Forum

OUR FORUM IS UP BUT WE ARE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF UPDATING AND FIXING THINGS.  SOME THINGS WILL LOOK WEIRD AND/OR NOT BE CORRECT. YOUR PATIENCE IS APPRECIATED.  We are not fully ready to answer questions in a timely manner as we are not officially open, but we will do our best. 

You may have received a 2-factor authentication (2FA) email from us on 4/21/2020. That was from us, but was premature as the login was not working at that time. 

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

What are we about?  Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately!  Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES 

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum DIET & CARE need advice on clipping nails!

Viewing 10 reply threads
  • Author
    Messages

    • KittenMuffinPie
      Participant
      132 posts Send Private Message

        I’ve had my bun Jude for 2 weeks now, and he is a 2 month old holland lop bunny. The very nice lady that I bought him from brushed him and clipped his nails the day that I picked him up. She just picked him up and laid him down her lap (feet up) and clipped his nails. He didn’t even flinch! I was like wow! it’s gonna be easy to clip his nails! She explained that the more I hold him the more he will be use to me and be okay with me doing this so I have been just sitting in the floor for about 5 minutes every day during his play time and holding him and petting him. Today marked 2 weeks that I have had him and I knew he needed a trim because he’s been kind of scratching the floor and sometimes scratches me if I pick him up too quickly. So I slowly picked him up and started petting him and he was completely fine. I continued petting for a while until I thought he was calm and then went to move him onto his back in my lap and he just freaked out! He jumped from me and started running around my bed. He even pooped all over my bed from I guess being so scared. I don’t wanna try again tonight to clip his nails so I’ve just been letting him run around and play. Anyone know what else I could do? It would be difficult to try any other way because his ears are so long that they’re in the way of his nails…I just need some good advice on this..


      • Beka27
        Participant
        16016 posts Send Private Message

          Do you have someone who can help hold him upright while you clip (or vice verse: you hold, they clip)? I’ve never had a lot of luck trancing to clip nails myself.

          I had to take the buns for nails trims at the vet for awhile until I worked up the courage to do it myself. That’s another option for you.

          Now, I can hold Meadow upright in a football position and work my way around each paw. We do it in the bathroom b/c it’s out of her element and it makes her nervous enough that she freezes up for the 5 minutes or so it takes to clip.


        • KittenMuffinPie
          Participant
          132 posts Send Private Message

            will try that tomorrow! thanks!


          • litheandgraphic
            Participant
            608 posts Send Private Message

              Additionally, I would not recommend tipping the bun on his back at all – the “trance” state they experience on their backs is actually a state of intense fear.

              Beka27 has some good suggestions. Another method you might try, which doesn’t work for all buns but works for some, is to give the bunny a dish of food as you would regularly – eg. a dish of their regular pellets – or a healthy treat that they love such as greens. As they’re distracted with eating, you can carefully go around the bunny and clip the nails. Again, this doesn’t work with all buns but it is worth a shot!


            • KittenMuffinPie
              Participant
              132 posts Send Private Message

                well the intense fear thing didn’t work for my bun. He was just like nope you will not put me on my back lol. Thanks for the tips


              • rabbyrabby
                Participant
                25 posts Send Private Message

                  I had to clip my bunny’s nails for the first time last week. 

                  The “breeder” I bought him from probably wasn’t clipping anything at all, because he had X-Men Wolverine claws.

                  I didn’t know that the trance state puts the bunny in intense fear, but I’m not sure how else to do this.  I took my bunny to the vet and he was diagnosed with a mild ear infection about two weeks ago, and I would put him on his back to put the ear drops in.  Putting him on his back seems to be the only way to take care of his well-being.

                  Be careful though if your rabbit is struggling mightily, as they could injure themselves.  My rabbit is a small dwarf bunny, and I don’t want to sound like I’m handling him roughly, but my hands generally are big enough to overpower his resistance.  I’ve found the easiest way to do this is to pick him up like a bowl with both hands on either side of the rabbit, completely surrounding him.  This prevents him from twisting and potentially being dropped or hurting himself.

