growth on cats paw

June 27, 2007 4:08 AM

What is this strange protrusion from cat's paw? This odd "growth" extends out from the upper pad of front paw.

Cat shows no evidence of pain, no limping, and continues to scratch favorite rug. The "growth", or whatever it is, is hard and dry to touch and seems firmly attached to the pad.
It looks like a growth/dead pad material? This is a seven year old maine coon that is indoor/outdoor, but mostly indoor.

Thanks for any ideas before heading off to the vet.

posted by Kevin S to pets & animals (16 comments total)

is it just mutant extra claws? (Is s/he polydactyl?)
posted by putril at 4:35 AM on June 27, 2007

I had a cat with this on each pad, the vet said it was a callous. It can actually be *carefully* clipped off.
posted by justjen at 5:05 AM on June 27, 2007

Forgot to mention, this is new (probably no more than a few weeks); presumably a mutant extra claw would have been there from time zero?
posted by Kevin S at 5:19 AM on June 27, 2007

That looks like the carpal pad where the end has gotten sort of rotten or calloused looking. The cat has a non-rotten looking almost finger-like pad in the same spot on his other front foot, right?

I would take him to the vet to make sure it isn't indicative of a serious problem.
posted by tastybrains at 6:13 AM on June 27, 2007

One of my cats has something like that too, though not as grody looking. It seems to be a callous from when we let her claws go too long between clippins (bad owners!). Is this a possibility?

But, quite honestly, that looks pretty nasty. Perhaps call the vet and ask what they think (if it's a callous or not).
posted by misanthropicsarah at 6:21 AM on June 27, 2007

maybe a wart? (do cats even get warts?)
posted by ArgentCorvid at 7:03 AM on June 27, 2007

Misanthropicsarah - Generally her claws are not clipped; didn't know that could cause such a prob.

Tastybrains - yes, indeed, it does appear to be in same position and somewhat similar to carpal pad (had to look that up) on other foot. You may have put your finger on it (no pun intended).

She is due for a teeth cleaning anyway, so vet will see it in near future.
posted by Kevin S at 7:28 AM on June 27, 2007

Request obligatory full-animal picture o'cuteness.
posted by radioamy at 8:03 AM on June 27, 2007

In her fur glory:


posted by Kevin S at 9:22 AM on June 27, 2007

Guess I don't know how to do that. Please copy and paste:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1284/640039856_1c27c71b83_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1016/640039766_7dcfba51b9_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1427/640039788_16d4e7a233_o.jpg
posted by Kevin S at 9:31 AM on June 27, 2007

Our old cat had a growth that looked a lot like this. The vet said it was something akin to a wart: my (possibly faulty) memory is that he said it was fungal in origin, though I believe warts are viral. We would periodically clip it down with a nail clippers: if clipped very close to the paw it would hurt the cat and bleed a little, so we just kept it in check. It didn't seem to do him any harm or cause him any distress, he lived into his twenties. It never spread or appeared anywhere else.
posted by nanojath at 10:23 AM on June 27, 2007

Thanks very much everyone. From above and intuition I think it's either carpal pad "rot" or wart. Off to the vet where with a little luck it will be off with it.
posted by Kevin S at 12:39 PM on June 27, 2007

I was thinking that it looked suspiciously like the growths in this post from the blue. Long story made short: maybe a wart caused by a papiloma virus.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 1:44 PM on June 27, 2007

yikes ArgentCorvid, hope that ain't so, but we will check. Thanks
posted by Kevin S at 3:19 PM on June 27, 2007

I only added that as an extreme case, Kevin. Hopefully, It's not as prone to spreading, and is just a plain old wart.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 3:56 PM on June 27, 2007

The answer is ...

According to vet it is just dead pad material that will fall off; there is a technical term for it but he couldn't remember it. Sure fooled me !!
posted by Kevin S at 8:20 AM on June 29, 2007