AlexSpark
New Born Pup
Hi everybody. Starting off, I'm really sorry if this isn't in the right forums, I literally joined a few seconds ago but I really need some advice.
I'm watching my neighbors dog/guinea pig, and the dogs fine but I'm a bit concerned about the guinea pig. They barely clean out its cage and so the ground is covered in poop and hard, and the guinea pig just lost her sister and they think that she's depressed and not eating because of that.
But a few days ago, I picked her up for the first time and saw that her nails were way overgrown. Not into her feet or anything like that, but simply curling around and much, much longer than they should be. They were even curling between her toes, causing her what I'm sure was a very painful way to walk.
So last night, I read about how to cut their nails, and I attempted to do so. Since she has black nails at the front, I read that I needed to be careful of cutting her toes and causing her to bleed. I tried to go slowly and carefully, cutting only slices at a time, but every time I would cut there would be no blood, and I cut the nails pretty close to what they should be (not perfect, but much shorter than they were)
I keep reading though about how the cuticles should be close to the tip of the nails, but if that were the case with her wouldn't they bleed? Also, as I was cutting the nails there was a slight white segment in the center, which I at the time thought nothing about but perhaps I should have realized something was off.
I hope I didn't harm her more, but I have 3 more paws to go and my neighbors are coming home tomorrow afternoon, so I only have that much time to do as much as I can for her. Luckily we are considering adopting her from them, but I'm just worried in case that plan falls through.
Any advice would really be appreciated- I always wanted a guinea pig and this is my first time handling one, and I'm just trying to do the best I can.
I'm watching my neighbors dog/guinea pig, and the dogs fine but I'm a bit concerned about the guinea pig. They barely clean out its cage and so the ground is covered in poop and hard, and the guinea pig just lost her sister and they think that she's depressed and not eating because of that.
But a few days ago, I picked her up for the first time and saw that her nails were way overgrown. Not into her feet or anything like that, but simply curling around and much, much longer than they should be. They were even curling between her toes, causing her what I'm sure was a very painful way to walk.
So last night, I read about how to cut their nails, and I attempted to do so. Since she has black nails at the front, I read that I needed to be careful of cutting her toes and causing her to bleed. I tried to go slowly and carefully, cutting only slices at a time, but every time I would cut there would be no blood, and I cut the nails pretty close to what they should be (not perfect, but much shorter than they were)
I keep reading though about how the cuticles should be close to the tip of the nails, but if that were the case with her wouldn't they bleed? Also, as I was cutting the nails there was a slight white segment in the center, which I at the time thought nothing about but perhaps I should have realized something was off.
I hope I didn't harm her more, but I have 3 more paws to go and my neighbors are coming home tomorrow afternoon, so I only have that much time to do as much as I can for her. Luckily we are considering adopting her from them, but I'm just worried in case that plan falls through.
Any advice would really be appreciated- I always wanted a guinea pig and this is my first time handling one, and I'm just trying to do the best I can.
to the forum . I'm not sure what you mean about the white bit - but , you are right when you say the problem with cutting nails is if you cut them too short and make them bleed. 
please adopt her