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#1
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Dirty claw or something more serious?
Well, here I am again, with yet another possible problem with my Kotyo.
I think he has decided that in order to keep me on my toes he should present me with a new problem every month. I was trimming Kotyo's claws today, for the first time in a month. I noticed that one claw has some kind of hard brownish gunk on it. It seems to be stuck to the claw, and when the claw retracts back into the claw bed, the gunk retracts with it. The claw bed itself seems a normal light pink color. Here's a pictu http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/...54349254019730 He doesn't seem to be paying special attention to that claw - no licking or biting it. He doesn't limp on that paw. However, when I tried to gently scrape at the brown stuff, he did protest and bit me very gently (just to get me to stop it). The brown stuff seems hard - almost like it's bits of old claw sheath that never flaked off. But there also seems to be some fur stuck to it, and maybe dirt... Has anyone seen anything like that on their cat's claws? The closest I could find by googling was this: http://www.pandecats.com/x/dirty-nails.shtml , but the picture of that cat's claw doesn't look exactly like Kotyo's claw, so I'm not sure if it's the same thing. It's after 5pm here and the vet offices are already closed, so I can't take him until tomorrow. I would prefer to avoid taking him, actually, because I don't want to stress him out. It's only been a month since his blood test which made him really freak out. On the other hand, if this is something serious I don't want it to get worse... Nadia (and Kotyo) -- Little Monster pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Kotyo Sweety pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Sweety Kotyo and Sweety together: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/KotyoAndSweety |
#2
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Dirty claw or something more serious?
"Nadia N." wrote It's after 5pm here and the vet offices are already closed, so I can't take him until tomorrow. I would prefer to avoid taking him, actually, because I don't want to stress him out. It's only been a month since his blood test which made him really freak out. On the other hand, if this is something serious I don't want it to get worse... Let us know what the vet says. It obviously hurts him. |
#3
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Dirty claw or something more serious?
Nadia N. wrote:
Well, here I am again, with yet another possible problem with my Kotyo. I think he has decided that in order to keep me on my toes he should present me with a new problem every month. I was trimming Kotyo's claws today, for the first time in a month. I noticed that one claw has some kind of hard brownish gunk on it. It seems to be stuck to the claw, and when the claw retracts back into the claw bed, the gunk retracts with it. The claw bed itself seems a normal light pink color. Here's a pictu http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/...54349254019730 He doesn't seem to be paying special attention to that claw - no licking or biting it. He doesn't limp on that paw. However, when I tried to gently scrape at the brown stuff, he did protest and bit me very gently (just to get me to stop it). The brown stuff seems hard - almost like it's bits of old claw sheath that never flaked off. But there also seems to be some fur stuck to it, and maybe dirt... Has anyone seen anything like that on their cat's claws? The closest I could find by googling was this: http://www.pandecats.com/x/dirty-nails.shtml , but the picture of that cat's claw doesn't look exactly like Kotyo's claw, so I'm not sure if it's the same thing. It's after 5pm here and the vet offices are already closed, so I can't take him until tomorrow. I would prefer to avoid taking him, actually, because I don't want to stress him out. It's only been a month since his blood test which made him really freak out. On the other hand, if this is something serious I don't want it to get worse... Nadia (and Kotyo) Have you tried soaking it? Perhaps you could wrap a wet wash cloth around his paw while you hold him. Might be worth a try. MLB |
#4
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Dirty claw or something more serious?
Our youngest cat has some of the exact same "gunk" on the claws on her
back feet. My thought is that there's a tendency for gunk to accumulate on the back claws since they can't scratch those nails off like they can the fronts. If you're ambitious, I suppose you can bath Kotyo to remove it like that article suggests. I've chosen to just leave it be on our girl. It doesn't bother her, hasn't gotten worse or caused any other problems. If this is a concern for you, a quick call to the vet might ease your mind. Rene |
#5
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Dirty claw or something more serious?
MLB wrote:
Have you tried soaking it? Perhaps you could wrap a wet wash cloth around his paw while you hold him. Might be worth a try. MLB I thought about it, but I don't want to mess with his paw without knowing what the problem is. I don't want to make it worse. We'll see what the vet says tomorrow. Nadia (and Kotyo) -- Little Monster pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Kotyo Sweety pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Sweety Kotyo and Sweety together: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/KotyoAndSweety |
#6
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Dirty claw or something more serious?
cybercat wrote:
"Nadia N." wrote It's after 5pm here and the vet offices are already closed, so I can't take him until tomorrow. I would prefer to avoid taking him, actually, because I don't want to stress him out. It's only been a month since his blood test which made him really freak out. On the other hand, if this is something serious I don't want it to get worse... Let us know what the vet says. It obviously hurts him. Yes, it's him pulling away when I tried to scrape at the claw that has me worried. So off to the vet we'll go. I'll report back tomorrow. If Kotyo doesn't kill me for taking him to the vet again so soon, that is :-) Nadia (and Kotyo) -- Little Monster pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Kotyo Sweety pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Sweety Kotyo and Sweety together: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/KotyoAndSweety |
#7
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Dirty claw or something more serious?
