Tips for nail trimming

[Joeythenethie]

Hi everybody,

I’m having a hard time trimming Joey’s nails. He doesn’t like being held, and always pulls his paws away, especially the back ones. I try to restrain him as gently and best as I can, but he always flails around to get away. So far, the only method that has somehow worked was to feed him . The problem with this is over feeding. I’m worried that he’ll become overweight if this is the only way that I can get him to sit still. I’ve tried putting a pile of hay for him to nibble on while I trim, but he isn’t interested. It only works with pellets and vegetables. I’ve also given him “traction” (I put a blanket for him to sit on) since i’ve heard that that can help. He doesn’t seem scared of the nail clipper either (it’s small), it’s only when I go to pick up his paw that he moves away. Any tips?

[Excript]

I trim one paw a day or two while giving my bunny treats. My bunny is rather comfortable with me so at times she doesn’t mind me holding one of her nails up to trim it nicely. My bunny won’t allow me to carry her up and place her on her back to trim.

Every time I trim her nails I start sweating Cuz it’s really hard to do it

[Love4Bunny]

I suggest using part of his daily pellet ration as a treat for grooming. That way he doesn’t get overfed. You may only get one or two paws done if he likes to scarf food. You could also divide a papaya treat into tiny pieces and give one tiny piece per paw you clip, and lots of petting. It may take a fair bit of time. Incorporating massage via gooming also helps, so you can do both and switch from one to the other when Joey gets antsy. I eventually was able to gently put Thor on his bum (not back) (on the soft towel) so his feet stick up. I then switch hands slowly so the left hand moves to the chest area, almost keeping him in a sitting position, and I trim his hind nails with my right hand, touching the base of the paw if it shakes. It may not be ideal because you have to be very careful with the spine (my own personal precaution), but this works for me to keep him the least stressed. When I tilt him back onto his paws, it’s a smooth transition. The dewclaws are hardest. Those are a two person job in my household.

Edit: I think Thor trusts me a lot more now, so it is easier. It was scary in the beginning, so I used to have the vets trim his nails and apparently he was an angel? That made me think that it was the lack of confidence I had when picking him up which was making it more difficult for me. Of course, it could’ve been the different environment. Even now, I just go super slow & talk to him like I’m having a conversation with a friend. I’m firm, but I know his limits, which time and grooming has helped.

[GeorgieTheBunny]

Longest reply – Sorry

I’m a fairly new bunny mom and I had to get the vet to trim the first time because it was impossible; since then I’ve picked up a few tricks

I watch this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9KemnaTGIs
Before every clipping – it reminds me what to focus on.

Simple training drills daily – 3 minutes throughout the day max
1/3 of Georgie’s pellet ration for the day is set aside for treat/rewards. It’s in a little dish, on a high shelf, everyday same place; bun figured that out fast.

She will come running when she hears the sound of us reaching in the dish and picking out kibble for her.

Sometimes we hand her one, sometimes she has to tall bunny for the kibble, sometimes it’s a couple kibble in the palm – but the motherload of treats is 3-5 pellets sitting loose on the high ledge that she only gets if she lets us pick her up and eat it off of the high shelf ledge.

These pick up drills were NOT popular at first.

A couple weeks of training and she stopped running from 2 handed contact or the ‘threat’ of 2 handed contact.

If she was really good, I’d let her, still in my arms, put her whole face in the treat bowl and grab a quick mouthful, and maybe let her do that twice, praise her, put her down, praise and give her another cookie for permitting being held.

This sounds like a lot- but there is a finite amount of treats in her dish, if we run out training is over. No fat bunnies here.

Georgie doesn’t run from handling anymore. Being picked up and handled has been equated with reward. Fair and due reward always follows her acceptance of handling and she trusts that now.

—–
The act of trimming….
I put a folded towel over the coffee table, if she needs to bolt it’s a safe distance from the floor. I secure the towel to the table edges with clamp clips.

I have:
* nail trimmers
* small bowl of water
* 3 upside down cups
I go to the treat shelf and grab quite a few pellet treats; one on the towel as a pickup reward and the rest get split up under the cups. The sound of this draws her to me and she follows to the table where I pick her up and place her in front of her treat.

Those 3 cups are hiding her nail trim rewards, Georgie inevitably makes it to the cup before I can grab ONE treat – but I try, that’s why there’s 3 cups.

Remember: You’re doing this WITH the rabbit, not TO the rabbit

I handle her like the video shows. Slicking her paw hair back with the water – always managing to spill it during furry outbursts.

Goes like this:
Wet the hairs Praise! …
Find a nail -press-press-clip Reward! …
new nail -press-press-clip Reward! …
new nail -press-press-clip Praise&Reward! …

It works.

It Didn’t Seem Possible – Though…

When we adopted Georgie we were told that she was not a lap bunny, she was a busy bunny and full of attitude. “You can pet her but she’s never still long” they said. They demonstrated a bunny burrito during our meeting and her fur FLEW! Not a happy bunny!

First time we tried clipping AFTER TRAINING and with the video technique: within 45 minutes, mini 5 minute and a half hour break in the middle, all of her nails were trimmed.

Conclusion

You owe it to bunny to make it rewarding (treats) and stress free as possible. It’ll only gets easier and faster after they trust you and have good experiences.

And YOU owe it to YOU to figure out how to do it at home.
$20/trim x 4/year x (8 to 12 year lifetime) = $640 to $960 easily

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