Infected Claw

I was clipping Bailey's nails tonight and got to one of his dew claws and the nail bed was black and pussing. I feel horrible that I have not noticed it before and have not clipped his nails in a long time, it's been several weeks. He has been eating, drinking, playing normal. I just couldn't see it until I was clipping his nails. I took him strait to the vet, and have him on clindamycin and am going to soak his foot in epsom salt to try to draw the infection out. I cant afford what the vet really wants to do which is completely remove the dew claw. I am very anti-declaw, but she thinks the nail and bone could also be infected and she doesn't want it to spread to the rest of his system. If I do have to remove the claw is it a little better that it will just be the dew claw, not one that bears weight? I am going to give the antibiotics a few days and then we will re-evaluate to see if it is improving and go from there. I really feel horrible for not noticing it when it first started, because it is obvious this is not a new infection.

Remember that cats are the masters of hiding any illness, discomfort or pain. It's not your fault., and you got him right in as soon as you saw it.

I wonder why your vet thinks the infection may spread? How long does she think the claw has been infected? Did she hazard any thoughts on how it happened?

Removing the dew claw to prevent infection spread is certainly not the same thing as declawing. I'm with you, I wouldn't even want to do that, but of course if it was necessary to prevent an infection from going systemic...but is this an emergency or do you have time to think about it? Maybe even get a second opinion? Like you, I feel this is not something I would want to decide on lightly or quickly.

Keep us posted on Bailey. And I am off to check the girls' claws now. Like your guy, my girls are overdue for a trim. I have bad finger cracks and I was waiting for them to heal before trying to trim claws. But I am going to check them all right now!

Bailey :heart3:

She didn't really say how long she thought it had been infected. But she said his nail was basically rotting in his foot. She understands that I am working on limited funds right now, which is why we are giving it a few days to start to improve. She is skeptical that the antibiotics will be able to help enough. She would like to do it tomorrow, but because I don't have the money right now we are ok to wait. She is scared of it spreading because it is right next to blood vessels and bone, and thinks it could spread to the blood stream.

Here a few pictures so you can see how bad it is.



The other dew claw for comparison

Oh my goodness, that looks like it must hurt!  I wonder if he got it caught on something and tried to pull it lose and in doing so almost pulled it out or something?  Poor baby .  But as Otto says, cats are masters of hiding things, and unless you looked closely, you wouldn't notice.

As far as removing it, if it could end up being life threatening, then that's a whole other story.  Thankfully, as you said, it's not a weight bearing part of his foot.  Let's just hope the antibiotic DOES the trick after all

I am really hoping the antibiotic kicks in soon. He will let me soak it in epsom salt and warm water. He doesn't like it but he allows it with minor complaining. I did gently pick at it some to get the crust off and let the puss out, soaking for a while let it losen up some first. He didn't complain much except one point I think it hurt because he started to bite me and then licked me instead. It looks a bit better this morning, when I went to go soak it again. There was a lot less puss, but it is very red and inflamed. We go back to the vet tomorrow to have it re looked at and see if the antibiotics are helping enough to hopefully save his claw.

Oh hun! !!!!! I really hope the soaking and the antibiotics are all that will be needed. I wonder why this would different than something like an abscess. Well, more it isn't, and the lancing, soaking, and antibiotics will do it!

Is this the new vet recommended by your former vet?

Poor Bailey! That does look nasty. What a sweet natured cat he must be to let you soak and pick it like that. That helps a lot when you're not having to fight the cat! I hope those antibiotics do kick in and beat the infection.

I wanted to reassure you that declawing the dew claw would not affect his ability to walk and isn't something to worry about. :nod: And that's coming from an avid anti-declawer. :nod:
I would probably try to get a second opinion if you can, but if a second vet says the same, I would try to save up and get it done. It is true that infection can spread into the bone and cause worse problems.
Keep doing what you are doing until then and I will pray it helps him.

LDG said:

Oh hun! !!!!! I really hope the soaking and the antibiotics are all that will be needed. I wonder why this would different than something like an abscess. Well, more it isn't, and the lancing, soaking, and antibiotics will do it!

Is this the new vet recommended by your former vet?

Click to expand...

See that's what I was thinking. She said it also looked like there was an abscess there too. She wanted to get him into surgery first thing today but I put the breaks on really quick for two reasons, one I don't want to rush into something like that, and two I don't have the money.

