cat's paws problem.

by Helen
(Singapore)

my cat;'s dirty paws

my cat;'s dirty paws

hi! im from singapore. i have a 17 years old female cat named Tina. recently, tina has been licking all of her paws until its wet n her fur on her legs turn black (she's ginger in colour).why is it so? i will be bringing her to the vet next month but right now i have been searching for answers but failed. could you please help me? thank you so much.


Helen.

Reply
Oh my goodness this is odd. I have not seen this before.

Have you checked that your cat does not fleas or any other skin mites? This should be your first option.

Other than that are you sure she has not walked in something which she is trying to remove. See if there is a smell to her fur or if it is sticky at all.

The fact that she is licking all of her paws would suggest that she is trying to get something off. It may be an idea to give her a foot and leg bath using a very mild baby shampoo.

Although as this is very odd i do think that a trip to the vet is a good idea as he will be able to do a thorough examination.

Hope all is well

kate

Comments for cat's paws problem.

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Cat's Paws Problem
by: Mary in NC

I am not sure that this is YOUR cat's problem but I wanted to relay a similiar problem I had with my cat "Max"
Max was a orange tabby....always well groomed and clean. Bathed himself all the time.
Then I noticed his legs started looking black and had a damp sticky feel to them.
He would lick his legs (which I thought was him trying to groom them) but they only got worse and looked and smelled bad.
I took him to the vet to see why this was happening and found Max had DENTAL problems.
The vet told me when a cat has a bad tooth or tarter build up to the point of gum inflamation....a cat will lick at their legs, thus their saliva (containing bacteria from the tooth or mouth inflamation) would turn their legs black and leave them looking ungroomed and smelling bad.
I scheduled him for a DENTAL (where they give them an annesthetic to make them sleep while the Vet cleans their teeth and repairs any cracked or broken teeth).
This helped Max's problem and soon he was a clean kitty again.
This is just one suggestion to follow up on in your kitty's case. Older cat's are prone to tooth and gum issues so have your Vet check on this for sure.
Best wishes to you and your kitty

Mary in N.C USA

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