I would start trying to get them used to being picked up for pets on a daily basis. It sounds like only ‘bad’ things happen when they get picked up. You might start by luring them into your lap with treats to start with. If that doesn’t work then you can also start by just petting them, then put one hand firmly on top and put your other hand underneath without lifting at all for the first few times. Then remove your hands and give lots of treats/pets. Keep doing this until you can actually pick her up, and make sure you pick her up at least twice a week to re-enforce the ‘good happy things’ that come from being picked up.

As for your confidence, you may find it easier to trim them yourself once your bunnies are more comfortable being held. If you still don’t feel comfortable doing it yourself then most vets will do it for $10 to $15. Still, getting them used to being picked up will make that trip much easier.

Though I have heard of bunnies, who are perfectly healthy, scream when they are picked up, it’s uncommon. Since I have seen it at the shelter and many times limited information is known about their past, who knows why they actually react that way.  The same thing that happened to you also happened to a long-time shelter volunteer who knows how to handle bunnies and knows how to cut nails. It scared her too!   So I know this can happen, but at the same time, you may also want to just double check that your bunny isn’t reacting to something else – an internal pain or injury or ???

So I would pick her up again, and move her legs around a bit, and just do a body check to just double check and if the scream happens at a certain time - then you might be able to tell if there may be something else going on.

Otherwise, if she is just reacting from her past experience, then I would just try and do a couple of nails each day, and give her treat right before and after. And the fact you have to repeat this for a few days may help solidify the thought of treats and nails – something positive.

I know that’s scary bradforde, I had my older girl Hershey in for a checkup and nail trim last winter and she screamed right in the face of the vet tech as she held her. We hadn’t even done anything yet, but she gave 3 loud shrieks that startled all of us and the tech set her right down. Hershey didn’t act scared, just boiling mad, she turned around to glare and thump at the tech before foot flicking off into the carrier. The poor tech is the most gentle of people, it wasn’t anything she did but she felt bad about it.

Week long nail trim break. How often do you trim their nails?

https://www.binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/a…fault.aspx

Above is a link to a post I started a couple of months ago. I got a great DVD which you can also order, but the gist of the advice is written here.

It’s a way to know if you are touching the quick before you actually cut the nails. A burrito, plus this technique, may help.

Some people have used rescue remedy (Bach flowers) before trims too. For the buns that is…but it would be useful that you are more calm and confindent about it too. Your little break before tackling that last foot is probably a good idea for her and you both. Forum leader K&K had her bun scream at her when she was giving his a butt wash – it was really just a protest. I agree with what others have suggested, get her associating it with not being such a bad thing because it’ll make things a whole lot easier when you have to do all 4 feet again! Is Loki one of your rescues or your own bunny? The black one in your avatar?

Posted By bradforde on 07/02/2009 08:49 AM
oh, i don’t trim their nails very often, only when i can really see them. Loki has black nails, so it’s a challenge. i just meant that i was going to take a break before i try and get that last foot. knowing that it’s the only one that still needs trimming is kind of bugging me!

Loki is my personal rabbit, not a rescue (yes, the black one) – i have had her since she was 8 weeks old, and she has always been high-strung, even as a baby. i was really freaked out about the scream when i first posted, but after about 30 minutes, she was running around and playing again, so i think i was probably more scared than she was and she was probably just mad more than anything. this is not the first time that she has ever screamed – she has done it twice before – once when i was trying to put her in a carrier, and once at the vets – that time was terrifying, because she burst a blood vessel in her head while she was screaming and blood was pouring out of her nose. she ended up inhaling it and got a respiratory infection. good times.

so, needless to say, she makes me nervous as hell!

oh, and thanks for the link, Pam – i actually saw a “quickfinder” nail trimmer (http://www.quickfinderclipper.com/index.htm) at the store the other day. I chuckled at the time, but now it seems like a great idea!

Oh, I want one of those. What a great idea. 3 of my critters have dark nails so, this would make me way less nervous.

Have you tried wrapping her up in a towel like a burrito? Nova is kind of the same, that rabbit makes me the jumpy one! When I cleaned out her anal glands though I first wrapped her up and she didn’t move until I was done. The front feet might be more difficult, but the box method might work better for them anyways.

Well I do bunny burrito best I can.  Cotton will turn his head and shoulders and flip himself.  But I get it done.  It is really getting harder to keep him in a burrito with him getting meds too.  Yi. 

It helps once they are wrapped and flipped to pet their head and talk sweetly to them.

If she was looking for a treat right after, it sounds like it was a protest scream to me. My bunnies no longer thump for “danger” but because they are mad at me about something. I also have one that grunts, thumps, and throws a temper tantrum when I shut him into his cage. I think that some bunnies are just so domesticated that they use their behaviors that are supposed to be for “danger” as an expression of “dissaproval.” That being said, it would really scare me too! I think the break is a good idea, and knowing me, I’d probably only do like two nails a day for awhile.