How To Treat Ingrown Claws In Your Cat's Paw

As pets get older, their claws grow longer and longer. Cats wear their nails down by walking on hard or abrasive surfaces. Cats rake their claws on trees or scratching posts (hopefully not your best furniture) to sharpen them and remove old claw sheaths.

But as activity levels decline, and arthritis may change the way animals weight-bear, claws do tend to grow. And grow. And keep growing.

In dogs and cats the claws curve as they grow, such that overgrown nails will arc back and dig into the paw pads.

This is painful and may lead to further reductions in activity or unwillingness to weight-bear on the affected paw.

The good news is the most ingrown toenails can be treated by simply clipping the nails. It is not unusual for us to see older cats with three or four ingrown toenails at a time — clipping these nails gives them so much relief.

Nails may need to be trimmed as often as every four to six weeks in some animals.