Some Advice Needed For The Caravanning Cavies

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karonus

karonus

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Need some advice from the longer standing members of the forum.

First one concerns Astro, we have noticed for some time now that the claws on his front right paw curl a lot more than the others. Although I keep them trimmed (being black they are awkward) they do curl quite dramatically and it sometimes looks as though he keeps hi paw in a fist. It doesnt seem to affect him walking and he only makes a fist when he is picked up, but the tight curl his claws make does worry me.

The second one concerns Star and we are wondering if her antics might be age related. She has started snuggling into the fleece more, on some occasions wrapping the fleece around her like a snood. She is also spending more time in the snuggles.

I look forward to comments
 
Aww poor Star. It sounds like it could be old age. I would get Astros nails checked out to ensure they are not making him feel uncomfortable.
 
Well Star will be 5 in July (we had her at 8 weeks beginning of September) and Astro doesnt show discomfort, just makes a fist when you pick him up.
 
Aww . Amelia Jane is five and a half and she is the same. She is always snuggled up.
 
My own Star is my oldy and she snuggles too. It may be an idea to get them both checked out, Star for a general check over and Astro's nails too.
 
The tight curl on outside front nail seems to be fairly common. The only downside I see is they tend to accumulate dirt on the inside of the curve which needs a little scrape. I cut the guinea pigs nails at Bunny Burrows Small Animal Rescue & several have nails like this as well as 2 of my own.

I don't know muck about Star's behaviour but it could be age related.
 
Our boy Wallace has one nail on his front foot that seems to grow faster than his others and also tends to form a tight curl.. as @Stewybus says.. x
 
I don't think it's a problem to them. I just cut a little off them, often.
 
One of my housemates piggies had terribly curled feet, but this was because before they adopted them, they had been neglected and had very long nails. Some pigs seem unfortunately prone to curly feet though, as one of my pigs ended up with this despite constant nail trimming. They became curled sideways very tightly with the slightest length on his nails. The only thing I worried about with them was when he put his feet up on the bars sometimes he could catch a toe on the bars. He never did any damage to his feet though and never seemed in discomfort. My current piggie Eddie had one slightly curled toe last time I cut his nails, but once it was cut back again it returned to normal. He has neat feet again! I agree with the others for definite that little and often cutting nails does the trick, but like I mentioned some pigs just seem particularly prone to it.
 
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