question on licking paws

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PeterDevonMocha

PeterDevonMocha

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Our civvie twix is declawed and on her front paws she has little nubs of fur in between the areas where her nails would have been. Kinda hard to explain I guess, we call them her fur toes. But anyways, lately she has really been licking this one area almost to the point of licking off her fur. She does not do this anywhere else on her body *knock on wood* and when we took her to the vet last month for her major itching we mentioned it to the vet and showed her it, but she did not seem concerned and chalked it up to part of her OCD. Well today I was in the bathroom cleaning and I noticed on the tank lid just one small tiny drop of dried blood, very faint. Both twix and mocha jump up onto the toilet lid and then the tank lid to get to the bathroom sink where they drink from so it could be either kitty. I think it is twix just because of how licking crazy she has gotten and I was just wondering if there was anything anyone knows about that I could put on her paw area to keep her from licking it? I don't want her getting sick obviously but I can't always stop her from licking the area.
 
the first thing to come to my mind is perhaps get an x-ray of that foot when you can? declawing is actually amputation of the first knuckle if i understand correctly and sometimes things grow back, inside the paw. perhaps one is trying to grow back there and is causing her some discomfort?
 
Niko was declawed when we got him from the pound and about once a year we have one of the claws trimmed. It grows a little - not hardly enough to see -and curves inward and he does pick at it.
 
It may also be nerve damage bothering her. The nerves are cut in a declaw and the scarring of that cut nerve can leave the animal with a phantom pain/irritation in the location. (yet another reason to discourage folks from doing it whenever you can!)
 
hmm ..well twix was declawed over six years ago and this is a recent thing, say within the last month and a half. The area I am describing is not part of the toe that would have a claw in it, but in between her toes that would have claws in them. If I remember correctly the vet called it a "tuft" of fur? Its like an extra little skin chunk that is covered in her regular fur. Very hard to describe. She does not limp on it and I can rub her paws without her making a fuss. She jumps like normal and does not seem to be in any physical pain over this.
 
One of my cats is itchy and licks himself a lot. When he is raw, we put on Neosporin ointment with pain reliever and he will leave it alone -- the pain reliever slightly numbs the area. Doesn't work on fur though...
 
PeterDevonMocha said:
hmm ..well twix was declawed over six years ago and this is a recent thing, say within the last month and a half. The area I am describing is not part of the toe that would have a claw in it, but in between her toes that would have claws in them. If I remember correctly the vet called it a "tuft" of fur? Its like an extra little skin chunk that is covered in her regular fur. Very hard to describe. She does not limp on it and I can rub her paws without her making a fuss. She jumps like normal and does not seem to be in any physical pain over this.
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Could it be something like a wart? Or maybe "horned paws" (http://www.messybeast.com/horned-paws.htm)? Erik has "horned paws" or "cutaneous horn formation" on alot of his paws.
 
I have known two cats that were declawed have problems years after the declaw. During the declaw procedure sometime the vet does not remove all the bone fragments and they end up growing/getting infected. As another poster said, I would consider getting an xray of the paw.
 
Thanks everyone ... Debby, this does not look like any thing in those pictures. Twix's tuft is soft, nothing hardened on it at all. I should try to take a picture of it.
 
PeterDevonMocha said:
hmm ..well twix was declawed over six years ago and this is a recent thing, say within the last month and a half.
Click to expand...

Sometimes the nerve irritation shows up later, as can arthritis.
 
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