Do you need to cut their nails?

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animal_lover

Hi All
My eldest guinea pigs nails are getting quite long now and I wonder wether I should cut them :-\
Or should I just leave it to vets?
If any of you guys cut them how do you do it and what do you use?
 
I cut them myself, i use regular human nail clippers. I get my brother to hol them still while i cut tem, it's easier than doing them by myself :)
 
Yup we do our piggies.
Use small human nail clippers and one fo us holds while the other oen cuts.
I'm probably a bit over cautious doing it, but figured little and often would be better than cutting them by trying to do bigger bits
 
Yes, little and often is best as the quick recedes. If their nails are very long, the quick is longer so you cant cut much off. You must try not to cut the quick as it bleeds and hurts them. I do the same as the others usually..my OH sits them on his lap and I do the cutting :)
 
i cut 2 of my boys nails myself but dallas has to go to the vet as his nails are black and i'm not all that confident
 
Thanks guys though I think I might take my black to the vets to lol O0
 
where are you animal lover there maybe some one on here who would be willing to come and trim them for you :)
 
I would suggest you cut your pig's nails 1-2 times per month or as often as needed. I hold Shadow and my mom does the trimming with some special nail clippers for animals as I am not that confident in doing it myself pluis it takes 2 to trim a piglet's nails , 1 to hold, 1 to trim. Just be careful you don;t clip the quick. it would be painful for them but I don;t think it wouild bleed too much, if this happens, (it has not happened with me) get some paper towels or such and hold the piggy;s feet until it stops bleeding and the blood should form a clot. then I would put some special lotion or cream on their feet to help it heal. btw I was looking at my pig;s feet and noticed one of the claws got ripped off below the quick. I looked in his cage but could find nothing that he would have gotten his claws caught on, and it bled a tiny bit but formed a blackish clot I had been putting some cream on it as often as I can to help with it it had looked a bit swollen compared to his other toes. But he is perfectly alright as I was concerned about this, but my only guess what the cage bars since that would have been the only possibility that I can fathom.
 
It depends entirely on how quickly your piggies wear down their own nails.
But if they're a bit long, then yes you need to cut them. I just use normal human clippers, my mum does the clipping and I do the holding.

I think we've only needed to cut Sevi's twice in 4 years though. Her's seem to wear down anyway...perhaps it's all the different surfaces she runs on. :laugh:
 
i agree its tricky with black pigs, I'm over cautious with bobs cos I'm afraid to clip his quick, so I'm concerned that his may be a bit long, so may take him to the vets. i think he may have had his quick clipped before as he is petrified of claw clipping.

its annoying too as some of his claws are brown, therefore semi-see through and easier to cut, then the rest are black
 
How long should a piggies nails be? I'm wondering whether we should attempt it as we've had them for a month now...
 
normally you will 'know' when they need a cut, probably start looking a bit overly long or slightly curling..thats when you need to but you can always just take the tips off every 2 weeks or so that should keep them good :)

i find that my boys nails dont grow as quickly as my girls do though so i only need to clip their nails approx once a month.
 
Just trim them with normal nail clippers, saves the money and it is quite easy.


For some reason I never have to trim the front nails on mine so Thomas had to be difficult and have white front paws and black back paws :D :smitten:
 
The nails are very delicate place they should be trimmed over a course of 1 to 2 weeks if they are long as the nail has a 'quick' or a blood line get a septic pen used in shaving if you are going to trim them your self as if you cut the 'quick' then you must stick the pen it the bleeding area, your piggy WILL not like this but its eather that or bleeding to death or a infection at least.

Glad to help (if i did)

Liam O0
 
If you do cut too short they will not bleed to death or get an infection I just dab on a bit of vasaline works just as well :) I cut my piggies nails quite often :)
 
yer my friend does that he says it works but i wasnt sure i might use it next time (hopefully wont have to!) it could be a bit more comfertable for the piggie

Thanks pumkinpiggie O0

Liam
 
We Love JJ and Oli said:
Can I file my guinea pigs nails?
Click to expand...

Yep you can file them, just not too far of course ;) Some people prefer to file piggies nails if they're black O0 Other people just cut, other people cut then file..it just depends what you're comfortable with :)
 
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