Cracked dry paw pads

Hi all,
My kitty, Kattie has an issue with cracked paw pads. She had this issue back in October, when she was limping really bad and I took her in to the vet. Well the first vet I took her to wanted to give her metacam thinking she had arthritis even though I insisted it was her pads causing the issue. I decided to go to a cat only vet and he said that it was the pads, that seemed dry and irritated and told me to give her fish oil for a few weeks.
Her pads on her front feet have always been deformed looking because of the bad declaw she had before I got her. The toe bones though aren't giving her issues yet as I had them xrayed. Anyways, she has chronic skin allergies that are worse in the fall and spring and I'm thinking it is related. I noticed today that she was walking gingerly on her left front foot and she has been licking all her feet a little excessively as her allergies are acting up again. I started up the fish oil again but that takes a few days to start working. Is there anything I can put on topically? My vet said to be careful with topicals as it makes them go after their feet more and can aggravate or irritate the pads more.
I want to do a wait and try home remedies first as it isn't too bad yet and I started the fish oils. Plus at the moment I have no transportation as my car blew a rod in the engine and it is in the shop ($3800 fix there, gotta love fords) anyways, I feel bad as she is tender foot, and I want something to work faster than the fish oil in the mean time, but I don't want to cause more harm. Last time I put some panolog cream on the cracked pad and boy was that a mistake, she licked her foot to a bloody mess. I don't want to do that, but I read olive oil rubbed on might be soothing. Any ideas would be great. I will take her in if this doesn't resolve, but I'm going to have to count my pennies after this car repair, and the 300 I spent last week on senior dog exams, bloodwork ect.

My cats love to lick any cream that I put on my hands, so I suspect she would lick off any soothing cream you try on hers. I would be very reluctant to try creams at all. First of all you need to make absolutely certain that they can be ingested, and secondly it won't last long enough to do her any good. You would only be treating the symptoms and not the cause, so it won't go away.

Have you looked at potential sources of the allergen? If she's getting it on her pads, then it probably is something she is walking on. It could be as innocent as the laundry detergent you use (she walks across your bedding), or the food that she eats (many cats are allergic to the grains in cat food). I had a dog one time who turned out to be allergic to the wool area rug in my living room. He struggled with his allergies for years and they cleared up within a week after we got rid of that rug. We learned a lot from that experience. Now when we suspect skin allergy, we look for anything new in the house, watch where they lay, and start removing items from the house until we find the culprit.

You do realize that most vets will prescribe a steroid like prednilisone for allergy conditions? I personally have no issue with that drug, but when allergies are involved, I rather experiment with the source of the allergy and eliminate it from their lives. I really hate treating the symptoms and not the cause.

You know I have a friend who has a cat with a weird condition that does that to her one paw. I can't remember the name of it now. But I suggest you take her to a dermatologist. In the meantime, what's 100% safe is fractionally distilled, clear, 100% aloe vera liquid. you can get it at a Vitamin Shoppe or any holistic place. Just dab it on with a cotton ball. This is the safe part of the plant they remove completely any of the toxic parts and this is the healing part of it. It works great for wounds and anything like cracks and dry skin! I've used it on my sister's cat.

Thanks guys.! She has been seen for the allergies, and we have eliminated most things such as food. The vet and I think it might be environmental like certain plants blooming, cause she gets worse when people with hayfever get worse. My fiancé has been dying of allergies lately and even I have been sneezing alot. I've read that allergens are going to be severe this spring unfortunately. She goes crazy itching and scratching when it gets bad, and I notice she chews on her feet more. I'm pretty sure she might be increasing the dryness of her feet due to the over grooming. We have used steroids to help relieve her, and she just had a low dose steroid shot about a month ago, it is starting to wear off and she is getting itchy again. I hate giving her those shots and only reserve it for when she is really bad. I was thinking of giving her a bath as I have a good aloe and oatmeal shampoo safe for cats. She is easy to give baths to as well. I think I will go to the Super Supplements we have down the road and see if they have the aloe cream. She is just my defective kitty lol. She is a megacolon kitty, super allergic and can't have baytril, cause she is on the one percent of cats that react to it with dialated pupils.

NO NO! NO cream!!!! It has to be clear, liquid, fractionally distilled aloe. It's very easy to find and available at most places. Just dab it on several times a day with a cotton ball and you'll see, it's not a cure but sure works great for ANYTHING skin related. Oh she has megacolon? poor thing. Make sure your shampoo for her does not have any tea tree oil as that is essential oils and no matter what any company says, that's extremely toxic to cats. Any aromatherapist will tell you that and it's all over the web, you can just google it. and I have it listed on my site as well under toxic/unsafe. But try to go fragrance free with shampoos if you can and no chemicals.

