You should seek the advice of your veterinarian if your pet is ill as only he or she can correctly advise on the diagnosis and recommend the treatment that is most appropriate for your pet.

Sometimes apparently minor signs can be an indication of serious problems. Take for example split nails in cats.

Cats tend to have long, sharp nails because (except for cheetahs) they are retracted and protected when they are not being used. Like all active animals cats occasionally damage a nail, which can be split, snapped - or even totally pulled off. Usually when such injuries occur only one or possibly a few nails are involved. 

However, if your cat comes home after a trip outside and most of it's nails are split - BEWARE - because this could be a tell-tale sign that your cat has been involved in a road traffic accident. Spilt nails occur because at the time of a sudden impact a cats natural instinct is to grip the ground friction caused by movement along the ground causes the nails to split.

Because cats are quite light they are often thrown clear of a moving vehicle and survive the initial trauma, however they are likely to develop internal injuries such as haemorrhage or a ruptured diaphragm (the diaphragm is the large muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity). So, if you notice that your cat has split nails, especially if it has any other signs such as a cough, increased breathing rate etc., have it examined by your vet to make sure that there aren't any other problems.

Updated October 2013