Kind of gross, but...

I saved one of Julie's nails to take a picture. The bloody middle part is where it had started growing into the paw. Keep in mind that we clipped after the quick - this is not the whole nail, just the over-grown part. (I actually just held the nail up to my own cat's claws to make sure I wasn't exaggerating, but yes, the blood marks where the nail had been embedded into the paw.) I had thought that about a third of the ingrown part would be involved, not half of it! Horrible, painful, very much cringe-worthy.

T ended up clipping the nails to save the owners the cost of an exam and a nail trim. The poor kitty was an angel for the trimming. Didn't make a fuss in the least. Fortunately, the back claws were not like the front ones - they were long, but not even badly curved.

I soaked her feet in a chlorahexadine solution right after the trim. Her paws were bleeding, but thankfully it was controllable. The paws didn't look infected, but T and I are not doctors, so when I called the owners to let them know how things were going, I suggested that they take her to their vet. The wounds are deep in her paws and I'm sure can be easily infected.

After soaking her feet a couple of times, I placed her in a cage in the cat ward. I took her home while on my break and brought some of the chlorahexadine for the owners to use during the next few days. I also grabbed some shredded paper to use as litter, not knowing if they had a paper shredder.

I told them to keep her indoors for at least a week, soak her pads a couple times a day until they look like they are healing, preferably keep her in the bathroom with a clean floor for at least the first couple days, only shredded paper litter (hopefully she uses it), to keep an eye on the wounds for infection, and most importantly, to take her to the vet. I can trim nails and clean wounds, but I don't know how bad is bad. And I don't want to be pretending I do.

They were such a sweet couple. I think I wrote that they are an older couple, but I realized yesterday that they're really not that old - maybe 50's. So they don't get to use old as an excuse. = ) I really liked them because you could tell they had genuinely not noticed, which is horrible, but better than noticing and not caring. As soon as it was pointed out, they were trying to figure out when we could take her and get it taken care of. They were perfectly willing to pay for the trimming/cleaning, but T said not to charge, so no worries there.

And they baked me chocolate-ship cookies, which made me feel all old-fashioned/ neighborly/old-timerly.

Oh, and Julie has the most croaky, pathetic meow. It's kind of funny. They said she's always talked like that. I love cats with silly voices.

Speaking of silly meows, here's my squeaky-man-Noms resting near the ceiling. They quite like being up so high. Great vantage point. The windows are in direct view, which is an added benefit to being up so high. Actually, I think he's looking out the window in the picture.

Nails

Pet sitting has been incredibly hectic this week. The couple I am working for lives a half hour away from me, so between work and feeding my cats twice a day, I am driving more than two hours a day. Singing in the car helps. I've only almost killed myself while driving twice (not related to the singing, however).

A little grey kitty with a bright pink collar ran up to me as I got out of the car yesterday. "Oh no," I thought. " A stray cat." It's very hard for me to leave these animals on the street when they are sociable with humans. I called the woman I'm pet sitting for to ask if she'd ever seen the cat before and found out that she does indeed have a home. With the neighbors.

I got out a can of food from the car and the little girl ate it up fast. She's not starving, as I initially thought with dismay, but really likes canned food. However, the reason I'm writing about this particular cat is because when I noticed her nails, I about had a freakout. They are fully curved around and growing into her pads. Very thick and horrible looking.

When I called Snoopy's owner, she had said that the neighbors are not the most informed pet owners. But very nice. She told me to just take the cat over and ask if I could trim her nails. I immediately went over with the cat in my arms, nail clippers in my bag. They weren't home, though, so I called and left a message.

On closer inspection of the nails, I realized that I do not want to trim them. Doing so is going to make the pads bleed and I don't want her pads to get infected because I don't know how to clean them or tell the owners how to take care of them after. In my message, I told them I would love to be able to take the cat (named Julie) to a groomer or hospital to have her nails trimmed where they would be able to clean her pads properly and inform them of what to do after they've been trimmed. They are an older couple and babysit their grandkids often and I really don't want Julie's nail issue to get overlooked due to time constraints and caring for little children.

When I noticed they had been home for a couple hours, I went over to see if they had gotten my message. I was afraid they were going to think me judgmental/be defensive/not allow me to help. They were wonderful, though. I explained to them that some cats' nails grow differently and you have to trim them more. My three cats, I could probably trim them 4-6 times a year and they'd be fine. My parents' cat, you have to trim them at least every 2-3 weeks or they get thick and start to curve inwards.

I told them that at first I thought I could trim them myself but wouldn't feel comfortable doing it when they're growing into the pad. I gave them T's number for grooming but later realized that not only is she super busy right now, she doesn't usually get back to her clients right away. I let them know I could also just take her to the hospital with me tomorrow morning when I go to work.

After trying to get a hold of T to make an appointment, the woman called me back to tell me that they may ask me to take Julie with me tomorrow.

I already called to make sure I can bring Julie in tomorrow morning. I hope that her pads are not infected and that it will just involve clipping and cleaning the pads. She has got to be in pain but is super sweet and let me pick up her paws and look closely at her nails. They are seriously the worst I have ever seen. The tips of the nails are embedded in the paws, no doubt about it.

Let's hope all goes okay and that I can bring her with me tomorrow to get this taken care of.