                  I put him on my lap facing me, reverse my hands so they’re still cupping him on both sides, then just go straight back so he’s on his back facing me.  I’ve found that having him in the crease between your two legs (keep them together) creates a nifty little cradle to keep him in place.  At this point he isn’t fighting.

                  Sometimes I pet him from this position in case he’s not enjoying it.  But my rabbit doesn’t mind being handled so I’m not saying this will work for all rabbits.  I give him the jaw massage he likes and eventually he’s grinding his teeth in contentment.

                  I sit him up a little bit so his head isn’t completely flat on its back, he’s more on his butt, but he’s still not fighting to get out of this position.

                  I keep both hands on either side of him at all times, so he doesn’t tip over, and if he does fight (which has never happened) he’d have guard rails.

                  I use the powerful light from my iPhone to identify where his blood vessel/nerves are in the nail, then trim only a conservative length. 

                  I never keep him like this for longer than about 3 minutes.


                • KittenMuffinPie
                  Participant
                  132 posts Send Private Message

                    today (actually just a few minutes ago) I took his food dish into the bathroom and cleared off a space on the counter to clip his nails. It took me a while to calm him down and catch him in my room to carry him to the bathroom but I did. I even took a handful of alfalfa hay to reward him afterwards. I put him up on the counter and he just was so nosy. He wanted to sniff this and lick that and just everything. He even sniffed my face and licked my cheek which was very cute. But he would not let me touch his paws without him flinching or moving or thumping on the counter. So I put him on the floor and let him get use to the surrounding, got a towel, put the seat down on the toilet, sat down and waited for him to come near so I could pick him up and try to put him in my lap on his back again. This time I picked him up very slowly and cradled him on his back in my arms for about a minute before I put him in my lap and IT WORKED! He let me keep him on his back in my lap for about 2 minutes. I didn’t cut his nails because I don’t think they were long enough yet to be cut but at least I know how to do it when I have to! Thanks for all the replies, this really helped me! After I held him a while I let him run around the house and eat some alfalfa hay as a reward. Hopefully now he knows when he gets his nails clipped he gets a bit of alfalfa hay and full house run around time


                  • litheandgraphic
                    Participant
                    608 posts Send Private Message

                      Although I’m glad that you found a way to earn his trust, I’m still of the mind that you really should try to avoid putting him on his back because of the stressful state it puts him in. They may look calm and relaxed, but that’s actually a fear response – prey species freeze when frightened or “tranced” as a defense mechanism because most predators, especially snakes, one of their top predators, don’t go after things that don’t move.

                      Some rabbits might be okay with this, but for the most part it’s an extremely stressful situation. You can read more about this here. 

                      To try some other methods, check out these videos:

                      Method one
                      Method two
                      Method three
                      Method four – this is slightly stressful as well, but still better than trancing, in my opinion.

                      If nothing else works at all, here’s a good guide to safely “trancing”.

                      Good luck!


                    • Standard_Procedure
                      Participant
                      125 posts Send Private Message

                        The only reason she was able to trance your rabbit was because your rabbit is afraid of strangers doing that, but since it knows you, trancing won’t work.


                      • KittenMuffinPie
                        Participant
                        132 posts Send Private Message

                          The lady that I got him from knew him because he was her favorite and she actually kept him inside with her rabbits instead of outside with the rest of the rabbits for sale. He knew her very well and she put him in a trance on his back to clip his nails the day I took him home. As long as you’re patient and not too rough with him I don’t think it should be a problem that I put him on his back. At first he didn’t like it so I accepted that but I tried again very slowly and carefully while petting and calming him and it worked. He was just fine afterwards.


                        • Beka27
                          Participant
                          16016 posts Send Private Message

                            To clarify, I don’t trance my rabbit (i think my post may have been misunderstood). I hold her with one hand under her “armpits” so she is completely upright and snug her hind end into my side with my elbow. This stabilizes her so she can’t wiggle around and she feels secure(ish) for the few minutes it takes to clip…

                        Viewing 10 reply threads
                        • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

                        Forum DIET & CARE need advice on clipping nails!