Growth on paw

My senior cat has a growth on the top of his paw. The vet looked at it when I took him in for his senior bloodwork. However the vet wasn't sure what it was.

The growth is hard and about half inch long and is about the width of a pencil. Only the bottom part is attached to his paw, if that makes sense.

Does anyone know what this could be, so I can ask more questions because I want to take him in for a second opinion.

If the vet doesn't know what it is, and he can see it, you should ask for a referral to a feline specialist, or just go to another vet.

I plan on taking him to another vet. I just wondered if anyone else had experienced this so I would have more questions to ask the vet other than "what is it". I like going to the vet (and doctors for humans) with written questions because I've found in the past that I forget to ask certain things while I'm there if I haven't written it down.

I thought if someone else here had experienced this then it might give me some insight into what could be causing the growth.

The growth could be anything, and anything that I would say it is would be easily identifiable to a vet. It could be an abcess, a bug bite, perhaps a cut that clumping litter got worked into? It's really difficult to say without being able to see it and without being educated enough to diagnose it. If you put your hand above it, palm down, is there heat rising up to meet your palm? If so the paw is infected and the kitty needs antibiotics.

The vet will probably ask whether the growth has changed, is it sensitive to the touch, has any fluid come out of the growth (blood, pus, etc.), is it warm to the touch, etc. I would recommend keeping a little journal if there are any changes so that you can tell the new vet when things occurred. Good luck and let us know what the vet says!

I think part of the reason my regular vet was stumped was that there is no fluid or pus, and it is not warm. There hasn't been any change that I've noticed.

To give a better description of what it looks like, it looks sort of like matted fur, except it is hard. Originally I thought it was just matted fur.

I'm hoping to get him a vet appointment in the next few days.