soft claws and infections?

[horseplaypen]

I was speaking to the owner of the local pet food store today (who is also a cat groomer) and I mentioned that when she comes by to do the cats, she would not have to do Ariel since we bought some soft claws. The groomer got sort of worked up and said she would never, ever sell softclaws in her store or recommend them to her clients. Apparently she had a client once who used them and the cat developed an infection in the toe (due to the glue apparently?) and the cat had extensive nerve damage and the toe had to be amputated.

I've heard so many good things about soft claws here, has anyone ever had bad experiences like this?

We also had a bit of a scary experience with Ariel's softclaws... we bought them for her because she tends to claw these expensive, tapestry-covered chairs. She tried it again yesterday with the softclaws on, but one of the threads that was already loose got caught around the end of the plastic cap. The poor cat was crying and crying - luckily we were right there, I don't like to think how she might have hurt herself if we'd been out.

I'm sort of worried about continuing to use the soft claws, but nothing seems to deter her, even the sticky tape and bitter spray we bought.

[OsnobunnieO]

I've not heard of anyone having problems like THAT with them. More simply things like they won't stop chewing them off, end up swallowing a few... etc.

I guess if the nail was trimmed to short and the quick exposed, the glue could have had a slight chance of getting deeper into the nail... or if the nail had somewhow gotten pulled out a little bit... but it seems like one of those chance happeening.

Its actually really common for an injury to the nail to end up as an infection deeper inside the toe or foot... at least in dogs. I don't think its AS big a deal in cats (but they are a lot more graceful than most dogs too).

If anything, I'd ask her more about this particular experience and see if you can find out as much as you know. Stories can get really mixed up from person to person.

[kitty_kisses]

My two have been wearing them their entire lives, and have never had any types of problems like that... my vet here, who deals strictly with cats and I trust a lot, highly recommends them - they're on all the kitties she has running around the office....

I have seen my two get their toes caught like you describe, though. I've found when that happened, it was because the soft claw didn't cover enough of the actual claw. Trimming the claw shorter or moving to the next larger size of soft paw seemed to help reduce the problem...