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doing nails wrong all this time!

biscandmatt1

Wise Old Thumper
well the left side anyway. how on earth do you get a position being able to hold them without having to twist your wrist around :? i cut the right side fine, and at the correct angle, but then i was repeating the same angle on the left side, which is obviously wrong :(

just done bisc's nails and the piggies. hurt my back trying to trim them as they're meant to be trimmed. i don't get it. also cut mollie's quick on her back foot :(
 
I didn't know you were supposed to cut them at an angle left to right anyway :? So I'm probably doing it all wrong anyhow. I find it much easier to have someone to hold them whilst I do the clipping, or vice versa :thumb: I'm sure Mollie will be fine and will forgive you :thumb: years ago with one of my bridge bunnies, I cut the quick, she was so feisty and moved just as I clipped, I was mortified but she was fine and soon forgave me. Now I try to shine a torch so I can see the quick, and it's easier to avoid then :thumb: also I find if I close the clippers without cutting for a split second first then if I'm too close the rabbit will flinch, and then I can reposition if necessary :thumb:
 
I didn't know you were supposed to cut them at an angle left to right anyway :? So I'm probably doing it all wrong anyhow. I find it much easier to have someone to hold them whilst I do the clipping, or vice versa :thumb: I'm sure Mollie will be fine and will forgive you :thumb: years ago with one of my bridge bunnies, I cut the quick, she was so feisty and moved just as I clipped, I was mortified but she was fine and soon forgave me. Now I try to shine a torch so I can see the quick, and it's easier to avoid then :thumb: also I find if I close the clippers without cutting for a split second first then if I'm too close the rabbit will flinch, and then I can reposition if necessary :thumb:

o/h holds them which makes it even harder as i then have to flip the image of what i'm meant to be doing in my head, and i can't do it! :shock:

the torch thankfully works for bisc and eddie as they have dark nails. but mollie's are completely black and i can't see the quick even with the torch. i misjudged one and caught the very end of the quick. she squealed a little. i dipped the nail in flour and it stopped bleeding quickly. luckily she seems fine and has forgiven me. :love: the only one i have caught badly was ches piggy, and he had clear nails :roll: but he moved just as i went to cut. i felt terrible for ages after. i've never caught bisc, matt, maisie or eddie. poor mollie has only been here a month aswell.

the angle is meant to be 45 degree apparently, but going the opposite way each side (hard to explain properly!) - would be much easier to just cut them straight if you ask me :roll: but i guess they don't lie against the ground as they should then, and apparently aren't comfortable for them.
 
Oh dear, I've been doing it wrong then :oops: I just cut them so they are tapered so they are very slightly longer at the front than the back of the nail thinking they all seem flat to the floor then :oops:
 
There's an angle... :shock: I've definitely never done that....

Is it that important? I've never done it and mine have never had issues getting around or looked uncomfortable (although I guess as rabbits they might've hidden their discomfort...)

I used to get OH to hold Harvey to do his nails and used the torch, the most difficult thing I find is moving the mountains of toe fluff to see the nail and then somehow managing to hold it out the way so I can see where I'm cutting!

I sit Lilly on a towel on the table, I cut her front claws like that using a torch, then I wrap the towel loosely over her head and do the back ones, she chews the towel as I do so in an attempt to make an escape route and partly as comfort I think! Even a tiny treat will make her forget nail trimming though!

I can't work out how to even do the angle though when I'm fighting with a reluctant rabbit and when there's so much fluff on those feet I can hardly see the nails to cut straight anyway!
 
I'm probably being really stupid, but are you sure it's not 45 degrees to the floor?

I get OH to hold them and cut them straight or slightly longer at the front than the back. Mack is the only rabbit whose quick I haven't hit, and that's only because his is so easy to see. I love black bunnies but their claws are a nightmare, Eli's super thick nails were the worst, barely visible even with a torch - luckily he was the easiest natured rabbit so you could gently squeeze and see if he pulled away before cutting.
 
I'm probably being really stupid, but are you sure it's not 45 degrees to the floor?

I get OH to hold them and cut them straight or slightly longer at the front than the back. Mack is the only rabbit whose quick I haven't hit, and that's only because his is so easy to see. I love black bunnies but their claws are a nightmare, Eli's super thick nails were the worst, barely visible even with a torch - luckily he was the easiest natured rabbit so you could gently squeeze and see if he pulled away before cutting.

That's how I've always done it, but I don't know if that's right now :?
 
I'm probably being really stupid, but are you sure it's not 45 degrees to the floor?

I get OH to hold them and cut them straight or slightly longer at the front than the back. Mack is the only rabbit whose quick I haven't hit, and that's only because his is so easy to see. I love black bunnies but their claws are a nightmare, Eli's super thick nails were the worst, barely visible even with a torch - luckily he was the easiest natured rabbit so you could gently squeeze and see if he pulled away before cutting.

This is how I cut actually, slightly longer at the front if I can, so the end of the claw sits against the floor, although that is easier said than done... Even with those intentions not all of Lilly's nails end up looking like that!
 
i probably haven't explained very well, but yes, it's the angle so they sit against the floor kind of to a point. i just meant i can do that easily on the right side, but struggle to twist my wrist to do the left side, so i just used to use the same angle on each side, rather then angling the clippers around. hope that makes sense :oops:
 
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