Calling all Polydactyls!

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carolynandlatte

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I have a foster, Duchess, who is a polydactyl. She had just seen the vet before arriving to my home and the claws on her extra toes had grown into her paw pads a bit. About 1 month after her arrival, I had her old foster mom come in and trim her claws to prevent the problem again. She said they were touching the pads, so they grew fast! Duchess bit the woman. Though she was fed and given a roof over her head, Im not sure if there was a lot of trust between the two. I figured that was why she bit. Approx 1 month after that, I brought her to the vet for some possible GI issues. I asked them to trim her claws. She ended up with an e collar because she tried biting them during the manicure. :sad: This was a vet thru the shelter, so I was not familiar with them. I did not see what went on, so I cant comment on how they handled her during the trimming and if that caused her aggression???

So I need to take matter into my own hands, I guess. Im a little (well, a lot) afraid of her biting me. She does not like to be held. Just getting her on the scale for weekly weigh ins can be challenging. She is getting better, tho! Someone from the board came over and tried to help, because I figured it would take two people. Plus, My only experience trimming nails was not that difficult because Latte was very good with me. Amy got some of them, but could not get the extra toes. Since she is a black cat, its hard to see. Amy came back today to try again, but it seemed harder. I probably wasnt not as forceful holding her down as I should have been, but.....I was nervous AND I dont want to lose any trust she is starting to gain with me. Amy said it wasnt working to squeeze her pad and get the claw to pop out. Is there a trick to this?

Im worried because it seems the extra claw grows much quicker than the others. She really doesnt like me touching her paws, but especially the extra toe. I dont know if it hurts her? I probably cant just leave it be, can I? I have to deal with it?

I guess I will have to call the old foster mom back to give it a shot. I dont think it will go over well. The other alternative is to bring her to Latte's old vet. I think they would do it, but of course charge. My one experience with duchess in the car, she open mouth breathed the entire way there...and it was a 30 minute trip each way. :YMSIGH: Our old vet is only 5 minutes. At least that is not too far. Still hate to do that to her.

Any suggestions? Experience dealing with extra toes and claws???
Thanks!
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I don't have a poly, but I do have a cat who was very fractious - very sad abuse case. I started by holding her on my lap - just enough restraint that she couldn't leave - and the very second that she relaxed a tiny bit, I put her down (not let her go) and gave her a treat. Progressed to holding feet, then pressing out claws, then utting one at a time - each thing followed by a treat. It took about a month as I did these things several times a day. If she ran from me, I never pursued her. B4 I could do her claws by myself, I would have DH or a friend trim while I held her. Sometimes just a hand around her neck - palm down - is enough to stop her biting.

You are right that you must trim them. Letting them grow and pinch into the flesh will make them more sensitive and the downward spiral continue. It almost seems that you need to trim a tiny bit every few days. It seems that the quick recedes and so they can be kept shorter. Not sure if this works in polys.

She is lucky to have someone who cares like you do about her tender toes.
 
I towel my civi Snowball when I clip his claws since he tends to bite me. I just arrange the towel mainly over his head. The claws do not grow any faster than normal claws. However, they do not et worn down by normal walking and scratching and that is why they seem to be growing faster. If you Google for "toweling a cat" you will find many hits.
 
carolynandlatte said:
Amy said it wasnt working to squeeze her pad and get the claw to pop out. Is there a trick to this?
DH says he spreads the paw pad gently (otherwise claw's hidden between the toes), and then presses top and bottom of the joint to get claw to extend.

I probably cant just leave it be, can I? I have to deal with it?
yes, you can't just leave it. when Meowzi first adopted us we didn't know she was polydactyl. when we finally found the claw (she was favouring that leg, that clued us in), it had grown in a hard spiral back into the paw pad, and the wound had gotten infected. so it was off to the vet's for her, to get it trimmed. they gave her an antibiotic spray to use, and we had to change her litter. infected paw pad and using the litterbox is not a good combination. until it completely healed, we worried about it getting re-infected.
 
Hi Carolyn: I hadn't seen this post or I would have answered sooner - just rec'd. your PM.

