It's time for the claw cutting again.. (Question about stress and treats)

[bekked]

It's that dreaded time in the bek household again, where it is time to cut all my piggies claws.
My vet showed me how to do this with my first piggie, going on ten years ago, and ever since then I've never had a problem with the actual cutting, but it's still a distressing time for everone included, me and the piggies!

Whilst I'm very gentle at the actual cutting of claws and never have any problems cutting them without hurting the piggies, they just hate hate hate being held and having their paws held!
No matter how placid the guinea pig, they all get upset when I have to hold them still to make sure I dont make mistakes when cutting their claws.

Apart from the usual cuddles and treats afterwards, does anyone here do anything specific to help your piggies chill out so they're less likely to get stressed?

 

[Ilovemypigs]

I'm quite lucky..out of 7 pigs, theres only 2 that don't like it. I just try and do it as quickly as possible, over and done with in minutes. Then lots of cuddles and veggies to forget about it

 

[Wiebke]

I fit it into cuddle/grooming time. They may not be happy, but they are all used to the routine and not really fazed with it.

Why not distract them with some nice dandelion or a plate of grass on your knees? Piggies tend to forget about their body when they are stuffing themselves. I have found that technique to be extremely useful when it comes to gettin ointment into piggies eyes!

 

[bekked]

Thanks guys, hehehe it seems the way to a guinea pigs heart really is through it's tummy!

And thanks for not shouting at me, I was a bit scared people might think I was asking for advice on how to actually cut the claws (I saw the big massive stickied thread at the top of the forum) and not just asking how to calm the piggies down to make the situation less stressfull.
Thanks for understanding!

I'm worried more about the stress than anything else. Some of my pigs are getting on a bit now, and I've heard that too much stress can give older guinea pigs heart attacks?! :O

 

[sport_billy]

We use bribery with parsley. With pitch we were able to do anything to her as long as she had parsley but no parsley no claw clipping!

 

[Amanda1801]

My guys are happy about their feet being touched, as I make sure I examine them daily so it's just the norm for them now. Then again, mine are so stupidly laid back, you can do anything to them anyway.

How do you hold them to cut their claws? One of mine prefers to be tipped back to have his claws cut, where as the others prefer being sat normally.

If claw cutting is that stressful, could you keep the nails down another way? You could put them in a run on the patio if you have one for a few hours every 2 or 3 days, this normally works quite well at keeping the nails down!

 

[MissAqua]

All my pigs have been different and each one has a different distraction.

Mo - Just do it quickly and he will be fine, a bit of parsley to distract, its the noise he does not like, if only I could find quiet nail clippers!
Caramel - One lettace leaf and you can take your time
Previous pigs:
Toffee - Complete nightmare, she would stress herself out so much, get hot and bothered and when I put her back she would lay down exhausted so I decided that one foot a day was best and this worked great!
Biscuit - Didn't care, no distraction needed.
Spike - You needed gardening gloves for this one, he was a biter, one person holding the other one clipping, could not be distracted by any food!

One trick I have used is whilst they are eating for front paws, get them to stand on your left hand and clip using the other on rather than you trying to pick it up, its the restraing they hate.

Good Luck!