Difficulty clipping nails

[ColorfulBun]

My rabbit is normally well behaved and is in a good mood. But when I attempt to clip her nails, she runs away and gets scared. I have not been able to pick my rabbit up since I have gotten her so I try to do this while she is laying down or sitting still. I have been successful clipping her nails before but afterwards she won’t let me do it. Her front dewclaws are getting way too long and they need to be clipped before they start to dig into her skin. I have tried to clip her nails several times since the first time with no success. Any suggestions? I can’t afford to take her to the vet for something I can do myself. 

[Bunny House]

Do you wrap her in a towel? And she associates you with something scary so you need to offer health treats to her so she doesn’t associate you with something bad but something good. Wrapping up in a towel (bunritto) is how most of us do it so we have access to one leg at a time and you can hold her in your lap in it so she is snug in it and you can get a good angle

[ColorfulBun]

Ok my mom just helped me hold her and I got all of her nails trimmed, I’m leaving her alone for a while to let her calm down. Thanks for the suggestion, she’s really scared of blankets and towels and will try to attack them but we’ll try that a few more times.

[Bunny House]

I always suggest towels because a bunny that isn’t in one can escape and potentially harm themselves while trying to escape and a towel will calm them if wrapped in it.

[Azerane]

That was a good idea getting your mum to help. Sometimes it just takes a second person to hold them so that you can concentrate on clipping. Since I’m able to pick my pair up, I pop them up onto a small table so that they don’t have much room to move and then I just clip the nails of one paw at a time while they’re still on the table. If I tried to do that on the floor like you were trying, they would also run away. I’m glad you managed to get it done, most rabbits don’t like it, but as long as you can get it done in a timely matter it’s only a short amount of stress before they can relax. If you ever have a lot of trouble with it, don’t stress, just clip a couple of nails and try again with the rest a day or two later. You don’t need to get all the nails done in one session.

[ColorfulBun]

How often is it recommended to check the nails and clip them? My mom made a schedule of every six weeks we’ll pick her up and clip them.

[mimimomo]

I cut my bunnies’ nails every 6 weeks. They’re usually pretty long at that point so I wouldn’t wait longer than 6 weeks, but I think that schedule sounds good as long as you’re consistent!

[ColorfulBun]

Cool! She actually seemed to be in pain and was grumpier before we clipped them, they were really long and her front dewclaws were starting to hurt her paws.

[Author]

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