That’s great – I don’t know who is more stressed out about nail trims – the rabbit or the rabbit’s slave. This is my least favorite thing to do – I’d rather medicate or give a rabbit a shot than trim nails too. Most of my rabbit friends hate doing this chore too. I hope you gave yourself a treat too after this, you deserve one too :~)

How fun! My buns still “flick me off” with their back feet when I put them down after a nail trim. Then give me the bum treatment for awhile, then they usually relent if I give them a raisin! I’ll try giving them a raisin while IN the towel this time and see if it helps.

I did all three of mine last night.  I managed to hit 3 quicks, 1 on Deanna and 2 on poor Curly Sue :-{  QuckStop for teh win!

As usual, I had to get one of my daughters to hold the buns while I clipped.  DJs nails are all black, but I managed to do his without cutting him.  Curly Sue and her darn Rex nails always gives me trouble.  I have no idea how I managed to cut Deanna, her nails are white, but I just clipped too close or the clippers slipped after I started to cut.  I think they forgave me, though.

I have a lady coming over today to cut coney’s nails. Connor just had his done a while back when he was at the vet. I found this lady on craigslist and she comes to my house for $5.00 a rabbit. That is only $10.00 a month, it is worth it to not have them mad at me just her.

okay forget what I said about having the lady come over. She made coney scream. I have NEVER heard either of my buns make this noise before. It was like a high pitched screaming screech. Then he jumps out of her arms (well half jump half flip) into the air and shedding his fir like crazy the whole time.

I freaked out, she is supposed to be a professional groomer!! He then runs away thumping each hop. This is not going to happen again!

I tried the bunny burrito with connor before and the little bugger manages to kick out of it. I notice that he (connor) throws himself backwards if I am holding him.
Has anyone else had their bunnies scream like this before? Coney would grunt if he didn’t like something or wanted attention and connor sniffs so loud it is like an engine running.

What ended up happening was, I held him and I snuggled him on my chest, with my right hand over his head. It was Coney not Connor, thanks goodness. That doesn’t work to calm connor down. I think what set Coney off was she turned him on his back, and I have never held him like that before.

Then she further insults him by saying that she thought “rabbits were not very intelegent creatures. Their brains must be to small to understand” She also asked if you can pick a rabbit up by the scruff of the neck. I told her no, but I was not sure myself. I figured better to be safe than sorry. I wonder if when she had him upside down if she pulled his neck to hold him still and that is why he freaked.

I am still upset about this. Coney and I had a nice long grooming session this evening. I brushed him for about 30 minutes and he just layed there and enjoyed it. Then I gave him his rasin and he very happily took it from me. I think he has forgiven me for bring this lady here. He is now sprawled on the floor of the apartment watching me type.

ooo my goodness, I would have freaked out! Rabbits only scream when they truly think they are in serious danger. He must have been scared out of his wits poor guy. It sounds to me like the groomer has absolutely no experience with rabbits and should steer clear of them.

I generally take my rabbits to one of our rabbit haven shows, since honestly it’s easier for them to be angry at someone else, ha. But, if I need to clip – I will wrap them in a bunny burrito. The key is to make sure those hind paws are REALLY secure, since that’s where buns have a lot of strength. Once they wrangle those back feet free it’s much easier for them to escape! I find my kids get less stressed if they can’t see me doing the clipping. So i will try to shield their eyes. I have my hubby hold them while I do the clipping. With black nails it can be helpful to use a flashlight to find the quick. I tend to be overly cautious to avoid the quick, but keep quikstop on hand, just in case.

Wow for being a "professional groomer" she sure wasn’t very professional or really concerned about the animal either. I am so sorry Coney went through such trauma, hopefully he will be back to his usual self soon. I’m just seriously sitting here in shock over what happened. Unbelieveable. I cannot beleive that is how this woman operates. I would certainly post a grievance on Craigs List.  You never lift a bunny by the scruff, ears legs or any appendage for that matter, and the screaming, not normal and a sound of terror from a bunny. Lift them up by their body, lend planty of support and hold them close so they are secure.  If they are scared about being on their back, trance them or cut with them sitting outward on your lap, wrapped in a burrito.

I’m sorry to hear about the “professional” – so often people think that a rabbit is just like a dog or cat, so she probably figured she could just do a dog or cat too. Also, if she does a lot of grooming during the day, she may have smelled like a dog or a cat which could have been what upset Coney so much. Once a rescue friend of mine came over to help me bond two of my bunnies, and she had a shirt on that smelled like a dog, and my bunnies freaked out SO much that they actually tried to hop over the side of my almost 4 foot ex-pen, and then hit the side and fell down – it was so scary! And she is completely familiar with bunnies, but the smell freaked them out a LOT!

Well, I will never be doing that again. Coney is fine today and is back to his snuggly self. I have to baracade the sides of our entertainment center, he goes and chews behind the wire, the baracade is about 2 1/2 feet high and about only 2 inches wide. Coney ran (thumping the whole way) and jumped the thing. I just can’t believe it. I didn’t even know that Rabbits can scream. I knew about the grunting and thumping and connors rpm sniffing, but i have never heard of screaming. I am beging to wonder about the smells of other animals. Because he was fine when she didn’t have her coat on but when she put it on is about the time he freaked.

Why when rabbits are scared or angry do they loose hair in clumps?

It must be nail karma time because I also did my bunnies nails last night. Rucy’s are the hardest to do because her nails are soo dark. Though we do use the flashlight, and that helps to highlight the quick, it can still be difficult because the fur around her nails is also so long, and I was too lazy to go back to the sink and wet her feet (so the fur would lie flat away from her nails)

Regarding not so intelligent animals – sounds like that “professional” fit that description. Egads!! What kind of person would go into a someone’s home and begin insulting their fuzzy companion just because she lost control of him. She obviously isn’t rabbit savvy enough. She should have first asked you if you have ever turned him on his back before and if you had said no, not very often, she should have been extremely careful about doing so, or used another method and the fact that she asked if she could pick him up by the scruff – AHHH! The problem with that is if you don’t have the legs supported, they can kick out into the air so hard that they can break their back.

I’m sorry you and your bunny had to go through that.

There are some rabbit savvy vets that can clip nails and show you how. Maybe you can try that, or if you have a local rabbit rescue, many times they will have nail clipping services. I know it’s not as convenient, but at least they can help you gain confidence so you can do it on your own.

I second everyone else in being upset that the "professional" groomer made your bunny scream.  That only happens when you try and pick Cassie up.  God she HATES that…

You lucky people, i have to take mine to the vet every time mine need a trim. They have to go for a trim soon, Brian needs his boosters and bettie needs to be “done”. Makes it a bit easier as they can do it all at the same time. FAR easier tho if they would let me trim their nails though, i mut say!!