Help Please - Irritated/Raw Paws From Sidewalk Salt?

We had a big snowstorm today and we happened to catch a stray that's been around our neighborhood for awhile. We gave her a bath and noticed that her paw pads have red splotches and look pretty raw and torn up a bit. They've been salting the sidewalks like crazy so I think that's what did it.

My question is this: is there anything I can do to ease it for her? She's limping a little bit because one paw is so bad. I'm afraid to put some lotion or anything on it because I don't want to irritate it further without some guidance.

Thank you!

Keep her in where it's warm and clean - not being out in that will help a lot. Just keep an eye on her feet. If there are any cuts, you can have the vet look at them.

It's probably a combination of the ice, salt, and the rough ground.

We're keeping her inside, the rescue group I work with will be taking her in a few days to get her spayed and try to find a home for her. It's just so sad to see her so cautious with her feet.

A kitty came through the shelter here with mildly frostbitten paws - we used Panalog/Animax ointment from the vet.

That's great she let you bathe her! You can put vitamin E oil on her paws, just a thin coat. Also keeping a 50% plus humidity where she is will help help her heal and adjust to indoor climate. I always have a humidifier through the winter for Maia and me.

If you have some neosporin with pain relief handy, you can use that, to hold her over until you can get her to the vet. That works great at deadening sensation, so she will not be inclined to lick at her paws as much.

Bless you for the rescue! And thank you for doing such work.

How wonderful that you are taking care of her! Thanks to you, she's a lucky cat!

You've probably thought of this, but the surfaces she's walking and lying on should be soft, so put down old towels and blankets for her while she heals, rather than having her walk on rough carpeting or cement.....

Originally Posted by otto

If you have some neosporin with pain relief handy, you can use that, to hold her over until you can get her to the vet. That works great at deadening sensation, so she will not be inclined to lick at her paws as much.

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You're not supposed to use the kind with a pain reliever added due to how sensitive cats are to them.

The only problem with putting a ointment on her paws is everything on the floor, and her litter, will stick.

After doing some more research, I think she might have had a little bit of frostbite on her toes, so I think it's probably a good thing if she's feeling pain instead of nothing at all, it means it's healing.

Strange_wings, I was going to get that Neosporin tomorrow so I'm glad I read your post first! I wouldn't want to give her something bad, it sounded like a good idea though.

It's a commonly repeated warning on here. If you want to use the plain old original neosporin, that is safe to use on cats. You could try rubbing that into her toes a bit, but she'll still lick at them. Cats never accept that we're doing something good for them.

I still stand by just keeping them clean.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

You're not supposed to use the kind with a pain reliever added due to how sensitive cats are to them.

The only problem with putting a ointment on her paws is everything on the floor, and her litter, will stick.

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I haven't heard that before, my vet approved the use of it on my cats, saying very little if any is absorbed into the blood stream, and very little, if any, will be ingested if it is rubbed in properly, so will not adversely affect them.

But, maybe I misunderstood, now you've got me adding it to my list to question her about it again!

You make a good point about the ointment on the feet, but a cream would not leave that type of residue.

Anyway I've had a second thought about dressing the feet at all, maybe a little licking wouldn't be a bad thing after all, it may help clean out the dirt.

Originally Posted by otto

I haven't heard that before, my vet approved the use of it on my cats, saying very little if any is absorbed into the blood stream, and very little, if any, will be ingested if it is rubbed in properly, so will not adversely affect them.

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Maybe one time wouldn't do much harm. But a little here, a little there, (2-3 times a day for 3-5 days, etc) and it's just not worth the risk.

I keep both with and without pain relief around here. Someone always ends up with a scratch or cut.. usually me!

Pramoxine hcl is the topical analgesic used in neosporin with pain relief. It is also used in pet shampoos and other topical applications and rinses for dogs and cats.

for now plain old peterulum jelly aka vaseline will help.... Do you know what kind of salt? Many are Posionous and some need a vets help if ingested

I think the vitamin E oil that someone suggested was a good idea.. vitamin E is very good for skin, and would be safe if ingested.

If you cant find the actual oil, you can get the gel caps, puncture them and you got vitamin E oil.

I personally wouldnt use any kind of medicated cream/ointment without consult from a vet. I have used neosporin on myself for several years with no problems. 5 or 6 months ago I used some on a small cut, and ended up having an allergic reaction to it! My skin bubbled up and blistered, and I have a small scar still from the allergic reaction! The scar is bigger than what the original cut was!

You can try calling your vet and see if they will give you some kind of cream or ointment for the kitty's paws.

I have been talking with the lady who is taking her this weekend for the rescue group, and she is having me take her to the vet this evening to get her paws checked out (and shots and tested while there). It's nice to work with a group who really cares about the work they do

Thank you for keeping us updated! How's she doing?

Vet visit update: She is a little under 1 year old and weighs 4.6 pounds. Because she's so underweight, they won't spay her for 2 weeks until she can gain some weight. They are also going to check her paws again at that time. He said it's probably either trauma from the cold (frostbite) or an auto-immune disease. If her paws heal within those 2 weeks, she'll be fine; if they don't heal, then she has a problem. If it's frostbite it will heal completely on its own. He did find a pebble hidden in of her paw pads (the one she was limping on) and took that out. She's still limping but I hope that she'll feel better overnight with that out. Thankfully she tested negative for FeLV/FIV.

He gave me Clavamox to help with her paws since they are so raw and open to infection right now. He also said she had to have been someone's pet because she's way too friendly to be feral.