I took Toby in to the vet to see about the "thingy" on his paw. It turned out to be a cutaneous horn, as someone had suggested. It had a lot of other names too, but mostly it meant that he had a corn on his paw pad growing out the side. The vet trimmed it, then it split down the middle and started bleeding. Great. Now it has a bandage on it. The problem is that a) it is rough and could catch on things, and b) it will just keep growing unless it's removed. So Toby is going back in tomorrow to have it removed surgically. It's a short surgery - 20 minutes, and he'll only be there half a day, but still.....you know how I feel. Poor baby. I hope my pet insurance covers it. I was going to wait and see, but since it has to be taken care of anyway, it really doesn't matter. Also, if it is left there is an outside chance it could turn cancerous, so let's get rid of that chance.