Has anyone had any experience with torn claw

My girl jet tore off her claw. I'm not sure when, but I noticed it sunday evening when I was clipping all my kitties claws. the claw she tore off was on her left hind paw. I hadn't realized any sooner if anything was wrong because she was just being her usual self, she was eating normally, using the litter box, and walking around hopping and jumping off of stuff normally.

When i found her sunday evening, i cleaned her paw, and tried to keep it covered by using on of my socks as a bandage. yesterday morning before work i checked on her, but at that time when i touched her paw she yelped, and i noticed she had puss. it was infected. After work i took her to the vet. and the vet told me, that she managed to completely tear off ALL nail, so all she had there was her quick...which was now exposed, and infected. He said i could leave it alone, and give her antibiotics, and hope that she doesn't get infected again, because her quick is exposed...or, she could have a procedure done, where they clip the quick off as well, and then the new nail grows out, it will grow out as the quick, with the nail over it..and he recommended this was way better for her. I went ahead with it...and she is now home..with a bright pink cast on her hind leg.

Has anyone had experience with the procedure my girl went through? how did your cat's nail grow back. What was the average time that it took for that to happen? Just some advice...So I guess I know what to expect.

Thanks.

I haven't had any experience with an infected claw. When a new claw grows in, initially it is quite thin and has a very sharp end.

How long does the cast stay on? Hard to tell what's going on inside the cast or if the antibiotics are doing the job. I'd monitor the toe end of the cast for oozing.

cocheezie said:

 
I haven't had any experience with an infected claw. When a new claw grows in, initially it is quite thin and has a very sharp end.

How long does the cast stay on? Hard to tell what's going on inside the cast or if the antibiotics are doing the job. I'd monitor the toe end of the cast for oozing.

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in Jet's case, her complete quick was exposed. Any nail that might have covered at least around the quick was gone. when you press on her toe,to expose her claw, all that came out was a quick. It was quite scary to look at, and I can't imagine how scary and painful it was for her.

The vet recommended clipping the quick as well, and when a new nail grows in, it will be like a normal claw, with the quick inside it. He said, that if i left the quick alone, and just used antibiotics, that there was a chance she might get an infection again, because her quick was exposed, and a new nail to grow around the quick takes months. but if you start over, new nail new quick, at least what is growing out has that protecting claw...but both will take months to grow back. In order to clip the quick, she was put under anesthesia, but the procedure was fairly quick.

He's given pain killers as well as antibiotics, and has instructed to leave her cast on for 1 week. and after 1 week he will take it off, and she should be fine...after the cast is taken off, it is essentially a waiting game for the claw to regrow, but she does not have any chances of having an exposed quick get infected again, as she would have if she didnt have the procedure done.

I tried to find more information about this procedure online, but I could not find anything. That's why i posted about it here...