This is not actually the vet my former vet recommended. It was 6pm when I discovered it. It looked so bad, and smells really bad as well I didn't want to wait. I work all day today and would not be able to get him in today and I won't be able to till Wednesday night. Maybe I should bring him to the vet my former vet recommended for a recheck and second opinion Wednesday night

pushylady said:

Poor Bailey! That does look nasty. What a sweet natured cat he must be to let you soak and pick it like that. That helps a lot when you're not having to fight the cat! I hope those antibiotics do kick in and beat the infection.

Click to expand...

Yes I am lucky that he is letting me. I fill the sink with the warm water and epsom. Then I wrap his bottom half snuggly in a towel and lay him on the counter and soak his paw. He doesn't fight, just let's out pitiful sounds every once in a while.

Minka said:

I wanted to reassure you that declawing the dew claw would not affect his ability to walk and isn't something to worry about. :nod: And that's coming from an avid anti-declawer. :nod:
I would probably try to get a second opinion if you can, but if a second vet says the same, I would try to save up and get it done. It is true that infection can spread into the bone and cause worse problems.
Keep doing what you are doing until then and I will pray it helps him.

Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking. I would still imagine it would be a painful surgery if it can't be avoided.

CatNamedPanda said:

That's what I was thinking. I would still imagine it would be a painful surgery if it can't be avoided.

Click to expand...

Well, yes, but any surgery is; including spay and neuter. :nod:
As long as they put him to sleep and then give pain meds afterwards, he should be alright. He won't use it for walking, and it will have minimal effect on digging in the litter box, so I really don't think it will be something that will leave him with lasting pain. It's when you cut all the claws that they walk on that you get all the terrible problems... :c

Minka said:

Well, yes, but any surgery is; including spay and neuter. :nod:
As long as they put him to sleep and then give pain meds afterwards, he should be alright. He won't use it for walking, and it will have minimal effect on digging in the litter box, so I really don't think it will be something that will leave him with lasting pain. It's when you cut all the claws that they walk on that you get all the terrible problems... :c

Click to expand...

Thats true. I think my biggest hesitation is thinking back to when I was a kid and my parents declawed our cats. They were so miserable and sad looking afterwards. It is lucky that this infection is on the dew claw atleast. I am still hopefull it won't come to removing it though.

There is a world of difference between a complete declaw and declawing one digit for medical reasons.  I really wouldn't let your memories of your parent's cats put you of having this one claw removed if the vet says it's in her best interests.

I will if it is in his best interest, I have no problem doing it for that reason. I just feel kinda guilty for some reason. I would hate to not do it if he needs it and it cause even bigger problems.

Here he is being so good soaking his paw.

Hehe, that picture is hilarious!

Hopefully he'll recover without any surgery needed. Like everyone else said, if he needs it he needs it, but it won't come to that!

Awwww.. LOL.
You can tell he's *just* putting up with it xD

Ohhhhhhhh poor baby! Look at that face! WHAT a good boy!!!!!

Continued !!!!!

This morning Bailey's claw looked so much better. In our soaking last night all the black dead tissue that I guess was his cuticle (the bit of skin you see when you extend their claws) fell off. I am pretty sure that is a good thing. There is no more puss either. It is still red and inflamed around the nail though. I am hopeful that the rest can be cured up with continued antibiotics. We are supposed to go back to the vet today, so hopefully everything will be good and we can just continue treating it as we are.

CatNamedPanda said:

I will if it is in his best interest, I have no problem doing it for that reason. I just feel kinda guilty for some reason. I would hate to not do it if he needs it and it cause even bigger problems.

Here he is being so good soaking his paw.

IMAG0084.jpg

• catnamedpanda
• Feb 5, 2013

Click to expand...

OMG! I'm fairly sure that if I tried this I wouldn't live to tell the tale, never mind take a pic! :lol3::lol3::lol3:

Glad to hear it looks much better. for your vet visit.

AbbysMom said:

OMG! I'm fairly sure that if I tried this I wouldn't live to tell the tale, never mind take a pic! :lol3::lol3::lol3:

Glad to hear it looks much better. for your vet visit.

Click to expand...

He is great about soaking his foot, but absolutely horrible about taking his medicine. I have plenty of scratches from medicine time. :lol3: