her grouchy self.