Ingrown thumb nail

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Pringles

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This post is regarding my Civie cat. He is 17 years old and I typically cut his nails but I must have missed his thumb nail. It appears it completely has grown through the pad!! :(. I am going to make a vet appointment for him but he HATES car rides and hates the vet more. I'm concerned because he is so old, if they will have to put him through anesthesia to cut this out? Gas is one thing but I'm concerned about the other.


Anyone else have this happen? If so, did they have to do surgery and give him/her anesthesia?? It appears the actual nail looked like it was getting ready to shed because it looks larger than normal but it's definitely through the skin and not something I can trim myself. Any info is appreciated! He doesn't seem in any pain, and it doesn't appear infected.


Thanks!
 
Do you mean the dew claw above the foot on the inside of the front leg? If it is curled around and pressing on the pad you can probably trim bits off yourself. Snip bits at a time with nail clippers (human variety) and then pull off with tweezers. However if it is truly right through the pad - well, not even sure how that would look. And if he doesn't want you to touch it, it might be better to take him to the vet, have him sedated and done quickly.
 
I'd take him to the vet and let them take care of it. No they don't use anesthesia to fix this, they just clip the nail and bandage the paw pad, you should also get an AB (Orbax maybe) and I would ask about something for the pain.

Good luck, let us know how you come out.
 
If you ask, the vet might give you some very mild tranq to calm him for the ride.
 
Senior cats are prone to this. Not sure why and it's only my own observation, but my Sadie(GA) when adopted, her claws looked like nickels, each grown into a circle and growing in the pad. I used a human nail trimmer, cut the claw in half making sure not to hit the quick, and pulled it out of each paw pad.

I didn't want her to go to the vet because she had lived there in a cage for a month before they called me to ask me to adopt her.

Tucker, who I always checked constantly, at least I thought, had one grow into his pad, this time the vet took care of it. Mild bleeding for him, Sadie's didn't bleed when I pulled all hers out.

My other seniors, I do try to check a lot, my guess is they just don't do as well on scratching posts like they did when they were younger. No idea, but it happens and I was so mad at myself for missing it on Tucker(GA).
 
I ended up cutting it with clippers in a few pieces at first, then it slid out. It was slightly in the pad and I cleaned it and put neosporin on it. Right after I cut it he was trying to pull the nail out ( I guess he thought it should be shedding off?). He really didn't seem too upset by it, luckily... I think I was more nervous. I will be monitoring him to make sure there's no infection, but at least it's out!
 
And minor home surgery succeeds!

As long as no little bit remains in the pad, it will probably heal successfully.
 
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