Hello!
I just came back from vacation yesterday and my 10ish year old cat is limping on her front right paw. I tried taking a look at it and didn't discover anything at first but when I would feel her leg she wouldn't react but when I went to her paw she'd pull it away. So I've taken a closer look at her paw and it looks like she has a wound of some sort above her toe pad. My mom said that her and a neighbour's cat got in a fight through our screen door earlier this week, so I'm wondering if maybe the neighbour's cat managed to scratch her or bite her through the screen? She is an indoor cat and she doesn't have front claws. I've looked up a lot of information and I don't notice any obvious swelling of her paw. She licks her paw frequently so I'm guessing she's trying to clean it, which I read is good. A lot of sites said to wait a few days to see if it clears up on its own but I'm a very paranoid person! I put some sea salt in warm water to try and press on her paw gently in case of infection but she really doesn't like me holding her paw so I'm not really sure what else to do.
I know many people will say go to the vet, and I definitely will if she gets worse or it doesn't get better soon. Unfortunately it's now the weekend so I'll either have to skip my family reunion tomorrow if she is much worse, or go in on Monday if she's still not better.
In short: she is still limping, she sleeps a lot but that is her usual behaviour, she's still eating, she still jumps up and down from things, she holds her paw up a lot of the time while sitting, she still cuddles me, kneads me (with both paws), and purrs. I'm just not sure if I'm overreacting and I should calm down...
Does anyone have any advice, comfort, or words of wisdom? Anyone gone through a similar situation? I'm just paranoid if she gets an infection or abscess which I read can be very bad and even lead to death if not treated soon.
I just came back from vacation yesterday and my 10ish year old cat is limping on her front right paw. I tried taking a look at it and didn't discover anything at first but when I would feel her leg she wouldn't react but when I went to her paw she'd pull it away. So I've taken a closer look at her paw and it looks like she has a wound of some sort above her toe pad. My mom said that her and a neighbour's cat got in a fight through our screen door earlier this week, so I'm wondering if maybe the neighbour's cat managed to scratch her or bite her through the screen? She is an indoor cat and she doesn't have front claws. I've looked up a lot of information and I don't notice any obvious swelling of her paw. She licks her paw frequently so I'm guessing she's trying to clean it, which I read is good. A lot of sites said to wait a few days to see if it clears up on its own but I'm a very paranoid person! I put some sea salt in warm water to try and press on her paw gently in case of infection but she really doesn't like me holding her paw so I'm not really sure what else to do.
I know many people will say go to the vet, and I definitely will if she gets worse or it doesn't get better soon. Unfortunately it's now the weekend so I'll either have to skip my family reunion tomorrow if she is much worse, or go in on Monday if she's still not better.
In short: she is still limping, she sleeps a lot but that is her usual behaviour, she's still eating, she still jumps up and down from things, she holds her paw up a lot of the time while sitting, she still cuddles me, kneads me (with both paws), and purrs. I'm just not sure if I'm overreacting and I should calm down...
Does anyone have any advice, comfort, or words of wisdom? Anyone gone through a similar situation? I'm just paranoid if she gets an infection or abscess which I read can be very bad and even lead to death if not treated soon.
