Hurt Cat!

[Melxb]

Not a totally big thing, but my cat, Diego, hurt his paw today somewhere, somehow. He and his sister/companion Lola are outdoor/indoor cats, so we really don't know what they do during the day.
I came home from today and saw that he wasn't using his front right paw at all. I picked him up and tried to assess the damage but he almost bit me when I touched his paw. So, he's happily "bathing" on my bed and I can see dried blood on his paw. :cry:
Vet, here I come tommorow....

[April]

aww poor guy!

See if you can get a look at it later. He might have torn a nail out, which usually doesn't need vet care. My cat did that, and the blood scared me, but I called the emergency vet and they said that I didn't need to bring the kitty in

[Melxb]

This may be a stupid question April, but....if he does have a torn nail, will it grow back? Since he spend about 50% of the time outdoors, we intentionally didn't declaw him since that's one of his defense mechanisms. If it'll grow back, then I'll be happy.
He wasn't walking on it all this afternoon. He did a 3-legged shuffle into my room and I helped him onto my bed. He's been there for about 2 hours.
I'm a nervous pet owner, so I'll probably just take him to his vet tommorow anyway.

[April]

My cat's nail grew back just fine. It took a bit, but think of it as when you break your nail way down in the quick, or accidently rip it off on something. it hurts like hell, but you don't have to go in. My kitty limped around for awhile too. But if you can get in there to look, or have someone hold him so you can look, you should be able to tell right away if it's that or something else.

[Slave to the Phone]

He wasn't walking on it all this afternoon. He did a 3-legged shuffle into my room and I helped him onto my bed. He's been there for about 2 hours.

This sounds like more than a ripped claw. Is it possible that he's been hit by a car? I'm glad you are taking him to the vet tomorrow. If it were one of my cats, it would be vet tonight and thank god for plastic.

[Melxb]

This sounds like more than a ripped claw. Is it possible that he's been hit by a car? I'm glad you are taking him to the vet tomorrow. If it were one of my cats, it would be vet tonight and thank god for plastic.

Hit by a car??? :eek: Oh no! Now I'm totally getting paranoid!
I don't he was hit by a car. Then again, he may have swat at a passing car. Diego does have a thing for sharpening his claws on MY tires on occasion. :rolleyes:
Hit vet opens tommorow at 7am (his vet also takes in day boarders) so I'm gonna be there at 6:59am.
I think I just love my cats too much. If I were sick I KNOW I probably wouldn't see a doctor. But...these are my cats, ya know?

[Ratha]

You can never love your cats too much. :p

[Barefootgirl]

I agree with Ratha - you can never love your cats too much. We spent a fortune on vets' bills, trying to find out what was wrong with Higgins, we even ended up going to the Royal Veterinary College for them to look at him. The only place i drew the line was a kidney transplant for him...and it probably wouldn't have worked anyway.

I would definitely take Diego to the vet first thing in the morning. i am an over-protective cat mummy as well, and if I saw blood and difficulty walking on either of mine, he'd be straight down there.

[Dreamstalker]

My mom and I have spent a small fortune on McGriff. When he was younger he got hit and dragged by a car, needing his ear rebuilt and a tooth extracted. When he got older they found a heart murmur. After he was put on meds for that he had a few mini-strokes (and a panicked drive to Angell Memorial Animal Hospital one Christmas) until my mom's doc discovered that he was on much too high a dosage of blood thinner. We dumped that vet shortly after...he was a nice guy, but to make that kind of a mistake...? (the place we use now has a boarding facility on premises and will take McGriff if both of us are away; we felt that was important for monitoring his health issues)

Then he got urinary tract crystals. Special diet and indoors. He almost died when my stepfather was stupid and let him roam (something happened, he actually got a total blockage) ...I was able to get him to the vet in time (stepdad didn't think there was anything wrong "oh, just wait and it will fix itself." :eek:). When we picked him up (my mom was out of the country at the time), he didn't want to pay. So I did (I didn't have the money at the time, but my mom has always said that if I need to pay for anything for McGriff, she'd help cover it if I couldn't). Him: "Why do you spend so much money on this cat?" :mad:

[Cia]

Ripped out claws grow back. Munchie has ripped out the same claw twice. <shakes head> Cats!

[Melxb]

Back from the vet! It was indeed a ripped claw. The vet even pulled back the other claws and showed me which one he ripped out. I'm concered about infenction, but Diego is already walking better. Vet didn't give me any meds because he said it was sort of a normal cat injury. He said the blood probably freaked me more than anything, and he was right. :)
Just glad it wasn't anything more serious....

[irateguy]

glad to hear it:) A couple years ago Mick (my dog) was gimping around and wouldnt go up the steps he was on 2 different kinds of meds (incl a steroid I called him Steroids boy then:)) eventually he was fine though

[April]

Damn I'm good :)

Seriously, I'm glad your kitty is ok

[XCashier]

I'm glad it was only a minor injury (seems the minor injuries always bleed and/or hurt way out of proportion, don't they?) A speedy recovery to your kitty! >^..^<

[One-Fang]

Glad he's okay! It wouldn't be the blood that would freak me, it would be the refusal to use that limb.

Mind you, so used to blood now. Our vet actually gives us antibiotics to take home so that we have some on hand when Shadow gets into more fights so that we don't have to bring him in every time. Saves on vet bills. ;)