Rene wrote:
Our youngest cat has some of the exact same "gunk" on the claws on her back feet. My thought is that there's a tendency for gunk to accumulate on the back claws since they can't scratch those nails off like they can the fronts. If you're ambitious, I suppose you can bath Kotyo to remove it like that article suggests. I've chosen to just leave it be on our girl. It doesn't bother her, hasn't gotten worse or caused any other problems. If this is a concern for you, a quick call to the vet might ease your mind. Rene Thanks Rene. It makes me feel better to know that it's probably just gunk. This is on his right front claw though, not on a back claw. And he's never had anything like it in the almost 9 years I've had him. He normally takes very good care of his claws, washes them every day, chews on them and pulls off the old claw sheaths. So, for my peace of mind, we're going to the vet tomorrow, just in case. Nadia (and Kotyo) -- Little Monster pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Kotyo Sweety pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Sweety Kotyo and Sweety together: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/KotyoAndSweety |
#8
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Dirty claw or something more serious?
Suddenly, without warning, Nadia N. exclaimed (4/9/2010 11:28 AM):
Well, here I am again, with yet another possible problem with my Kotyo. I think he has decided that in order to keep me on my toes he should present me with a new problem every month. I was trimming Kotyo's claws today, for the first time in a month. I noticed that one claw has some kind of hard brownish gunk on it. It seems to be stuck to the claw, and when the claw retracts back into the claw bed, the gunk retracts with it. The claw bed itself seems a normal light pink color. Here's a pictu http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/...54349254019730 He doesn't seem to be paying special attention to that claw - no licking or biting it. He doesn't limp on that paw. However, when I tried to gently scrape at the brown stuff, he did protest and bit me very gently (just to get me to stop it). The brown stuff seems hard - almost like it's bits of old claw sheath that never flaked off. But there also seems to be some fur stuck to it, and maybe dirt... Has anyone seen anything like that on their cat's claws? The closest I could find by googling was this: http://www.pandecats.com/x/dirty-nails.shtml , but the picture of that cat's claw doesn't look exactly like Kotyo's claw, so I'm not sure if it's the same thing. It's after 5pm here and the vet offices are already closed, so I can't take him until tomorrow. I would prefer to avoid taking him, actually, because I don't want to stress him out. It's only been a month since his blood test which made him really freak out. On the other hand, if this is something serious I don't want it to get worse... Nadia (and Kotyo) Cats can get nailbed infections, but when Meep got one she spent a lot of time messing with that claw. Didn't look anything like your cat's either - nail was a funny color and nailbed was inflamed. Hopefully it's just gunk, and he's protesting 'cause it's stuck good and just hurts trying to get it off. Please let us know what the vet says. jmc |
#9
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Dirty claw or something more serious?
"Nadia N." wrote in message ... Well, here I am again, with yet another possible problem with my Kotyo. I think he has decided that in order to keep me on my toes he should present me with a new problem every month. I was trimming Kotyo's claws today, for the first time in a month. I noticed that one claw has some kind of hard brownish gunk on it. It seems to be stuck to the claw, and when the claw retracts back into the claw bed, the gunk retracts with it. The claw bed itself seems a normal light pink color. Here's a pictu http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/...54349254019730 He doesn't seem to be paying special attention to that claw - no licking or biting it. He doesn't limp on that paw. However, when I tried to gently scrape at the brown stuff, he did protest and bit me very gently (just to get me to stop it). The brown stuff seems hard - almost like it's bits of old claw sheath that never flaked off. But there also seems to be some fur stuck to it, and maybe dirt... Has anyone seen anything like that on their cat's claws? The closest I could find by googling was this: http://www.pandecats.com/x/dirty-nails.shtml , but the picture of that cat's claw doesn't look exactly like Kotyo's claw, so I'm not sure if it's the same thing. It's after 5pm here and the vet offices are already closed, so I can't take him until tomorrow. I would prefer to avoid taking him, actually, because I don't want to stress him out. It's only been a month since his blood test which made him really freak out. On the other hand, if this is something serious I don't want it to get worse... Nadia (and Kotyo) Try some peroxide on it. If it is protein based it will foam up. It will also get really clean,too. Could be dried serus fluid from an irritation that is oozing. Peroxide is painless. Just have some water near to rinse it off. Paul |
#10
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Dirty claw or something more serious? UPDATE
Paul M. Cook wrote:
Try some peroxide on it. If it is protein based it will foam up. It will also get really clean,too. Could be dried serus fluid from an irritation that is oozing. Peroxide is painless. Just have some water near to rinse it off. Paul Thanks Paul. You were spot on about the peroxide. When I took Kotyo to the vet today, he just scrubbed the claw with some gauze with peroxide on it, and the brown gunk came off. The vet said it was dead skin and that cats normally clean it off themselves when they groom their claws. Even though this turned out to be nothing, I am very glad that I took Kotyo to this vet. I have been looking for a new vet since last month, and I started asking this vet questions about his experience with CRF (Kotyo's blood tests in March showed elevated creatinine). I was very impressed with him - he said that a single blood test is not enough for a diagnosis, that we need to have blood and urine taken at the same time, check for protein in the urine, check his blood pressure... He knows about the IRIS stages of CRF. I have spent the last month reading up on CRF, what tests should be done, etc, and this vet said pretty much the same things that I have been reading about at www.felinecrf.org and the Yahoo CRF group. And, as an added bonus, he speaks English! My Spanish is good enough to deal with the vets here, but having an English-speaking vet is a big plus - it means he can read all the newest CRF research published in English as soon as it is published, and if I find some information online about a specific treatment or test, I can print it out and show it to him, and he'll be able to read it without me trying to translate it into Spanish. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted. It is so good to find a vet who really knows his stuff. With his help, I think Kotyo and I are going to have a lot of good years together, especially since we caught the kidney problems at a very early stage. Nadia (and Kotyo) -- Little Monster pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Kotyo Sweety pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Sweety Kotyo and Sweety together: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/KotyoAndSweety |
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