Rough Paw Pads?

[vanesssa19]

So, I'm a first time cat owner.  Adopted a sweet medium hair girl from a local rescue group two Saturdays ago.  They told me they picked her up from a shelter, she was apparently a stray.  (She incredibly sweet, so she was obviously well loved before this.)  I few days after we got her I noticed the pads of her feet were a bit rough... I really didn't think much of it at the time as I figured if it was serious, one of the rescue ladies/the vet they took her to would have noticed.

The other day I was cleaning the cat hair off the couch and I noticed a few large specks of what I can only describe as... large bits of dried calloused skin?  I can only assume that they must be off her paws?  I didn't really take serious note of how calloused all her feet were, but when I looked at them last night they didn't seem red/bleeding/scabbed or anything but seemingly more pink and less gray then I remembered.

My question is really, should I be worried?  Is it possible that this is just natural skin shedding/healing from being out on hot cement and such?  Her feet don't look to be in bad shape and she doesn't seem to be in pain when I touch them so I'm not entirely sure what to do.

[fluffy pluffy]

I think it's just from age, our younger cats have silky-soft paw pads,our older cat has rougher pads,though. They seem to be alright,however every now and then Tiger (Older cat)seems to lose a bit of the dead skin on her pads,it doesn't seem to bother her,though. If you're really worried about it,you could always take your cat to the vet,though I wouldn't worry too much about it,unless of course the cat seems to be in pain. Congrats on the new kitty,too. I think you're right,it could just be from walking on hard,or hot surfaces. Just keep an eye on her.

[NutKitty]

When one of my cats was about eight weeks old (Sasami), she took a running leap towards the oven as I was opening it to put something in. 

I somehow caught her mid-jump, but her front paws touched something inside and they got burned a bit.  (didn't get burned enough for me to notice until later)

Sooo, as a result, she had pretty rough pawpads for a while, but they're nice and soft now. 

I wouldn't worry about your kitty's paws unless they visually get worse, or she seems to favor them.  You could always try rubbing some kind of non-toxic moisterizer on them.   

[vanesssa19]

Whew.. thanks for the replies.  I felt like it wasn't something I needed to worry over (they aren't red, scabbed or tender and such) but I wanted to make sure.  Since it wasn't something I knew anything about, I didn't want to just shrug it off and then maybe find out I should have done something earlier.

Thanks!

[fluffy pluffy]

Sure thing! Worrying about pointless things from time-to-time is a natural sign of a good pet owner! It's one of our specialties.