A nugget of information for everyone, that I just learned this morning:
We all know that cats nails naturally shed, that's why they need a scratching post, to reveal the pointy new nail.
Well apparently, as cats age, their nails thicken, and it can get to the point where they stop shedding. And if you don't notice it, the nail will keep growing in a circle, until it stabs into their own paw meat. From what I read, this is extremely painful, because it just keeps digging deeper, and never stops.
You can prevent it by checking all your elderly cats nails every so often. Apparently they can become ingrown in as little as 3 months, if it's gonna happen.
Now my cat needs a vet appointment, because one of his nails did this, and it's too bad for me to safely fix. I think he'll need antibiotics.
We didn't see it because we usually only trim his front nails, not his front thumb(?) nails, or his backs. His backs are fine, but they will be getting checked going forward.
Mods, hopefully this is allowed here. I know it's mostly memes, but this is the most cat centric place I could find on Lemmy. And I certainly didn't know this before today. If I'd caught it sooner, I could've saved him some pain. Maybe someone else can save their pet the same fate.
Edit:
Cat tax:
Don't even have to be elderly, one of mine slid out of a walnut tree and one of her nails twisted and punctured a paw pad. It got infected and I didn't catch it until she was already running a fever. :(
Good point! We live in an apartment, so the most outdoors our cat gets is the balcony. But he loves it, sits in the sun.
We've tried bringing him outside many times, in different ways. He always hates it. He's a chicken. He prefers the safety of his balcony ๐คทโโ๏ธ
Yeah, of the four we have now, two are TERRIFIED of being outside. Bad experiences.