Overgrown Embedded Roller Blade Claws in Cats, Felines by Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates

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Cats claws or nails grow continually during their lives just like our finger and toe nails. We trim our nails with nail clippers or files. Cats in the wild will scratch on trees to keep their nails in check. Indoor cats will scratch on rugs, cat trees or the sofa to keep their nails in check. 

Our nails grow continually in a single layered nail. Cats nails grow differently with multiple layers and sheaths. The outer layer or sheath is generally shed when they scratch on cat trees. You will find nail sheaths stuck on the cat tree or around the base. They look like the below photo, like splintered bits of nails or may even look like an entire nail. 

If cats are older, sick, disabled, have arthritis, they sometimes stop using cat trees. The sheaths are not removed and build it. As the nail continues to grow the full nail will curl around and embed into the paws or legs if it's a dew claw. Dew claws are the most likely to be overgrown. The front claws grow faster and longer than the rear claws. Front claws are more likely to be overgrown. Below are photos of embedded claws, nails. First three are front dew claws. All of these cats were very old and not scratching on anything because of their age.

If your cat has embedded claws, see a veterinarian. If you are a veterinarian or vet technician, you can trim them yourself. First time I saw this I took the cat to the vet. He forgot to trim them. I realized this when I got him and he told me to trim them myself which I did. Still, we are not veterinarians and are not giving veterinary advice. If your cat was declawed and claws regrew under the skin and maybe poke out a little, see a cat declaw repair, claw specialist veterinarian only. Never try to trim or remove those as they must be removed by surgery after xrays. It's not just the claw growing under there but the leftover amputated bone, nail and nail cells. There's generally also lots of infection and scar tissue which must also be removed. Contact thepawproject.com for declaw repair specialists.

Make sure you never trim into the quick which is the pink area which is the blood supply to the nail bed. It will cause pain, bleeding and your cat will never allow you to trim their nails again. We trim an area away from the nail bed and away from the quick closer to where the natural nail tip end would be. We also trim within 1/8 " from where the nail is entering the paw pad or skin. See photo below. Remove that little section which generally falls off. Then we slowly remove the embedded section gently in a curved motion similar to the opposite direction in which it grew into the paw. If it doesn't come out super easy, if it bleeds, if it hurts the cat, let an experienced cat claw vet do it. It should just fall out. 

After you've removed the embedded part go back and trim the nail to the proper length making sure you don't clip the quick. If you can't see the quick because of sheath overgrowth making it too thick, you can use tweezers to gently pull off the dead outer layers of nail sheaths. Below are photos of some removed embedded and overgrown nails. The top ones were more deeply embedded. They just fell out of the paw when the first section, arc was removed. The force of the nail is what's keeping them in the skin. They did not bleed at all.

In order to prevent embedded claws trim your older cats nails once a month or so. At least check the nails once a month. Always provide cat scratching trees, mats, toys. 

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Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game and the USDA. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.

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