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nail cutting

Laura M.

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
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How do you cut nails? I have heard various stuff, but I want step-by-step with pictures
 
It is worth investing in some proper nail cutting scissors like the ones that the vets use from off somewhere like Amazon. It is worth getting the vet to show you how to do it first.

Guinea pigs nails have a quick in them with the blood supply - so you need to be careful when you cut and only take the tips of the nails, if your guinea pig has black nails it can be more difficult to see this, so you need to shine a torch underneath the nail to show you where the blood supply is. I am sure there are lots of videos on YouTube

We do nail cutting as a two person job, I hold the piggy while my wife trims the nails
 
I cut my piggies nails roughly every two weeks but it depends on how much they grow.
I have a towel on my lap and put one of them on the towel.
If they wriggle I give them some food to keep them distracted and I hold one foot at a time and use nail clippers to take a small amount off each nail.

Acorn (one of my piggies) has both black and light brown nails.
With the black nails you can't see the quick (where the blood goes to and where you shouldn't cut).
So I am very careful with those nails and only take a small amount off. As said before you can use a torch to see the quick in black nails but I don't have enough hands when I am doing it on my own so I just air on the side of caution and take a really small amount off.
The light brown nails you can see the quick and so I cut above it so she doesn't bleed which would be uncomfortable for her.

It used to be a two person job where I would get someone to hold the pig while I cut the nails but I can manage with them on my lap on my own.
Hazel is normally amazing and will sit still for me without food but Acorn is more curious and wants to lick my hands and sniff the nail clippers which hinders the nail cutting quite a bit 😂
I hope this helps 😀
 
I use a really small animals nail clippers the day I bought it I'm not sure if all places do it but I asked the girl in the shop where I bought it as she has guinea pigs as pets and she takes care of the ones in the shop so she took one out and showed me how to trim there nails
 
How do you cut nails? I have heard various stuff, but I want step-by-step with pictures
Hello,

My exotic vet told me to use a towel to gently hold him, and watch out for the quick.
I also put a photo of scissors I use for my piggies. Hope this helps.
IMG_4252.JPG
 
My 3 guinea pigs have black nails and there have been a few disasters with nail cutting so I take them to a specific vet to get done. But yes there is stuff in youtube. I also tried a grinder to remove the end of the nails rather than cut which was easier.
 
It isnt that difficult to cut nails if you have a co operative pig with light coloured nails. Dark coloured are trickier. I use human nail clippers like the ones in the pic above.
We always make it a 2 man job! My man holds each pig and i cut the nails. I have drawn blood a couple of times over the years - just dipping the cut end in flour sorts it.

I have had pigs with dark and light coloured nails. We have always managed them all pretty easily. If your pig has light nails and you can see the blood inside, i would have a go yourself. You will be surprised how easy it is!
 
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