Swollen finger after nail trimming, getting worse....

Bandit was adopted from a rescue about a month ago, and I think he may have been abused, or just a wild kitten, because he was biting a lot. This has subsided a great deal, but he was still swatting with open claws, and even playfully this was painful, and bleeding was not uncommon. I mean ME bleeding. I read a bit about nail trimming, and using a standard set of clippers and file, distracted him with food and gave him a trim. He neither showed any discomfort nor did he bleed, I picked off just the tips, about 1/4 inch, after disinfecting the clippers. A few days later he showed signs of swelling, and it has gotten to the point where I am ready to take him to the vet, if anyone knows what this is, please let me know, I have never seen this before in any of my other cats. He has one, and only one finger on his left paw that is inflamed and red, but shows no sign of infection, though it could be subcutaneous. There is no pus, bleeding, or other discharge, and his nail is actually in there, and growing back nicely. I can't figure out what it is, or if I should take him in, he doesn't seem to be irritated by it, it doesn't seem painful to him, but it LOOKS terrible and I don't want it getting worse. Please help if you have seen this before and know what to do, I'm a college student and don't have a lot of $ to take him to the vet but I will if it gets worse.

Yikes. He needs to go to the vet! That's clearly infected. Cats are very good at hiding pain. I don't know how that was caused by trimming the nails if he didn't bleed, but my guess is that you filed it a bit too much after.

Also, as a suggestion - put money aside every month for vet bills or get pet insurance. Pets do end up costing money and it's best to be prepared.

Abscesses on cats will fester under the skin and won't always be obvious right away. If that's the problem the vet will poke it so it drains and flush it, to get all the crud out.

Were you using a human nail clippers (flat) or a cat style (rounded)? If you're not careful with the human ones, the claw can actually split apart. 

Thanks for the replies, we have an appointment on Saturday to get it seen by the Vet. It actually is not noticeable in the morning, but he chews on it during the day I've noticed and by nightime it looks red and irritated, I think it may have just been a small nick I gave him from nail trimming, but between the litterbox and him licking it, it just got worse and worse. Ill post an update next week in case anyone else ever has this problem, but I REALLY tried to be careful trimming his nails, because I knew this could happen.

Doctor applied an antibiotic and gave him some medicine, a week later he was as good as new, and terrorizing the world to his fullest.

damicon said:

 
Doctor applied an antibiotic and gave him some medicine, a week later he was as good as new, and terrorizing the world to his fullest.

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Great news