Guinea pig will not let me cut her nails! Grrr!

[Sarah-sore]

Whenever I try and cut Lillith's front nails she'll try and bit me and with the back ones she'll pull her leg or even worst she'll be still for a second and right as I'm about to cut she'll pull away. grrrrgrrrrgrrrrgrrrr She is making me sooooo frustrated! Rusty doesnt act this way she just eats her veggies and occasionally she'll pull away but not like this!
Lillith was trying to get away so badly she was contaminating a 3 foot drop off the chair she was on!!
I'll put veggies in front of Lillith and she does not care for them, I dont really like it when I get other people involved because I don't 100% trust them.
I dont know what to do, I'm at my wits end. Is there anyway to do this other than going to a vetmallethead

 

[Amanda1801]

Whenever I try and cut Lillith's front nails she'll try and bit me and with the back ones she'll pull her leg or even worst she'll be still for a second and right as I'm about to cut she'll pull away. grrrrgrrrrgrrrrgrrrr She is making me sooooo frustrated! Rusty doesnt act this way she just eats her veggies and occasionally she'll pull away but not like this! Lillith
was trying to get away so badly she was contaminating a 3 foot drop off the chair she was on!!
I'll veggies in front of Lillith and she does not care for them, I dont really like it when I get other people involved because I don't 100% trust them.
I dont know what to do, I'm at my wits end. Is there anyway to do this other than going to a vetmallethead

Nail clipping is easy..... when you're confident and confidence comes with experience!

I'd really recommend going to the vets for this for a few times. Make an appointment with a nurse, it's much cheaper. Let them use their years of experience to find the best way of doing it, get them to show you, then maybe next time, take her in and you do it while they supervise until you're happy doing it at home

 

[AbbyGuinea]

It might be worth going to the vets a few times so they can show you what to do!

With my wriggly piggies I get my mother to hold the guinea pig for me so the piggies back is against her front and its tootsies are easy to get to! I then take bit by bit off the nails.

My quieter piggies I can do myself and it takes minutes!

As soon as my mum holds them like this (a hand under the bum) the piggies stay still!

 

[Strawberries]

I'm still new at nail cutting.

We do the 2 person routine too...I do the holding of the piggie with them facing away from me and held to my tummy while I'm sitting down...and my hubby cuts the nails.

We have an agreement...my job is to hold and not jump when the pigs jump...so I look away and think about something else and with great determination I can actually do it. That helps hubby stay calm while he clips, because he is a little squeamish too.

We have done it about 3 times now. Last time we nicked the quick on one toe on each piggie and it bled...and we felt bad, but with stiptix it stopped and they were both fine. We felt guilty all day though :0

It is a learning curve. It is not something I enjoy...but it gets done.

 

[Lil-Ninnibig]

Ditto is exactly the same ! I now have my OH hold him up for me so dittos bottom is on my OH knee and ditto is facing me sat in front of my OH so his back legs are stuck out in front of him, as i have both hands free i can hold his back leg still and quickly nip off the tips of his claws. The front ones are abit trickier, i have to let my OH distract him with cucumber while i put the clippers flat to my leg struggle to get them round the tip of the claw without ditto noticing and nip them off.. I now have put a stone under dittos water bottle so everytime he goes for a drinj he has to stand and climb up the stone wearing his nails down abit so they need clipping less often...

 

[Wiebke]

Sometimes it also helps with a very wiggly piggy to take it out of its comfort zone and go into another room, especially if you haven;t got somebody else to hold your piggy. The more you do it, the more confident you get and the piggies will pick up on that.