Cat's pad swollen & translucent

I just came home to find my cat refusing to put any weight on his hind paw. There's no visible injury, so my guess is his foot was stepped on or smashed while I was gone. His pads are swollen and hot, but what worries me is that one is almost translucent at the tip. Has anyone else seen this before? Had cats for 30 years & this is a first for me.

Is there a possibility that he had gotten in contact with a hot plate, a very hot heater or anything that could have burned that paw?

oh gosh I didn't even think of that! I was gone for the weekend so I'll have to ask the roommate. Thanks so much for the suggestion!

I'd get him to the vet ASAP as you don't want it to become infected.

Thx Stephanie. We're heading to his regular vet in the AM. It's definitely an horrific burn, blisters & all, and of course he stepped right in poo after using the litter box. The goal for tomorrow is to get it cleaned & wrapped, so it can stay poo-free!

Updated, awful pic:
Poor baby!

Question: he hasn't eaten or had water today. Should I force a few eyedroppers of water down his throat?

If you can manage to do it gently without aggravating the injury, I'd say yes.

Poor thing.

Have you soaked it in cold water?

Is there any possible way you can get him to a vet tonight? It sounds like he is in horrible pain and needs relief.

AbbysMom said:

Is there any possible way you can get him to a vet tonight? It sounds like he is in horrible pain and needs relief.

Click to expand...

I agree.

I really wouldn't put treatment off on this. 

I've got the only vet in town I trust, so we're waiting until tomorrow. He had a little pain medicine, and almost immediately ate dinner, bathed himself, and fell asleep purring.

Thanks for all the suggestions & input! I'll keep you posted.

Poor baby!! Hope the vet will be able to help!

Keep us posted!

You can try soaking it in warm water with Epsom Salt if you've got any in the house.  You can soak a cloth in the water, then apply it to the paw if he'll let you.  He definitely needs to be drinking and eating.  Water down some wet food and syringe feed him.

I would humbly suggest you leave it alone and give him water but DON'T feed him anything more til you go to the vet because not only might they need to sedate him but you want him to stay out of the litterbox as much as possible...WTH did he get burned on?

Have you seen the vet yet?

mycatwasthebest said:

 
I would humbly suggest you leave it alone and give him water but DON'T feed him anything more til you go to the vet because not only might they need to sedate him but you want him to stay out of the litterbox as much as possible.

Click to expand...

A good point about the sedation, but it's been my experience that if the vet (a good one) feels the animal has too full a tummy, they'll just wait for a bit before starting any procedures.

As for the epsom salt... I've done that for cuts, but since this is a burn, I'd be cautious about it.  It's my understanding that burns heal differently than cuts, and they actually need moisture to heal.  The salts would dry up the area, therefore making it more difficult to heal.

Thanks for the continued advice & support! Donnie is doing MUCH better now. He's been eating & drinking normally since his first dose of pain meds. He's been favoring his paw, but slowly putting more & more weight on it.

My vet is very conservative, as am I, and we opted not to traumatize him further with an exam unless it gets infected. So I've been doing a lot of foot-sniffing!

I have no idea how Donnie got injured, and probably never will. The roommate was clearly lying through her teeth - no way did he step on a cookie sheet! He also had splatter burns on his ears & forehead. So I packed up the cats & moved out the very next day.

I had to go out of town again yesterday, so I preemptively soaked Donnie's paw in Epsom salts & coconut oil. That lasted about 3 minutes! I tried to put on a baby sock to protect his foot from the litter box, but he actually growled & bit the sock. He's NEVER growled in his life, so that was a non-starter.

My niece is taking care of the babies while I'm gone, and she's on foot-sniffing duty. The word is that he's favoring his foot less & less, and he's actually hanging out in the living room rather than hiding (like he did with my roommate). The baby is on the mend!

Thank you for the update!  Glad he seems to be doing better and that you moved out from the roomie. 

glad he's doing so well...hope u are back with him soon

Splatter burns????? OMC!

I will NEVER understand people who harm animals.

Not saying it was done purposely, by if an accident happened, at least the roomie could have owned up to it!!

Glad you got out of there!!

How is he doing today?