Q: My husband and I have three cats. One of them I trapped when we were going through home renovations. That cat has always been somewhat feral. I had him neutered and vaccinated a few years ago when I took him in, but he has never really warmed up to being handled. Despite that he is a sweet cat. As a result, his vaccines are overdue, and he recently developed a badly ingrown nail on his right front foot that I can see causes him pain.
What do you suggest I do to get him in to be seen since he does not let me handle him and the pain in his foot might be making things worse? He has a few extra toes, and this nail is between one of them and the other toes. He is now about 6 years old. Is there any chance the ingrown nail might simply resolve on its own and if not, what could happen?
A: You need to get this cat in to have the ingrown nail addressed, and the sooner the better. By the time this is published, I hope you will have found a way to have done so on your own. If you trapped him once, I am sure you can figure out a way to do it again especially in the confines of your home.
Start by limiting this cat to a small single room or even a bathroom. Place a carrier in the room with food and water inside so he gets comfortable going in it. Also provide a litter box. If that doesn’t work, covering him with a large towel and wrapping him up to get him in a carrier might be necessary.
Be careful not to get bitten since his vaccination status is not current and a bite wound would require reporting by a veterinarian or medical facility as well as a quarantine for the cat. You might want to ask your veterinarian for some kind of mild sedative or anxiolytic drug for the cat, but they might not dispense it if the cat has not been seen for some time. One drug that works well in cats is Gabapentin at a dosage of 100-200 mg to take the edge off. It is an oral medication that you would have to trick the cat to ingest, and you might need to hide it in his food.
The ingrown nail will not likely resolve on its own so having it attended to is important! Not only do these nails get painful but they often get infected, might bleed from time to time, and cause lameness. Since this is a nail between extra digits, you might want to consult your veterinarian about removing that nail in its entirety to prevent a recurrence later, especially if you cannot handle the cat and do nail trims. This should be considered because these kinds of nails typically do not have the same floor exposure as other nails and can tend to get ingrown.
Dr. John de Jong owns and operates the Boston Mobile Veterinary Clinic. He can be reached at 781-899-9994.
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