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Cutting pigs nails one person?

Black piggies

Black piggies

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Has anyone any tips on single person nail clipping? The guides seem to recommend one person hold and one cut. My piggies are 3 and love to be patted, rubbed, kissed, hand fed but they're hysterical at being picked up. They're cage is too big to chase them around and they cottoned on to being picked up in a cardboard tube and won't go in, so I've just herded them into a pet carrier and let the vet deal with. The vet needs 2 staff to do them.
 
I do my two boys alone. They don’t like being picked up either. I get them into a pet carrier (which they do very easily as they recognise their pet carrier as that is the way I put them out in their run!), I then wrap one in a towel and pick him up. Expose a foot and then do then do the clipping. They don’t like it, they often shout about it, but with them being in the towel it is a lot easier for me to control them and means I can get it done so quickly that they are barely in my arms a couple of minutes and then it’s forgotten about with a treat!
 
I’m only beginning to get the knack of claw clipping after going to the vets for over four years.! Personally it was a nervous thing on my behalf. Was so scared I’d hurt my piggies. Have learned to trim little and often and growing with more confidence. I think my piggies may have sensed my nervousness. This may not be an issue with you but if it might be helpful if you try exude confidence as best you can and give praise and treats. Good luck
 
I've always done all my pigs nails on my own. I usually have a hand underneath with two fingers between their chin and front legs and then the rest of my hand below the front legs. I hold them upright against my body and it usually gives me better access though I do have one or two wigglers at the moment so all I can do with those is clip them more regularly but take a little bit at a time
 
Mine also avoid going into anything that I offer them as they know it means being picked up. I just take out all their beds and tell them that I am going to oick them up then do so as fast as I can.

I get a friend to do the nail trimming whikst I hold them. They dont lime it but most of them stay pretty still.

I would love to be able to do them myself, mabe one day.
 
For me it depends on the pig in question. Mine are comfortable being picked up but don't love nail clipping... Leela I prop up against my middle on her hind feet and manage to cut them myself that way, but Hadley generally needs someone to at least distract her with food, since she gets nippy getting her nails cut sometimes.
 
I just cut my boy Finn and Lara’s nails.
I put them in a plastic bin and use towels to gently hold and distract them while working on cutting their nails.
It takes only about a minute to cut all of Lara’s nails but it takes around 5 minutes for Finn because he protests more so I give him a break in between.
 
Seven7 said:
I just cut my boy Finn and Lara’s nails.
I put them in a plastic bin and use towels to gently hold and distract them while working on cutting their nails.
It takes only about a minute to cut all of Lara’s nails but it takes around 5 minutes for Finn because he protests more so I give him a break in between.
Click to expand...
That made me laugh, what kind of plastic bin?
 
I started by watching a few videos on You Tube until I found one that made sense to me (Lava Empire I think).
I can do 2 of my piggies on my own now, and find wrapping them firmly in an old muslin helps a lot. I use a thin cloth to wrap them becasue it is easy to do firmly but without hurting them. If i use a towel they just disappear down inside!

But Ruby still requires a minimum of 2 people becasue she bites, so one person needs to hold her and keep a carrot between her mouth and my hand while I clip! I can empty a room by suggesting it might be time to look at Ruby's nails :))
 
Black piggies said:
That made me laugh, what kind of plastic bin?
Click to expand...
For grooming my piggies, I use this plastic bin. I put my piggies in this plastic bin for nail cuts and hair cuts.
Below is my boy Finn in the plastic bin ready for his hair cut and nail cut. I put another picture below after his bum hair cut.


IMG_4766.jpg
IMG_4769.jpg
 
Swissgreys said:
I started by watching a few videos on You Tube until I found one that made sense to me (Lava Empire I think).
I can do 2 of my piggies on my own now, and find wrapping them firmly in an old muslin helps a lot. I use a thin cloth to wrap them becasue it is easy to do firmly but without hurting them. If i use a towel they just disappear down inside!

But Ruby still requires a minimum of 2 people becasue she bites, so one person needs to hold her and keep a carrot between her mouth and my hand while I clip! I can empty a room by suggesting it might be time to look at Ruby's nails :))
Click to expand...
Thanks, muslin sounds a very good idea. Glad not just me with a biter :-)
 
Just cut my piggies nails for the first time- it was a nightmare! The shyer one hated it and squealed and flinched away from the clippers but didn't move too much so I could do her on my own but the bolder one struggled continually and kept trying to nip me. I had to get my husband to clip the nails while I held her but even with that we had to keep abandoning cuts as her head got in the way. Not having good light didnt help, ww had to use a torch to see the right bit of the nail to cut and that meant one less hand free. Got all but one nail done in the end and avoided any mishaps but I think we'll pay to get someone else to do it next time! Anyone know how we tell when they need doing? How long is too long?
 
With black nails you could trim off a little maybe every fortnight to monthly. I don’t know about how short is too short though.
 
It can be a bit tough so we are trimming/filing the piggies nails a tiny bit each week. Using small nail scissors and a pet nail grinder thing we got from amazon..it is going ok..so far..although a two person job as we have a wriggly Roz and Twitch screams a bit!
 
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