This involves a cat which isn't mine. That's the start of the problem.
My neighbors are my aunt and uncle. Lots of kids, big hunk of land, etc. etc. They also have two unspayed and uneutered cats - one male, one female. (The chances of them spaying and neutering are slim to none though, and the post isn't about that anyway.)
Anyway, the male is a big friendly red tabby, good condition...about one and a half. His nam is Tiger. Just yesterday when I went over to babysit I noticed him limping. However, I wasn't able to find him to check him over. Today, though, I was was able to track him down (he was snoozing in his kitty bed) and got to look at him. His left foot is hurt, but I'm nearly 100% positive it's not a break, thankfully. The area right behind the paw pad is swollen. I touched it lightly and he growled at me. Obviously it hurts a lot - I had barely brushed my finger over it.
So, any ideas oe what it could be? I would take pictures but my camera's not here. I'm also thinking it could be a bee sting since the wasps are out. Since these people are my relative I do take care of their cats somewhat - I wormed tem, feed them often, give their owners advice, etc. and would like to take care of him as best as I could now to. The poor guy hurts. The thing is, they won't take him to the vet unless they're positive they absolutely need to since aft all Tiger is 'just a barn cat' (not in my opinion, but theirs). Should I leave him be? Try to cleanse the paw as best as possible? Does anyone have anything I can do, home remedies so to speak, to help ease the discomfort? I'm not able to bring him to the vet on my own as my mom will refuse to take the neighbor cat and I'm definitely not able to drive, but I'd like to help him.
My neighbors are my aunt and uncle. Lots of kids, big hunk of land, etc. etc. They also have two unspayed and uneutered cats - one male, one female. (The chances of them spaying and neutering are slim to none though, and the post isn't about that anyway.)
Anyway, the male is a big friendly red tabby, good condition...about one and a half. His nam is Tiger. Just yesterday when I went over to babysit I noticed him limping. However, I wasn't able to find him to check him over. Today, though, I was was able to track him down (he was snoozing in his kitty bed) and got to look at him. His left foot is hurt, but I'm nearly 100% positive it's not a break, thankfully. The area right behind the paw pad is swollen. I touched it lightly and he growled at me. Obviously it hurts a lot - I had barely brushed my finger over it.
So, any ideas oe what it could be? I would take pictures but my camera's not here. I'm also thinking it could be a bee sting since the wasps are out. Since these people are my relative I do take care of their cats somewhat - I wormed tem, feed them often, give their owners advice, etc. and would like to take care of him as best as I could now to. The poor guy hurts. The thing is, they won't take him to the vet unless they're positive they absolutely need to since aft all Tiger is 'just a barn cat' (not in my opinion, but theirs). Should I leave him be? Try to cleanse the paw as best as possible? Does anyone have anything I can do, home remedies so to speak, to help ease the discomfort? I'm not able to bring him to the vet on my own as my mom will refuse to take the neighbor cat and I'm definitely not able to drive, but I'd like to help him.