As a start, I am taking my cat (Hammy) to the vet tomorrow right after work, as I don't think this is an emergency (today is a public holiday so only the emergency vet is open), but let me know if you think otherwise.
My cat is leash trained, and we walk around my row of flats if the weather is good. Today we were out as per normal, but something suddenly frightened her so badly she tried to bolt (possibly my neighbour coming out of his house, but she's never had such a violent reaction to anything outside before). Long story short is she, in bolting, injured the nails on her back paws on the asphalt. I didn't notice when we got home because she had no signs of pain or limping, but a couple hours later I wanted to check if her nails were getting long and I realised there was dried blood around some of them.
After some investigation I realised 3 or 4 of the nails on her back paws were injured. There was no more fresh bleeding, but I could see that there was some splitting of the nail and the nail beds of some were sore and tender. I'm very very sure no nail had been torn off.
What I did was to wash her back paws in epsom salt water, then I soaked them in antiseptic (from the vet, for a previous injury) + put antibiotic cream on and around all her back nails (also prescribed by the vet for previous injury). Will take her to the vet tomorrow to properly assess the extent of the damage and see what more can be done. Was thinking of asking for oral antibiotics on top of topical ones because I'm very afraid she will get an infection. She is indoor only, her only taste of the outside is when I leash-walk her around my small compound.
My question is, is this common, and do cats generally recover well from such injuries? I don't think this is an emergency, as she is acting normal (zero signs of pain), but please let me know if you think this kind of injury shouldn't wait. Any experience with such injuries would be super helpful too, I've had Hammy for about 7 months now and her health is so important to me, I don't want her to be in any pain
My cat is leash trained, and we walk around my row of flats if the weather is good. Today we were out as per normal, but something suddenly frightened her so badly she tried to bolt (possibly my neighbour coming out of his house, but she's never had such a violent reaction to anything outside before). Long story short is she, in bolting, injured the nails on her back paws on the asphalt. I didn't notice when we got home because she had no signs of pain or limping, but a couple hours later I wanted to check if her nails were getting long and I realised there was dried blood around some of them.
After some investigation I realised 3 or 4 of the nails on her back paws were injured. There was no more fresh bleeding, but I could see that there was some splitting of the nail and the nail beds of some were sore and tender. I'm very very sure no nail had been torn off.
What I did was to wash her back paws in epsom salt water, then I soaked them in antiseptic (from the vet, for a previous injury) + put antibiotic cream on and around all her back nails (also prescribed by the vet for previous injury). Will take her to the vet tomorrow to properly assess the extent of the damage and see what more can be done. Was thinking of asking for oral antibiotics on top of topical ones because I'm very afraid she will get an infection. She is indoor only, her only taste of the outside is when I leash-walk her around my small compound.
My question is, is this common, and do cats generally recover well from such injuries? I don't think this is an emergency, as she is acting normal (zero signs of pain), but please let me know if you think this kind of injury shouldn't wait. Any experience with such injuries would be super helpful too, I've had Hammy for about 7 months now and her health is so important to me, I don't want her to be in any pain
I'd rather it be me hurting instead...
, and maybe you can finger or spoon feed her where she'll lick the food 
