My cat bite from 3 months ago, healing question

So I posted in my moving thread a couple months ago that Cooper bit me on my thumb. He got me right at the base of the nail where it meets the cuticle. He got me quite good but the wound itself healed fine. But I'm having some problems with my nail during the growing out stage.

As the nail has grown out I could tell that it separated. It had a raised circle which had just begun to meet the end of my finger. When I was making the bed the other day I caught it and it split lifting the upper nail layers. So I had to cut off the upper separated layers of nail. So now half of my thumb just has a thin surface layer and is very uneven with a deeper indentation where the bite was. 

Has anyone had something similar happen and have any suggestions while it grows out? The tip part is very thin and flexible on the surface. It is going to take months for it to fully grow out the damaged part.

Meseline, I moved this to the Cat Lounge since it's a more general question, not specifically about cat care.

ok thanks, I wasn't sure where to post it. 

Depends on age and genetics.   I dropped a big heavy weight on one of my small toes, and the blood blister ended up destroying the nail.

Grew in weird at first half higher than the other, and part fell off, but then eventually an entire new nail was grown in and it looks good as new.   I believe it wasn't brand-spanking new looking for a good two months, but then again my nails grow fast.

You might try covering it with a heavy layer of polish?  Does that sound reasonable?

I had a toe fungus and when the fungus was killed (by soaking the foot in vinegar), the nail split and much of it fell off.  Looks fine now.

Does it look like there is an ongoing problem at the base of the nail?

See I wasn't sure if nail polish was a good idea or not because the layer of nail in one spot at the tip is very very thin. My husband actually suggest glue but said he didn't have the right kind here. Not sure about that either. Where it is growing out from the cuticle it looks smooth and healthy so I don't think it will be an ongoing issue once it fully grows out and I have a full thickness of nail on my thumb again. A little over 1/2 of my thumb is perfectly normal and wasn't injured but I have a ridge where the full nail thickness gives way to the part that cracked off and I'm worried about that catching on stuff. I don't know. Maybe I'll try a little clear nail polish at least at the ridge area to hopefully smooth it a little.  

Maybe gluing a fake fingernail on it until it's grown out would help. Sort of a prosthesis to prevent further damage .

You poor girl! I have a bad thumb nail that has fallen off 3 times in my life. The first time was when it was slammed in a door, the next time I developed an infection under the nail (40 years later) and it had to be surgically removed. Then early this year (probably March), the infection returned and I just took antibiotics for it and let it fall off on its own. It has finally grown out all the way in the last week or so. Yes, it takes a LONG time for the nail to grow out all the way. Mine grew back really weird this time - soft on one half and solid on the other half. The soft half was very sensitive and hurt for a long time.

Don't put nail polish on it and do not glue on a nail. If you want to protect it, cover it with a bandaid during the day and take it off to breath at night. It also seems to help to soak it in warm water and epsom salts to help it heal faster. It also seemed to take the sting out of it for me.

Ok I'll try those suggestions and go back to using the band aid during the day, thanks. It creeps me out a little that the the spot with the very thin nail at the tip is so flexible. Ewww

you could go get a gel overlay on it, as gel is easier to see through, and to see how its growing out versus acrylic.. this then at least protects the nail as its growing out, it will take up to 6-1 yr for it to come back normally, or your nail may be damaged for life due to the bite being right at the cuticle, where the nail grows from under the matrix.. if it never gets better just get an overlay on it to make it look esthetically pleasing

I have the same issue.

The cat next door attacked my leg as I was opening the gate, we had just moved into the house and our dog was in the way as well Anyway I got clawed all the way down my keg and two fangs into the leg just under the knee.

They wont heal. I have tried iodine, antibiotic cream, but then it flares up again. 5 months ago! with the puncture wound especially. Even the scratch mark has a thin scab but has not gone away.

I was worried about rabies as we are living in the east. Doctors are so expensive I thought cleaning the bites would be enough. But not so. 

When I lived with my parents, the youngest and partial feral cat, mistook my finger for a peice of turky and punctured the nail.   Had the same problem, the finger grew a 'temporary nail' which was soft and flexible. It took my nail falling off a couple of times before the nail became a normal looking nail that stayed.

I also when I was probably 11, that a door was opened on my foot and tore off a toenail.  Same thing.  It seemed to grow a temporary nail and then there was an extra long healing process of the nail growing then falling off.   That process took 5 years before that toe stopped shedding it nail off.     

So depending on the person and the nail, the total healing process could taken anywhere between a month or two to several years.  As long as the nail still looks healthy (not yellow or green or other abnormal colors) I would just carry on life as normal.