When we brought Luna home we discovered she had a deformed dew claw. At the time, wasn't a huge concern since we brought her to our vet regularly for them to clip her claws on a regular basis.
When she was about to be spayed, we had a discussion if it might be appropriate to remove this claw while she was already under anesthesia to avoid future problems. The vet, at that time, still thought we were responsible enough owners to continue bringing her there to have them take care of it so she said why incur the extra cost?
Well who knew we'd eventually have this terrible pandemic, which prevented us from getting to see the vet for the dew claw trimming? The vets office stopped seeing patients for more routine care for the last few months, they only were seeing them for more emergency type visits or for upcoming needed vaccinations, etc. We were trimming Luna's claws ourselves during this time period but we never were able to get a clipper under and around the dew claw - it grows backward and curls around into her skin area and she's not the best at being clipped in the best of circumstances. So, we did what we could but clearly it wasn't enough.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago when Luna had a passing illness so the vet had to see her; fever, loose stools, and poor appetite. She discovered on that exam that the dew claw had now grown into her and had some pus underneath it. She was able to clean it out but not cut it back since it was now literally inside her. Put her on an antibiotic and told us that yea, surgery was the best thing now and she felt awful that she hadn't gone ahead and done it during her spay surgery. But again, pandemic couldn't have been foreseen.
She is talking to the office manager about a discount at least for the surgery which does help. But I'm more interested in knowing about the recovery of this kind of procedure. Obviously she'll have to wear an E-collar for a couple of weeks (perhaps a little less) and from what I'm reading it's certainly painful for the first few days. But I'm also seeing that many vets recommend changing the litter to paper or crystal type to help avoid potential infections - which I can't even fathom working here since we have 2 cats and the other one is very set in her ways and it isn't like we can prevent Luna from using another box with her normal litter in it. And how are we going to limit her from using the stairs? Running around? Jumping up? She just barely turned a year old and pretty much still a kitten. Let alone wearing that E-collar!
So, looking for anyone that has had to have this procedure done for their cat and hear experiences. I am NOT looking to discuss declawing! Or talk to anyone that declawed their cat. I am completely anti-declaw. The dew claw of domestic cats is more or less vestigial (I'm aware in wild felines it serves a purpose). I would prefer that she did NOT have to have it removed but it IS deformed and IS causing her discomfort and IS now grown inside her and may be the cause of why she was ill when we brought her in the other week.
When she was about to be spayed, we had a discussion if it might be appropriate to remove this claw while she was already under anesthesia to avoid future problems. The vet, at that time, still thought we were responsible enough owners to continue bringing her there to have them take care of it so she said why incur the extra cost?
Well who knew we'd eventually have this terrible pandemic, which prevented us from getting to see the vet for the dew claw trimming? The vets office stopped seeing patients for more routine care for the last few months, they only were seeing them for more emergency type visits or for upcoming needed vaccinations, etc. We were trimming Luna's claws ourselves during this time period but we never were able to get a clipper under and around the dew claw - it grows backward and curls around into her skin area and she's not the best at being clipped in the best of circumstances. So, we did what we could but clearly it wasn't enough.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago when Luna had a passing illness so the vet had to see her; fever, loose stools, and poor appetite. She discovered on that exam that the dew claw had now grown into her and had some pus underneath it. She was able to clean it out but not cut it back since it was now literally inside her. Put her on an antibiotic and told us that yea, surgery was the best thing now and she felt awful that she hadn't gone ahead and done it during her spay surgery. But again, pandemic couldn't have been foreseen.
She is talking to the office manager about a discount at least for the surgery which does help. But I'm more interested in knowing about the recovery of this kind of procedure. Obviously she'll have to wear an E-collar for a couple of weeks (perhaps a little less) and from what I'm reading it's certainly painful for the first few days. But I'm also seeing that many vets recommend changing the litter to paper or crystal type to help avoid potential infections - which I can't even fathom working here since we have 2 cats and the other one is very set in her ways and it isn't like we can prevent Luna from using another box with her normal litter in it. And how are we going to limit her from using the stairs? Running around? Jumping up? She just barely turned a year old and pretty much still a kitten. Let alone wearing that E-collar!
So, looking for anyone that has had to have this procedure done for their cat and hear experiences. I am NOT looking to discuss declawing! Or talk to anyone that declawed their cat. I am completely anti-declaw. The dew claw of domestic cats is more or less vestigial (I'm aware in wild felines it serves a purpose). I would prefer that she did NOT have to have it removed but it IS deformed and IS causing her discomfort and IS now grown inside her and may be the cause of why she was ill when we brought her in the other week.