My kitty's nails are always splitting or cracked. What causes this or why does it happen? We clip them every week so I don't know how this happens. Any reasons? Does anyone know what I can do to prevent this from happening?
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chipped and splitting nails
- Thread starter spooky
- Start Date
Do you mean they split as you trim them or do they just appear to be split?
If it's when you clip them you might need a sharper pair of clippers. At work we can always tell when the blade gets dull from the way the cat's nails look after you clip them. They tend to look split and splintered.
If they have the apperance of being cracked(I'm not sure if your kitty goes outside or not) it's common in cats who go outside to have their nails look worn. My cat who lives with my dad, Benny goes outside and his nails are always short because he uses the trees as his scratching post.
And it may even be that he's shedding his nail and the nail itself can look like it's spliting before he sheds them.
If it's when you clip them you might need a sharper pair of clippers. At work we can always tell when the blade gets dull from the way the cat's nails look after you clip them. They tend to look split and splintered.
If they have the apperance of being cracked(I'm not sure if your kitty goes outside or not) it's common in cats who go outside to have their nails look worn. My cat who lives with my dad, Benny goes outside and his nails are always short because he uses the trees as his scratching post.
And it may even be that he's shedding his nail and the nail itself can look like it's spliting before he sheds them.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #3
My kitty is an indoor kitty, so he is never outside. They are splitting before I clip them. I think that I might be because he's just shedding his nail. I didn't know that they shed their nails, so I think that thats probably the case.
Thanks!
Sarah,
I find pieces of kitty nails on the sofa frequently. Even though I clip my cat's nails, he still does the usual kitty gnawing of them. When I first saw the 'nail sheaths' (usually a flat piece shaped like the nail), I didn't know what they were. But, when I saw a large enough piece, I recognized it as part of a nail.
As long as your kitty's nails seem ok otherwise, it's probably one of those natural kitty things (the shedding that BadHabit mentioned) that makes us humans wonder what the heck is going on
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I find pieces of kitty nails on the sofa frequently. Even though I clip my cat's nails, he still does the usual kitty gnawing of them. When I first saw the 'nail sheaths' (usually a flat piece shaped like the nail), I didn't know what they were. But, when I saw a large enough piece, I recognized it as part of a nail.
As long as your kitty's nails seem ok otherwise, it's probably one of those natural kitty things (the shedding that BadHabit mentioned) that makes us humans wonder what the heck is going on
