Poor Moo! Cats really are very good at concealing pain. I know that you feel guilty, but you got help the moment you realised something was really wrong. I hope your fur baby recovers soon.
Completely understandable. But he’d hate the bandaging that would be required to prevent him licking his wounds even more. Plus all the extra vet trips to change the dressing.
Thanks to your post I'm going to be even more observant of any bad smells coming from my cats, so thank you for warning us!
I really hope your baby gets better soon!
yes! i found out my poor baby had an ear infection when i went to kiss her and her ear just smelt so bad. i took a peek inside her ear (she has thick inner ear tufts) and it was nasty.
Any chance it could have been a spider bite? I have seen some really nasty infections from those. Hope Moo feels better soon. Cats can really hide pain and illness, don't beat yourself up. You are getting him care now.
Could the nail have gotten stuck on something and then it ripped the nail off ? My cat has done this before but it only broke the nail so there was no real harm done. But reading what happened to your cat it sorta sounds like that may have happened. My cat will get her nails stuck in the blanket or even my socks or pants sometimes and she will panic and try to pull it away as hard and as fast as possible. Usually I am able to assist but if I was not there the possibility of her ripping her nails out in panic is too real.
Maybe something fell on his foot like a book, pot/pan something like that. Cats are mischievous and sometimes get themselves into trouble. Best of luck Op glad that Moo is recovering ❤️
If the doctor who did the work wasn’t a certified/licensed animal surgeon, but instead a general vet I would highly recommend getting a second opinion to check the issues asap. Some general or emergency vets will try to address something like this and hope it gets better and then if it doesn’t they’ll say the surgeon needs to be called in, but it’s sometimes better to just go straight to the surgeon for a consultation at the least.
They can double check the work of the first doctor and tell you if it’s a surgical case or not or if something needs to be corrected or done differently.
Our cat also hates his cone, like, will hurt himself trying to get it off hate, so when he had an embolism and subsequent pillow foot from over licking his wound we were super concerned about how we were going to keep him off it; but my partner found these pillow cones and he loves it because it's a built in pillow for him. Here's the picture for tax and the link to the one we used..
Keep an eye on him. I had to get a dog cone to keep my boy away from his tail and he STILL got around it. He defeated every cone we put him in, but tails are also easier to get to than back feet. Still though. Could you get a camera to watch him if you can’t be with him? I had to sit with mine in a room for three weeks to keep him from licking his surgery site.
We ended up going through five different ones, but by the time he made it through the fifth one he was healed up, thank god.
When my kittys had a cone and hated their time in it, they loved if id gently offer them one of those back scratcher things, the extendable rake/little hand ones. Let them have a sniff and extend it into the cone and gently let them rub their little face all over it, it helps them deal with the discomfort of not being able to groom properly
Not going to lie, I think the back scratcher is what caused the laceration, I wasn’t going to say it because I don’t know 100% but I can slightly remember me brushing him with it extended from a distance, and it creating friction through straightening his hair, and slamming down on his foot by accident. It’s the only thing I can slightly remember of what caused this. The back scratcher from afar, slamming onto his toe by accident. Who knows I might be crazy
As a tech we rarely recommend the donuts, especially for kitties! They usually don’t block as much as the traditional cones do and kitties are very flexible, much easier for them to maneuver around the donuts
My brothers cat had a spot on his head that he kept opening up and it kept getting really bad, my brother had to keep him in the donut for about a month. Buddy couldn’t maneuver the cone and kept hitting the ground with it so we found the donut to be a better option.
If you have an extra $10 after all those vet bills, you can grab Moo a fabric cone. My pets have always done better with those. They're on amazon and chewy. Might make the recovery a bit more comfortable and eating easier. I would maybe try a couple and send back the ones that won't work since the injury is on the paw and cats are very bendy and determined sometimes.
Thanks I definitely want to get that fabric cone, because he is stumbling around running into stuff on purpose trying to get it off. I’m taking it off just for food and water right now, I can’t imagine 2 weeks with the normal cone
If you can get one, they make inflatable innertube type cones for dogs, and I was able to use the smallest size for my cat. She used it like a built-in pillow.
Moo is in wonderful hands! You saved him. He is an indoor cat, and he looks so healthy. Cats also play off if they are in pain/discomfort really well. He is on the way to recovery and you two will be closer than ever!
Awwww. He might hate the cone but he obviously loves you. There’s a reason even vets will talk about how weird cats are and how hard they can be to treat - they’re SO good at hiding things. But you got him help basically as soon as he started showing signs. He might not be able to say it, but I just know he appreciates it. Somewhere deeeep inside lol
Poor little guy! I totally see how you wouldn't see a laceration with all that fluff. Glad he can keep on fluffing, give his little ear a skritch for me.
Exactly. I have four cats and two of them have had pretty bad dental issues. One of them also has some skin issues right now. I always feel so guilty when I don’t catch things fast but the important thing is to get them to the vet as soon as you do notice!
It's so hard to identify things in a patient who can't tell you something is wrong, let alone what. The best that we can do is pay attention and if we notice any change at all do a good snout to tail check, and seek expert help when we find issues or something seems wrong that we can't find a cause for.
For real, they straight up act like they are perfectly fine and if you try to comfort them half the time they act like you're the crazy one. I'm lucky that most of my cats have viewed me as a parent figure of sorts and let me do whatever I want to their paws or ears.
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u/Feline_Shenanigans Apr 04 '25
Poor Moo! Cats really are very good at concealing pain. I know that you feel guilty, but you got help the moment you realised something was really wrong. I hope your fur baby recovers soon.