Q: My husband and I’ve three cats. One among them I trapped after we had been going by means of house renovations. That cat has at all times been considerably feral. I had him neutered and vaccinated a number of years in the past after I took him in, however he has by no means actually warmed as much as being dealt with. Regardless of that he’s a candy cat. Consequently, his vaccines are overdue, and he not too long ago developed a badly ingrown nail on his proper entrance foot that I can see causes him ache.
What do you recommend I do to get him in to be seen since he doesn’t let me deal with him and the ache in his foot is likely to be making issues worse? He has a number of further toes, and this nail is between considered one of them and the opposite toes. He’s now about 6 years outdated. Is there any likelihood the ingrown nail would possibly merely resolve by itself and if not, what may occur?
A: That you must get this cat in to have the ingrown nail addressed, and the earlier the higher. By the point that is printed, I hope you should have discovered a technique to have achieved so by yourself. For those who trapped him as soon as, I’m certain you’ll be able to work out a technique to do it once more particularly within the confines of your private home.
Begin by limiting this cat to a small single room or perhaps a lavatory. Place a provider within the room with meals and water inside so he will get snug stepping into it. Additionally present a litter field. If that doesn’t work, overlaying him with a big towel and wrapping him as much as get him in a provider is likely to be essential.
Watch out to not get bitten since his vaccination standing will not be present and a chew wound would require reporting by a veterinarian or medical facility in addition to a quarantine for the cat. You would possibly need to ask your veterinarian for some sort of gentle sedative or anxiolytic drug for the cat, however they may not dispense it if the cat has not been seen for a while. One drug that works properly in cats is Gabapentin at a dosage of 100-200 mg to take the sting off. It’s an oral medicine that you would need to trick the cat to ingest, and also you would possibly want to cover it in his meals.
The ingrown nail is not going to seemingly resolve by itself so having it attended to is essential! Not solely do these nails get painful however they usually get contaminated, would possibly bleed every so often, and trigger lameness. Since it is a nail between further digits, you would possibly need to seek the advice of your veterinarian about eradicating that nail in its entirety to stop a recurrence later, particularly in the event you can not deal with the cat and do nail trims. This needs to be thought of as a result of these sorts of nails usually should not have the identical ground publicity as different nails and may are likely to get ingrown.
Dr. John de Jong owns and operates the Boston Cell Veterinary Clinic. He may be reached at 781-899-9994.
