Another question for you guys (I swear I'll get the hang of this!). My babies really need their nails trimmed... Fizzgig tore my hands up last night during tent time. He hangs from the top of the tent and drops onto the back of my hand. The problem is they will NOT let me pick them up yet and I'm afraid of stressing them out and undoing all the progress we've made so far. Do you think it's better from me to trim them or to take them to the vet? It absolutely has to be done, I'm just not sure what the better solution would be...

Most vets charge around 10 bucks. I do Rue's clippings myself, but every time I do, I'm a nervous wreck. I use baby nail clippers and hold fleece around his head. He's very calm when I do it, but I stress. One time I was clipping one nail, and another got trapped in the clippers where I couldn't see it. If my boyfriend wouldn't have noticed it, I would've clipped his whole nail off! ):

Lucky Glider has a good video on how to clip nails. That helped me a lot.

If you are scared take him to the vet, so they can trim his nails.

If you trim there nails in the day, when they are sleepy that will also help. Have somebody hold him in fleece and you trim the tips with baby nail clipers.

~Erica~

Just got done clipping all 5 of mine.

It helps so much if you have another pair of hands. I nab one of my kids (youngest is 16 so I'm not talking young children) or the hubby. Get a nice large piece of fleece to wrap them in so they can't bite...daytime is a plus cuz they're sleepy...have someone hold them securely while you work the paw & the clippers. It's much less nerve wracking than trying to tackle the job yourself.

And they get showered with mealies when the clipping is done. The more you do it the more relaxed they are with the process. I was so proud of every single one of mine today...even mean 'ol Kodah sat still while I snipped. I snuck in some pets, pats, and even a kiss on the head and he tolerated every bit of it...he's come such a long way!

Awww, good for Kodah! :D

I'll have to have my boyfriend help me next time! I've always just done clippings alone.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by sierranevadaK</i>
<br />Awww, good for Kodah! :D

I'll have to have my boyfriend help me next time! I've always just done clippings alone.
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Oh you'll be amazed at how much easier it is. Just wrap them in fleece, gently but securely securing the head and pull out one paw at a time. My daughter helped me today. She holds them securely against her body so there's no sudden movements. I hold the paw so the nails are against my thumbnail so I can just take the tip of the cuticle clippers, braced against my nail as well as I give a quick snip.

I like everything to be as secure as possible. It scares me if they can quickly jerk their paw away. I'm afraid of snipping the cuticle or a paw pad. And with nerves comes my hand shaking a bit so I make sure everything is as stable as possible before I make that clip!

Oh, the hand trembling is terrible! Last time I was shaking so bad that I had to stop and do the back paws later. Rue's grooming claws stay about the same length, so I normally don't have to trim those.

You're not supposed to clip the grooming nails.

I never have,...not sure what happens if you do.

I trimmed them once shortly after I got Rue. I noticed that they've never really grown so I haven't had to do it again. I never knew that you weren't supposed to trim those. o:

They grow back just like the others - some say not to clip the grooming nails because they need them to groom, but they can still use them with the tip trimmed a bit. They are thinner and I feel that could more easily catch on things so I typically do them if they're looking long - probably not every time as they don't seem to need it as often.

I've had one of the sandy trimmer inserts in Luna's Wodent Wheel. The insert only goes in one or two nights a week, but it's just gotten to the point where they were too long, and they HAD to be trimmed. I literally JUST finished clipping her nails for the first time. My breeder, Cathy Hart, showed me how to do it, but this is the first time I've done it.

I used a really small pair of fingernail clippers. And I had Luna inside her bonding pouch while I pulled out one paw at a time. She HATED it. I know I didn't hurt her, because I barely clipped them at all, and I was nowhere near the cuticle, but she was SO upset. She nipped me like three times, and one was fairly hard. :[ And she kept trying to take her paw out of my hand and flipping over in circles in the pouch to slip away. I had to have two or three goes at each paw to get it all done. She got really shaken up. She would flinch and try to run away every time I cut one. And she was shaking and really upset halfway through. I kept snuggling her and giving her yogurt drops and talking to her. Kept telling her it wasn't going to take long, and I promised not to cut enough to hurt her (I talk to her as if she understands all the words I'm saying). I have really steady hands, but it was difficult when she was trying so hard to get her paw back from me. I had to hold it really tightly to ensure she couldn't move it and make me accidentally hurt her. Two people sounds like a much better idea; I'm getting my roommate to hold her next time while I do it.

She's still upset with me though. None of them bled, and I BARELY trimmed them. (Although her nails feel SO much better holding onto my skin now). But they were getting caught on things, hurting me, and making it hard for her to get around. And I'm poor. She's not going to the vet to get her nails trimmed if I can do it myself. I have a vet fund saved up, but I'm saving it for actual problems she may have (hopefully she'll never have any health problems). I feel so bad though. She's all sulky now. And I definitely missed one nail.... *Explicative!* I'm going to go get it. This is going to be so much fun.

I totally envy the people who can do alone....I just can't, and to be honest, like you said if you cant do it skillfully alone it just causes them undo stress IMO. With someone helping me I can get all 5 of mine done in about 15 min. Alone it would take me probably an hr to do one glider. Just make sure that whoever you have doing the holding is confident otherwise they are afraid to hold securely & odds are they or you will get nipped.

trimming nails is always easy for me lol.. cz i did their nails when theyre asleep..they wont stress out or anything..they just feel comfortable and so am i.. itll get done very fast too..you just have to hold their paw firmly and WALA*snap* YOURE DONE.. you should try it. maybe it works out perfectly for you like me.

GOOD LUCK~!!