Black nail

[Mo & Stubbins & Vani]

Hi!
I was cutting my piggies' nails yesterday and noticed something strange when cutting Vani's nails in particular. She has quite colorful nails, including a few black ones. I held and light beneath her foot to locate the quick and then began trimming. I accidentally cut too far and was prepared for the nail to begin bleeding, but it never did. Is this normal?
Thank you!

 

[SquiglyPiggy]

It’s totally normal for guinea pigs to have different colored nails, so don’t worry about that. As for cutting the quick, it’s possible you just thought you cut too far and you actually didn’t, or something else like that. I don’t really know the deal with blood clotting and specifics of the quick, so I would say to wait for someone else to confirm.

 

[Free Ranger]

Check out Zara's creepy black nail in this pic! She's the one on the left...


I'd say you probably missed the quick and thank goodness you did because it must be painful and she'd have let you know about it!

@SquiglyPiggy I was admiring your 'nosy' avatar (I do like a big nose) but tell me - has he been eating a strawberry or has he got bald lips?!

 

[Freela]

It's normal to have black nails, and it's likely you just missed the quick when cutting, even if it looked too short. It's hard to assess on the dark-nailed pigs!