Poor baby Smudge!!!!!

I got home from work late, and she didn't come running to the door like she always does. But Stumpy was at the door meowing at me, which she doesn't normally do. I found Smudge sitting on the floor on a blanket that's normally on the back of a chair, just looking at me. I was trying to figure out how she managed to get the blanket onto the ground and all rolled up when I realised she still hadn't moved (she ALWAYS runs to greet us).

So I had a closer inspection and realised she had a claw stuck in the blanket! She'd managed to get a Soft Claw which was coming off caught around a thread in the blanket. I tried to just unwind it but it was on very tight.

So I grabbed her and the blanket, put her on the kitchen bench, and got the scissors and tried to loosen the thread to get her out. I saw she actually had TWO claws stuck in the thread, and one of them was at a funny angle

It was completely twisted around, and I couldn't see a thing, so I had to cut the whole corner off the blanket to properly see what I was doing. She was just looking up at me - normally she'd be squirming like mad if I tried to hold her still, but she was just sitting really still letting me try to help - poor baby must have been in pain!!!

When I got to the really wound up claw, she started gently biting my hand and the blanket

I eventually got her free and put her down, and gave her some wet food straight away - I have no idea how long she was stuck there for. She'd managed to wrap the blanket around the table leg, so must have really struggled to get loose, but then couldn't get free because the blanket was wrapped around the table leg!

She's now limping on that leg a bit, and is sitting here holding up her paw and licking it - I don't think she wants to put any weight on it

I assume that either where the claw was wrenched around it sore, or she twisted her leg a bit when she tried to free herself.

Poor baby, I know she'll fine by tomorrow probably, but I feel SOOO bad for her just not knowing how long she was stuck there in pain for

Poor baby Smudge!!! She'll be better soon.

the poor sweetie pie! she'll be okay!

bless her heart!!!!!! i'm sure she'll feel a lot better now that you've rescued her though!!! nothing a little kitty treat and head scratch can't take care of

Awww poor Smudge!

You are a wonderful meowmy and did your very best when you got home. She will be ok and will be loving you up in no time.

Abby manages to get her claws caught occasionally too, but not to the degree that Smudge seemed to. I try to keep their claws cut short, but Abby isn't really into getting her nails cut so I have to sneak up on her when she's sleeping in a certain position and do it. However, she's onto that and sometimes they get a bit longer than I would like and that's when they get caught on things.

Seeing that she isn't able to jump well because of her sight, is there anyway you can just keep her nails trimmed down on a weekly basis instead of using the soft claws which are shed when the nail grows out?

It's just frustrating because I wanted to leave work at 6 to do an assignment, but DH wasn't ready, and finally at 7:30 he said "you might as well come and get the car and just go home, I'll be a while". GRRRR!!!!!

I'd had a bad day at work (my boss was a cow, and I was feeling pregnancy related hormonal), and really wanted to get going early, and he'd said "ok, shouldn't be long".

Then I had to walk 15 minutes to where he is with his dinner and mine which was warm by this stage (it was 2 salads), so was not in a good mood as it was.

If he had have let me know he was probably going to be late, I would have left at 6, and poor Smudgey would have spent either less time in pain, or it wouldn't have happened because I would have been home!

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

Seeing that she isn't able to jump well because of her sight, is there anyway you can just keep her nails trimmed down on a weekly basis instead of using the soft claws which are shed when the nail grows out?

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I'm considering that... she likes to climb up us which is really painful, and scratches the furniture and HATES her claws being trimmed, so this was a better solution to stop her damaging everything, because we could do it less often than trimming.

I feel sooooo bad about her getting caught, but we've been using small Soft Claws which I think are too small for them now, so I'll get medium next time, and see if they fit better (the one that was coming off didn't look like it was on properly).

If they still look ill-fitting I won't do them any more for her. The other girls have had them for ages, and never had a problem.

Poor Smudge! I am sure he was glad to see his meowmy. I have had to get my babies out of some strange situations before.

Awwww poor Smudge!

Give her some extra loving tonight. She'll be ok soon.

hope smudge is feeling better in the morning,

Aw, poor little sweetie. I hope she's forgotten all about it by tomorrow.

She seems to be doing a lot better already, she's stopped limping, and has stopped licking her paw, she's still lifting the paw up every now and again, but she's fine.

Man I felt bad for her... the poor little thing was just shaking and shaking when I first picked her up, she was just completely stressed out.

Her daddy's home now and has given her big snuggles and treats, so she's happy again

If you continue to use the SoftClaws, maybe you could look around and make sure the rest of your blankets are more tightly woven, so as not to allow a SoftClaw to penetrate...?

Give pretty Smudge a snuggle for me!

Yes, this is a new blanket we got - it was a freebie from a Fresh Step litter promotion. It's a nice blanket, but the blanket stitch around the edge is fairly loose, which is where she got stuck.

DH just called his mother who's been staying with us, and is now back home in Australia, and was telling her about it, and she said "oh yeah, she got stuck one day when we were there as well". Apparently they got home from a walk, and Smudge was attached to the blanket - her back legs were on the ground, and one of her front paws was stuck in the blanket, so she was half standing, so they had to disentangle her.

Nice of them to tell us NOW!!! Grrr!

But anyway, this blanket is going away, and the old one is going back on the couch.

aww Smudge I hope shes a lot better this morning !

Awww Smudge

I hope Smudge is feeling better today.

Aw poor baby, how sweet of Stumpy to wait at the door for you...she must have been really worried.

Glad to hear Smudge is up and around. Lucky it's just a stubbed toe. Nasty new blankie

Aw, poor Smudge. I'm glad that she's starting to feel better.

Poor wee Smudge! Glad to hear she's pretty much back to normal.