My cat has dry, cracked paws and limps after jumping. What's wrong?

I strongly recommend a full vet check as soon as possibel - these are very unusual symptoms and require a full check up and possibly biopsy. If you could attach some pictures it may be helpful, and an omega fatty acid supplement can help both as a natural antiinflammatory and also to soften and repair skin surfaces but a full physical exam from a vet will stll be required

There is a disease call "plasma cell pododermatitis" that affects the footpads of cats, making them swell and sometimes crack. It's poorly understood, but believed to be an autoimmune disease. Treatment usually consists of a specific antibiotic (doxycycline) which somehow regulates the immune system (again, we don't understand why) and drugs to suppress the immune system (prednisolone or cyclosporine). Sometimes we have to bandage the feet temporarily to help with the pain and to aid healing. Soldier may also need pain medication for a time until he is more comfortable. Your vet should be able to diagnose this condition and start treatment. Good luck.

I am sorry to hear about your kitty. It looks like she needs a veterinary visit. It looks like she could plasma cell pododermatitis aka pillowfoot. You can read more about this condition at https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952090 . The hair loss on her front legs could be related or she could have allergies, a skin infection, skin mites, or another cause. I would recommend getting her in to see her veterinarian to start treatment for the feet if they do believe it is plasma cell pododermatitis and they can closely examine her legs to determine what could be causing the hair loss.

I am so sorry to hear about your kitty's dry foot pads! There are a few reasons as to why your kitten could have dry pads. It could be due to contact with an irritant (disinfectants, bleach), an immune mediated condition (will further discuss), skin parasite like ringworm or trauma. Sometimes kittens get dry, cracked/or ulcerated foot pads and it can be a congenital or an immune mediated condition such as lymphoplasmacytic pododermatitis or hyperkeratosis. I recommend seeing your veterinarian to get a better look at the foot pads to determine if a course of antibiotics and/or a biopsy of the foot pad is needed. Good luck!

This is probably due to a severe allergy, although it could also be fleas, infection or mites.

First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat with a high quality flea treatment (advocate or advantage), then ask the vet to perform a skin scrape - this might reveal an infection or a mite infestation.

 If all of those came back negative, the next step is to treat the allergy symptomatically and try to discover the cause of the allergy.

 Three main type of allergies are usually affecting pets: food allergies, flea and parasite related ones and environmental type (allergens coming from trees, pollins, dust etc etc). Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair the skin lesions (steroids and antibiotics). Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation (where you can post pictures ) if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Hi, in the first picture it looks like there could be a bit of infection as the fluid seems cloudy. Looking at the second one the skin lesion looks more like podo dermatitis, an inflammation of Jeff's pad. I think it is worthy to have hm checked over, in order to get some medications and help him towards a speedy recovery. If you don't take him to see your vet, his foot will continue to get worse and every time he puts his foot down to walk he will be in a lot of pain. I think your vet will not need to run tests but just give him some medications and therefore cost should be limited. All the best and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach !

Poor kitty. Unfortunately the photo is too dark to really get a good look at the paw. I do see some crusting there though, which leads me to think this is just an infection and not likely skin cancer. Feel free to repost another photo with a second forum question, with better lighting to verify. If it is just infection, then you can try soaking the paw in Betadine diluted 50:50 with warm water or Chlorhexidine solution 3% diluted into a light blue mixture to help clean this antiseptically. Then a vet visit will be needed to get Cream on some antibiotics (oral or injectable). I hope that Cream's foot heals well soon! Best wishes and take are.