This really is a problem. Mittsi has 23 toes and her littermate (big black panther-type named Mitts) has 28 toes - he AND his paws are HUGE. My daughter plants him in her lap and trims every one of those toes without a problem - he's a teddy bear with her. HOWEVER, Mittsi (being a tortie with "torti-tude") is the total opposite. When she was a kitten I trimmed her nails all the time but as she has gotten older, she refuses to let us do it. At one point I could wait until she was asleep - a lot of time on her back - and at that time she'll let me hold a paw and I could get one nail (probably one nail a week or so).

Now she's impossible. She is terrified at the vet's - although she and Dude travel with us in the car and don't mind that at all - but when she sees Dr. Dan and the tech she goes ballistic. I have gotten to the point where when she lays on me (as in the photo on comm.) she reaches up and actually wants me to hold her little (?) paws. I rub the pads and I think she has a bit of arthritis because if I stop, she reaches up for me to do it some more. Then I get the clippers and all hell breaks loose.

Dan has to put her (carrier and all) into the gas box and let her have a light little nap whenever he checks her and last time she had a nail almost into her pad and he trimmed them all. I asked him about giving her valium or something and he said he was afraid it would only antagonize her more.

It's a real problem with the problem kitties and I wish I had some answers for you. She's getting worse with each year and I (and Bob) could probably do it by forcing her down and really holding her but I don't want to do that either because she's just now mellowing so much.

I'll keep reading this in hopes someone else can give us both some good advice.

And Mittsi and Duchess - if you're reading this - fur Gawd's sake - CHILL OUT - we're not gonna hurt you.

Hugs,

Emmy & Dude (& Mittsi too :P )

P S Oh, I was going to post these pics to show you how her paws are:

MittsiPaw1.jpg


MittsiPaw2.jpg


And that's just her two front feet.......there are little nails between the toes also.
 
Thank you so much for the replies!

WCF-
Why didnt I know Meowzi was a polydactyl?!?!:mrgreen: I hear ya about the infection. I see how that could happen real easily. I think it was mentioned as a possibility if we were not careful by the original foster mom. I knew I couldnt just leave it be. I was just wishing outloud, I think. ;-) Thank DH for the tip. I think part of it is because she is completely black...its hard to see anything.

Emmy-
WOW! :shock: Those are some mitts on Mittsi (Im assuming thats how she got her name, duh Carolyn! ohmygod_smile :lol: ). Im sorry to hear she has such a rough time at the vet. I didnt realize they grow claws between their toes? Was this something I was suppose to learn in cat raising 101??? So, they have a claw coming out of the extra toe, and sometimes between as well?!?! Good grief! I have yet to even be able to touch her paws enough without her nipping and hissing at me to see if thats the case. When Amy was here I held her, Amy attempted the dirty deed. Maybe she will chime in with what she saw/felt.

Larry and Dian-
Thanks for the ideas and the explanation of why the claws grow quicker. Makes perfect sense to me! I am familiar with ways to restrain/contain a cat, as I had to come up with creative tactics for Latte in the beginning. Thankfully the toweling was only something I had to do on occassion.

I dont think any heavy restraint is a good idea for duchess. She is a foster and has been through A LOT in her 2yrs. I get the idea, from the moment she stepped foot in the apt that she knows it will be ok here. She has come a long way, and I do think she likes it here. BUT, she is still skittish and seems like she can go from being sweet and loving to a swat/nip monster, or feel the need to retreat/hide for extended periods of time at the drop of a hat.
Its very important to me (and for her adoption potential) to help her become more trusting of everyone. I may not be able to make it happen, but I can try. I can certainly try not to make it harder for her.

On that note- maybe what I need to do is start picking her up once/day and put her on my lap. She has no problem sitting on the arm of the chair next to me, or the backside. She just wont come onto my lap. I can give her a treat or two, which she would L O V E! Unfortunately, she became extremely overweight in her other foster home, so she is attending weight loss camp with me. Cant go bananas with the treats. One or two extra cant hurt, tho. She has gotten much better with me picking her up for weigh ins (she gets treats for those). BUT, I cant let her see me take the scale out. Just like Latte and fluids...if they see it getting prepped...zoooooooooooom, they are gone! And no, Im not interested in chasing her (or any cat). Wait it out or try again later.

