Mini's mysterious foot problem

[Miss Meow]

I was checking his paws last night to see if he needed a nail trim on the weekend and he's missing a claw on his back foot! It's really weird. The hair is missing between two toes and a whole claw is just gone. There's no blood, no cuts, just the hair and the claw missing. I feel so bad and guilty for missing this; it must've hurt like mad if it was somehow ripped out. Our cats live inside and just have the outside playpen so I'm at a loss to work out how he did this. He's been walking, running and jumping like normal - very, very weird.

(Sorry, I know there are more serious health problems here, but I just needed to talk about this)

[NoahsMommy]

How strange. But, if he's feeling OK, I wouldn't worry too much. Maybe you should just keep and eye on it and when it grows back trim it.

Give Mini a kiss from me!

[jenluckenbach]

th most important part is that he doesn't seem to be hurting. but I too would be wondering how these things happen.

[catland]

My big guy Sid lost a thumb claw last summer. I was so surprised when I saw it. He didn't favor that paw so I think he was ok. I kept a close eye on it to make sure that he was alright. Its grown back now and he doesn't seem any worse for wear.

[rosethecopycat]

Serious or curious, we welcome all problems here.

I hope Mini's OK.

At the very least, you learn something everyday.

[Russian Blue]

Humans can lose a fingernail or toenail if the base of the nail is injured. So couldn't a cat just lose a claw? Is he sore at the base of where the claw would be?

That's a mystery!

[krazyaboutkatz]

Wow! I've never heard of this happening before. I'm glad that he's not in any pain and is acting normal. I'm sure that his nail will grow back in time. Take care Mini and you too Nicole.

[Barbara]

I would have thought you should have seen something -that he doesn't use the paw or so? But cats do not always tell you: Filou has lost one of his upper fangs years ago and I didn't notice until some time later: when we went to see the vet everything was fine, there was no rest of the tooth in, no wound, all just perfect

[Miss Meow]

Thanks, everyone. He's fine, lets me open the paw to have a look and touch (in fact, seems to prefer this kind of meddling rather than having his nails trimmed!) I was going to hunt around the playpen yesterday for the missing claw to see if he did it outside, but it's no doubt been washed away in the rain. One of those cat mysteries ...

[marysmerrycats]

how weird. how is he now?