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Need advice about nail clipping with VERY scared bunny.

chloemurray

chloemurray

Warren Veteran
I could really do with some advice about clipping nails. Some of you might know that I have a single bunny, Nahla, who is afraid of virtually everything. (Including other rabbits, I'm attempting for the final time to bond her in the next few weeks!:shock:)

Her nails have gotten quite long and they really need clipping, but she gets so stressed that I honestly feel like she could drop dead from fear. Last time I took her to the vets, but the car trip stressed her out even more and the vet ended up having to trance her to keep her still :cry: it really upset me because I hate trancing. I don't want to take her to the vet for nail clipping again as she was even more scared after the car ride, but I just don't know what to do to make it easier for her.

Has anyone got any advice?
 
Poor Nahla. Is there anyone bunny savvy nearby who could come and help? Perhaps a fellow RU member.


Pity I don't live near to you as I would happily come and help you clip her claws. I'm off to another RU member's house this morning to clip her four bunnies' claws.


I hope you manage to sort something out.:thumb:
 
Mrs. Bunnykins said:
Poor Nahla. Is there anyone bunny savvy nearby who could come and help? Perhaps a fellow RU member.


Pity I don't live near to you as I would happily come and help you clip her claws. I'm off to another RU member's house this morning to clip her four bunnies' claws.


I hope you manage to sort something out.:thumb:
Click to expand...

You're so lovely :)

I hope I get something sorted too, it's horrible seeing her stressed out!
 
light or dark nails?
either way, you hold the bun comfortably, affect a confident manner, and press gently near the end of the nail with the clippers. if it hurts, you're too far down and the bun will move her foot away. if you only take a tiny bit at a time, you rarely reach that point of causing pain, so pressing isn't a cruelty, just a precaution against hurting the bun even more.
if she's scared of everything, she'll be much better with you doing it.
eta: she's not a conti, is she? my system works well on my mini lops but what i'd do with a giant, i don't know!
 
happybun said:
light or dark nails?
either way, you hold the bun comfortably, affect a confident manner, and press gently near the end of the nail with the clippers. if it hurts, you're too far down and the bun will move her foot away. if you only take a tiny bit at a time, you rarely reach that point of causing pain, so pressing isn't a cruelty, just a precaution against hurting the bun even more.
if she's scared of everything, she'll be much better with you doing it.
eta: she's not a conti, is she? my system works well on my mini lops but what i'd do with a giant, i don't know!
Click to expand...

Dark nails, and she's a lionhead so about the same as a mini lop. I can see what I'm doing because I've had bunnies with dark nails before, but she is genuinely terrified of physical contact and won't even let you hold her really, no matter how confident you are/try and appear to be. I wish I could adequately describe what she does when you try and hold her to clip her nails, she just goes into a blind panic and freaks out.
 
poor little thing. i've seen bunny sedatives in p@h - i've never used one - might that be a possibility?
 
Only thing I can think of is get a towel and leave it in her hutch/cage/pen so she's familiar with it and it smells of her, and try wrap it around her (maybe even cover here eyes with it) as securely as you can to stop her hurting herself and hopefully the familliar smell will calm her a little bit, and try find a way to get her paws out. You could even go as far as cutting out four holes and sticking her legs through and covering up her body and head with the rest of the towel but to be honest I've no idea how well it'd work but if she really gets that stressed and her claws are causing her pain its worth a try
 
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