If it was me, I would rub coconut oil on her paws and mix a fish oil tablet in her food everyday.

I'm not a vet, so take it with a grain of salt.

You just taught me something. I had no idea coconut oil was even safe for them. I looked up one product from onlynaturalpets.com that is Nutiva and it's just cold pressed extra virgin coconut oil! Thank you!

Also, if you think it's pollen, try to stop the pollen from getting in your home by 1) remove shoes at the door 2) change clothes after entering home 3) Get air filters 4) keep doors and windows closed 4) vacuum frequently.

It would help you, your fiancé, and your cat. 

Some suggestions here:

http://www.aafa.org/display.cfm?id=8&sub=16&cont=37

http://www.aafa.org/display.cfm?id=9&sub=18&cont=233

Hey Finn - if you have a trader joe's nearby, you can buy virgin coconut oil there very cheap.

Unfortunately not yet. They're building one in a town about 30 minutes from me but it's not built yet. But that's a great idea to go there, thank you! I'm sure it'll be one of those things where the store does well in that town and they'll expand here.

Oh I know the no cream deal, from my experience with the panolog cream. I know the aloe vera liquid as I've used it in the past as a remedy for my birds. I vacumn everyday as I'm a little OCD with stuff on the floor lol. We also keep our shoes outside and tend to change into lazy day clothes in the house anyways. Lately the WA weather has been sucky so I don't keep the windows or doors open, but it has been kinda windy the past few days. I also never use anything with tea tree oil in it on the pets or me. I read a while ago that it is toxic to cats, plus it makes my skin really dry. I actually use Earthbath aloe and oatmeal shampoo which is safe for cats. It has no soap in it and uses coconut cleansing agents and colloidial oatmeal. It seems to help  for a few days to control the itchies. I also soaked her paws as much as she'd let me to soften some of the callouses. I will see what else  I can do, but yea I think I might look into a dermatologist for her.

Earthbath is safe except I don't like that it contains sorbitol. Kitties with allergies could have problems with that. I haven't had to shampoo my cats yet but I use Tropiclean Allergy wipes. They work fantastic and are so easy. I even just moisten them a little first. I have to with my Maine Coon Finnegan. They poof him up like a big cotton ball, LOL.

Interesting. I know their wipes have polysorbate which is a derivative of sorbitol for the preservative, but all their shampoos use olive oil squalene for the preservative. I think biogroom uses sorbitol though, (I only know this cause I worked for a dog groomer for years anyways, the aloe and oatmeal earthbath ingredients are as follows : purified water, coconut based cleansers, colloidal oatmeal, aloe Vera, almond and vanilla essences, olive oil squalene. I should check the others though. Funny as Kattie actually enjoys baths as she likes the warm water,lol. Oscar I would never dream of bathing, I would be all scratched up. I do use wipes on my dog but never did them on the cats, but good to know.

I know that one of their products has real sorbitol, I can't remember which one, unless they've changed it since I looked at them about 2 years ago. The shampoos sound fine though. I'll have to look at that. squalene sounds like such a funny word!! LOL. SSSQQQUUUAAALLLEENE. Okay, I know I'm silly but sometimes ya gotta be!

Lol, don't even know what squalene is but it is derived from olive oil so sounds ok.

This is pretty interesting! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squalene

I just got a new cat, a buddy for my 3 year old tabby.She is about a year old and has never been adopted they tell me. So I think wow, such a sweet cat, so friendly....why is she still here. 

A gray tabby, mellow, not shy so I bought her.

Now that she is "home" all she does is lay down. She never wants to be on her feet. I looked and they are really dry and cracked. I went to get the natural litter, and a food with a lot of good fatty oil. My concern or question is WHY is she declawed if she has never been adopted and she was there all her life why remove her claws? She also puts her paw in her water dish...perhaps that is why they are chapped?

@Finnlacey can you ask your friend the name of the condition her cat had. My cat is also experiencing cracked, dry paw on only one pad.
I'd appreciate the help.

Here's the link to what she had. My friend said after one treatment she never had it again. http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_plasma_cell_pododermatitis.html

because some people love cats and their nice furniture too. Honestly if I could go back I would probably declaw. I know its cruel but have husbands drop them off at the pound hurts too.