What is this lump on kitty's paw?

June 19, 2015 6:57 AM

Our cat Crazy has a lump on her paw. Since she hates going to the vet, thought I'd try this route first. The lump has been on her paw for a few weeks. At first I thought it was just a clump of litter, but no, it is attached. .5 cm and sticks out more than the pic shows. It is hard and it does not appear to cause pain when touched.
posted by Jason and Laszlo to Pets & Animals (7 answers total)

Honestly, just take her to the vet. My old lady cat had/has a small spongy lump on her jaw that appeared earlier this year and we took her to the vet. It's not cancerous, it's not painful, but she's too old to wear the Cone of Shame to have it surgically removed. (We decided this because the vet and us agreed that it was causing her no discomfort and no danger to her health.)

So for your piece of mind, take her to the vet, get it looked at, and make sure it's not something potentially bad.
posted by Kitteh at 7:16 AM on June 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Have you looked to see if there is a vet in your area who does house calls? I recently moved to a small city and was surprised, and excited, to find one here. Search terms include house calls, mobilet, or concierge vet. In the last 2 cities in which I've lived I've paid an extra $30-40 per visit. Well worth it for me not to have my cat and I both dread vet appointments.

Hope it is nothing serious!
posted by cessair at 7:24 AM on June 19, 2015

I remembered that I'd read about something like this and googled around - could it just be a horned paw anomaly?

There's a link here where the person's cat has one that looks like your cat's. The ones on the messybeast site are more horn-like.

Obviously you could contact the vet to confirm and see if it's worth removing (and IANYV) but it seems likely to be a harmless recurring aberrant callous.
posted by Frowner at 7:41 AM on June 19, 2015

I would probably try for a vet visit anyway since it's a new thing for your cat, but FWIW we had our vet look at a similar thing on our kitty since we were due for a routine checkup anyway, and she told us that most skin growths in cats are benign and not to worry about it unless it started growing or the cat seemed bothered by it.
posted by dorque at 7:54 AM on June 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

My cat has those on a couple of his paw pads -- the vet says they're nothing to worry about. They're kind of like corns on human feet. Here's an earlier AskMe post about it.

Don't sand them or snip them like you would human feet, though -- the cat definitely won't appreciate that and it will almost certainly hurt! Just wipe the paws with warm water and make sure there's no litter caught between the pads.
posted by vickyverky at 9:09 AM on June 19, 2015

I vote for going to the vet. My poor kitty Boo (RIP) had a growth on his pad that I couldn't really get a handle on for a while, partly because he was always a nervous chewer and I though he had just chosen to chew on his foot for a while, and then when I took him to his vet, I was told it was a cancerous tumor and there was nothing to be done. It grew and grew and finally, on the advice of a friend, I took him for a second opinion, only to find out that it was a very common sort of benign tumor that could have been removed pretty easily at first diagnosis, but by the time of the second opinion would have required amputation of his leg. I really have never forgiven myself for not taking more concrete action earlier.
posted by janey47 at 10:11 AM on June 19, 2015

Nthing seeing a vet - and seconding finding a vet who can do house calls in your area. Our mobile vet has been life-changing for me and my two travel-averse cats.
posted by snap, crackle and pop at 1:53 PM on June 19, 2015