Toby toe

Just the other day I noticed Toby's back center toe looking a bit dirty. At closer and grosser inspection I realized that his nail was missing! I will not describe it but a missing kitty nail is pretty funky. Seeing that he was not limping or indicating pain I figured I would clean it for him then monitor it to be sure he was keeping it clean. A few days later I discovered I had put too much faith in my cat's personal hygiene and made an appointment with the vet.

This would be Toby's first visit to this vet but he is all too familiar with where he tends to go when the carrier comes out. The time came to get him loaded up for the 3 block drive and, as per usual, I had to shake Sydney out of the carrier within which she was quite comfortably resting. Given Toby's seemingly calm demeanor I thought getting him I might be easy, however this disillusion quickly faded while he did a pull up on my back with his claws dug in like a fork in sponge cake.

After much howling protest we made it to the vet and, still loaded in the crate, he was placed on the scale. When I chuckled at the 20 lbs that appeared on scale display the tech tried to comfort me by insisting the carrier weighed 10 lbs. Silly girl, I knew better. Turns out Mr. Toby rings it at 15 lbs exactly. Toby was sure to assert his annoyance with some very breathy hissing but overall did great for the vet. The vet assured me that he had simply broken the nail clean off and after a little clean up, an application of quick stop to cauterize the wound and some antibiotics we were on our way home.

Since our visit Toby's toe is looking better and surely on the mend.