Minutus

this may not be a serious issue, but I have noticed lately that my kitty
seems to be losing her toe nails fairly frequently. having lived with
cats for the past 20 years, i cant ever recall seeing so many sheddings--
as a matter of fact, i rarely ever saw them.

Is this a normative shedding process at this time of year.
How ofen does this usually occur?
Is it typical that the nail loses an entire 'sheathing'

If this is an abnormal condition, what could be causing it?

thanks

tanya
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In minutus@yahoogroups.com, "tanya marquette"
wrote:

You mean losing the outer shell of the claw? That's normal and I
would think if a particular cat was overly zealous in scratching on
a scratching post, the cat would lose the outer shell more
frequently than a cat that does not scratch too much or as
aggressively.

I've always thought of a cat with "clean claws" meaning one that
doesn't frequently have that outer shell to be healthier than one
that retains the shell. The reason for that thought is one of my
cats went through a very long illness (one of those weird things
that conventional veterinarians cannot diagnose but want to give
antibiotics and steroids for); her claws looked unhealthy (and in
fact they hurt her, I couldn't clip them without risking getting bit
by her). She retained that outer shell all the time. I'm happy to
say she has since recovered (thanks to homeopathy) and her claws now
look quite healthy (and I can safely clip them now).