Strange Toe Bean

snorfldorf

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I've had my cat Chili for 10 years. I recently noticed that one of his toe pads is different from the others. Does anyone know what the cause might be?

The toe doesn't appear to hurt him when I touch it (he's equally obnoxious when I touch either foot), and in the year or so since I've noticed it, there hasn't been any change. It is his only pink toe pad--the rest are black. [Edited to add] He was declawed at about 18 months, before I adopted him.

I've included pictures of this strange toe pad. It took a heck of a long time to get decent pictures of it. He is a hugely overweight Maine Coon style kitty so his paws sprout fluff from every fold, and he can wiggle all 18 pounds of himself while keening loudly in a way that prevents any camera or human from focusing on his paw. :) I adore him.

Here are the pics:




And Himself, smiling for the camera.


Thanks!
 
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katluver4life

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Handsome guy! It most probably is due to his being declawed. This causes deformities in their feet.

I myself would have it looked at just to ease my mind that nothing else is happening underneath.
 
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snorfldorf

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I wondered whether it was related to the declaw. My thought was that they may have severed the very tip of it during the procedure and the crinkled part is what grew back. Nasty thing to do to a cat, but it's what allowed me to adopt him, so there was some good that came out of it.

The lady who adopted him and his brother tried to return them to the rescue, and the rescue told her that since she had declawed them (against her contract) they wouldn't be able to defend themselves at the rescue, and she would have to foster them until someone could adopt. :) AKA "You declawed our cats, you jerk, we're not going to make it convenient for you to discard them."

So when I called (sight unseen, I might add) and asked when I could visit the rescue's cats, I was directed to her house. She asked for $20 for an additional cat carrier and she'd throw in the second cat! In retrospect I seriously doubt that's what the rescue had in mind when they sent me over to visit the cats, but they both slept *on* me that night, and with me every night after that for the last 11 years, so everybody lucked out there. :)
 
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otto

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Please take your cat to the vet, the claw has probably grown back and is causing him great pain. It will have to be removed again, through surgery.

I would also suggest you put him on an arthritis supplement to help his joints and bones cope with the misalingement of his posture and walking ability he has lived with all his life.

When you say he is "obnoxious when his paws are touched", please understand that your cat probably has constant pain in his feet, and always has. You can help him by putting him on a weight reduction plan, which will reduce the load on those severed toes slightly, at least.

Cats should reduce very slowly, no more than 2 or 3 ounces a week. You can get a baby scale to monitor the weight loss.

Poor kitty, I'm glad he (and his sibling) didn't end up staying with the people who did this to him.
 
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snorfldorf

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Hi Otto,

I've considered the possibility that the claw has grown back, but as it has been 10 years since his surgery, that seems less likely to me. If it had grown back, I would expect it to continue to grow and eventually break the skin. When I noticed the strange toe pad, I manipulated that toe, the way I would do to extend a claw for clipping. The toe is smooth, and there is loose skin on the end of that toe as well as the other declawed toes, so I'm convinced that whatever is going on is stable.

It would be so great to give him back the amputated parts of his front feet. His hind feet are intact, and he gives me a huge amount of trouble when I need to clip those, as well. It's hard to know if he has chronic pain or not. So many cats who have all their claws don't like to have their feet touched or their claws extended that I can't make a distinction between his response and the response of an intact animal whose weight and gait have always been normal.

I would love to reduce his weight, but his brother and best friend eats with him, and so far I have tried several strategies unsuccessfully to have them eat different food or eat separately. He is down from his peak weight of 22 pounds as a result of the change to high protein wet food.

His brother, Star, reduced nicely when I switched them to a high protein food after Star was diagnosed with diabetes. 1-2% weight loss a week (I graphed it) until he evened out at 10 pounds. Unfortunately, Chili will eat everything in front of him and then move on, and Star grazes throughout the day and refuses to eat when Chili is separated. As a consequence of undiagnosed diabetes (which is now in remission d/t weight loss), Star now has kidney disease as well, with associated weight loss, so he needs to be free fed.

These are the difficulties of a mult-cat household. Sigh.
 
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