I just wonder if these extra toes are normally painful for them? Or extra sensitive?

Im not at all for declawing. The shelter is against it as well. Im wondering tho, if sometimes (depending on the cat) it might be worth declawing the extra toe(s) to prevent complications physically and/or emotionally. Im just throwing it out there. I certainly have no say or ability to do that to duchess. Just curious.
 
I should add...to solve the immediate (potential) problem, her old foster mom is going to come this week with someone else from the shelter. Sadly, that will probly freak her out. :YMSIGH: She will give it another go and hope not to get bit this time.

If that doesnt work, as I try to de-sensitize and work with her a bit I will see if our old vet can do it. I trust them 100%. They may also be able to help me out and give me tips to keep working on it at home.
 
Duchess sounds just like my Abigail. Abigail seems to fight even more when more people get involved in the restraining process. I have to take her to the vet to get her claws trimmed. Somehow for them she is very docile. She is not a lap cat and will not let us hold her, although she is very sweet otherwise- and she has been here 2& 1/2 years. We are lucky that we have not had a problem with her extra toe claws growing into her paw pads and she only gets hers trimmed about every 2 months. She does use a scratching pad so I really do think that must help. And she does not mind us touching her extra toes so I don't think it is a poly thing for them to not want to be touched. I do hope your next clipping will go smoothly!
 
Those extra toes are a challenge indeed. It's interesting how fast your kitty's claws grow. They are not weight bearing paws, so don't shed naturally like regular paws. One of my polydactyls Tai, was a feral, so even trying to catch her to clip her toes would be a challenge, so don't even attempt to trim them myself. In the past, I've had to take her and her buddy Polly to the vet which starts with terror and anxiety as I corner them in a room and try to drop them into the cat carrier. Both get extremely stressed on route to the vet. Once there, they seem to get more passive and get all their toes trimmed.

Because of the cat-cage and driving stress to all, I found a vet that makes house-calls. For some reason, when the vet comes to the house and I have them confined to "their room", they tend to get more passive and put up with it. This vet holds and trims them. Quite amazing.

I think the vet and calmness of the vet makes a world of difference.
Good Luck with the many toed friends.

As an added point of interest: Ernest Hemmingway’s estate is home to a colony of polydactyl cats! See this website for some of his multi-toed residents. Maybe they will have some suggestions if you contact them!
http://www.hemingwayhome.com/HTML/our_cats.htm
 
Hi! Thanks again everyone.
I wanted to let you know that I was inspired by Just As Appy's description of getting her one cat to be held so she could eventually do the nail trimming herself. This week I have been encouraging Duchess to sit on my lap with treats. First day she sat about 5 feet from me staring for a while. Moved a little closer and stared again Apparently she was very interested in the temptations. :lol: . I put a treat on my lap and she got close, but retreated. I gave her the treat anyway (for trying!).

The next day she jumped on the chair and walked back and forth on my lap to get the treats on the arm of the chair.

The last few days she has been sitting/standing on my lap, and I let her work on digging into the treat bag to help herself. And that she does, LOL...head completely in the bag. It does take her quite a while to do this, and she is persistant. She has been purring during each of these sessions.

Yesterday she LAID on my lap for about 5 minutes! She really enjoyed the skritches, and extra treats (tho not good since she is suppose to be at weight loss camp, but whatever...). Today she has been jumping onto the chair, probably waiting to play the treat game. :mrgreen: I gave her a bag of catnip instead. She has not showed interest in catnip yet, but did today....trying to eat it , like a treat. All the while, sitting on my lap!

I do pet her a lot during these sessions. I have tried to get her to lay down, by scratching her back and gently pressing her bottom down. She resists and I dont push it. Ive also tried to just gently 'touch' her front paws (not pet, not grab...just touch). THen she nips, retreats to the end table or floor, and we start all over. Thankfully she is very forgiving.

Her last foster mom was suppose to stop by this week and try the trimming, but it didnt happen. Hopefully this weekend. I will make sure she knows to "try" and look for a nail between her toes. If she doesnt have good success then I will investigate a trip to the vet to help us manage this in the best way while I work to gain her trust.

Thanks again!!!
 
It sounds like you're doing a wonderful job. I agree with this very slow approach, to gain her trust. You go, girl :thumbup
 
Sounds like things are getting a little better for your girl, Carolyn. Mittsi will lay on my chest (at night in bed) and stretch her paws out to me and let me hold her front paws - she lays there and I very gently rub the pads on those paws - it's only when I get the clippers and grip the paws to start trimming that all hell breaks loose - and I DO mean all H_E_L_L. My petsitter (The Furry Godmother) who has done such a great job from time to time checking on them if we were unable to get home and who Mittsi and Dude both love was sure she could do it because she is also a mobile groomer. She brought a small muzzle and we got just over Mittsi's nose - She (Mittsi) let out such a wail and scream that Dude came running in from the other room and attacked all of us - something he has never done before or since - it scared him so. That was the end of that.

She (Mittsi) also uses the scratching post and I think that helps a lot - in 13 years this past year was the first time one of the nails ALMOST grew into a pad. She also chews on them a lot which seems to help keep them a little shorter.

Yep the name comes from the "mitts" - and her brother-littermate with 28 toes is named "Mitts."

good luck -keep us posted.

Emmy & Dude (& Mittsi too - give me a call, Duchess - we'll talk.)
 
Do you think her paws hurt her? I know they get snippy when something hurts.. just wondering if pain could be why she hates it SO much..?? I've heard of & seen the nails between the toes.. not sure how well that feels either. :/

If you have the other lady, or Amy come by again, have you tried really getting a good handful of scruff, and scruffing her? You can scruff her, while Amy clips all the nails real fast. That's what it took for me to clean Fiona's bottom whenever she needed it. A foster who was here also for 'fat camp' and couldn't clean herself. A tortie Maine Coon mix though, so she would nip & bite for any reason she felt like. Touching her butt was one of those reasons! :shock:

But as long as I scruffed her with one hand, and did the wiping with the other hand, she was mostly ok with it, and couldn't bite me. She seemed to tolerate it as something that needed to be done, and didn't hold anything against me after I finished. (As long as I didn't push it & do it for too long!) Wondering if you could do the same with Duchess & her nails every so often..

I think some people that don't know any different think scruffing is a bad thing (I did a long time ago) - but it can actually help calm them down in situations like that. 'Difficult' cats are put away in their condos at the shelter like that at times. If they're on a special diet or whatnot, and get put in a condo at night, some of them don't like being picked up. So the only safe way to do it is to scruff them, pick them up (w/ other hand, not scruffing.. never ok to pick an adult cat up by ONLY the scruff), and put them back in their condo. It doesn't always LOOK 'nice' - but it actually gets the job done w/o anyone getting hurt!
 
Hi Steph,
I dont know if she is in pain. She seems to be walking just fine. Its only when I touch her paws. she might just be sensitive there and not want her paws touched. It took YEARS before I could touch Latte's paws. And then it was on HER terms only (when she wanted to hold hands). I was able to play with her in a way today that makes me suspect she does have claw between her toes. Once I 'saw', I tried to get a better vantage point and then decided I preferred to keep my own fingers. :lol: It almost looked as if the one coming out of the extra toe is ok. In fact I had a hard time seeing one. But the one between (if that is what I saw) looks WAY tooooo long!

I did try to keep her on my lap today and look at it as well. Its just a no go. I cant get her in position to SEE. Again, I dont know if its because she is big, all black, squirmy??? I dont remember having such problems with Latte. She may not have liked it, but I could see everything and do it quickly.

I will consider the scruff. I hate the idea, but do understand the concept. I didnt think about going that route. :YMSIGH: Certainly would take 2 people to do it that way.

Its funny because she had NOOOOOOOO problem jumping back and forth over me in bed, rubbing against my hands or face, laying curled up in my face, dive bombing me from the piano, knocking down Latte's photos grr_red starting at 4:30 this a.m. She doesnt mind being next to me. I think she really likes it. She just doesnt want to be ON me, in my lap/arms, or touched unless she tells me its ok. She is very clear about that. Even then she can snap pretty quick.

Still no word from old foster mom about the weekend (and its almost sunday!). She is going to end up at the vet. But maybe it will be good in the end. Maybe they can help me find a way to do it by myself, or a reliable friend.
 
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