When we brought our 15-year-old cat, Mei, to the vet for her med check this past August, we’d been noticing that she had trouble jumping on and off of our bed. We didn’t really think much of it — I mean, fifteen is geriatric in cat years, so we’ve been expecting her to get a little creaky.
Imagine our surprise when the vet tech came out and showed us where one of her front claws had grown into her pad (aka toe bean). She wasn’t getting arthritic at all — her foot hurt. We felt so bad… and not just because we had to pay for a subsequent round of antibiotics so she wouldn’t pick up any nasties from walking around in her litter box with a cut on her foot.
We haven’t been quite as diligent at monitoring her claws as the vet suggested, but I did take note when I heard Mei’s claws clicking on the kitchen floor last week. Aaron picked up the unsuspecting cat and plunked her on my lap to check; sure enough, not just one but several of her front claws were overgrown. One looked like it was starting to rub, but hadn’t really broken the skin yet, but two or three were long and thick enough that she was having trouble retracting them.
I’d never seen anything quite like it. I didn’t take a picture — I had my hands full of cat — but the claws were thin and curved, like an old LP record that had been busted into thirds. Google Image Search isn’t even giving me any examples of exactly what I saw.
Luckily, a Google search by Aaron revealed some sage advice from KittyHelpDesk.com, wherein we learned that older cats’ claws tend to grow faster, and the sheaths are harder to shed. We didn’t have any pet nail clippers, but the human nail clippers worked in a pinch.
Mei was not pleased, but over the next couple of days, we managed to get all of the overgrown nail sheaths free of her front claws. (The back ones were fine.) We also ordered some cat claw clippers from Amazon, and are going to have to make a weekly habit of checking and clipping her claws. With plenty of reward treats, of course.
To close, here’s a one-minute video of me petting Mei. Consider it your daily moment of Zen.