Guide to Cutting Guinea Pig Nails

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Ani said:
what do you use to cut your guinea pigs nails?
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I use human nail clippers (not the toe nail ones). I get on alot better with them than the small animal nail clippers.
 
I also use human nail clippers. any sort of scissors are too dangerous so close to the piggy toes, especially if they are squirming about!
I personally wouldn't take my pigs to the vets for their nails cutting because I think they'd find it even more traumatic than me and my partner cutting them. Also, I took my old hamster for his nails cutting (he didn't move around as much when he was getting older and his nails started to curl) I couldn't physically have done it myself so I had to take him - they charged me £10 for about 2 minutes work!
I cut my pigs nails about every 6-8 weeks so it'd soon add up.
There's a guinea pig rescue near us in Leeds who have dozens of pigs and offer to cut other people's piggie's nails for a donation to the rescue, could be cash or bedding, veg, toys etc. You could look in your area?
I think the best thing to do it just get used to doing it. They don't like it but its not painful for them and they soon forget when bribed afterwards with some cucumber! its best to have one person holding the pig to their chest facing outwards and then another person to quickly hold on to the feet and snip!
 
What do you do if they wriggle too much and you can't get a good grip before you clip? One of my piggies is fine but the other is too wiggly and he has the longest nails.
 
You can try to wrap them in a towel, distract them with some food or simply do each nail one by one, even if it takes several days. Most piggies will calm down somewhat eventually, although some can scream down the house as if they were being murdered!
 
I am struggling a bit with nail cuttingrolleyes The teenage piggies nails are OK to cut as they are mainly white/ clear and grow straight. However, they do seem to 'crush' slightly if you cut too much at once.
However, my big adopted boars have tough nails of all colours and they seem to grow curved very quickly. Does this mean they were overgrown in the past and will now always tend to curve? Is it best to just try a little and often for them? They are not loving the leg sticking out of the towel trick - they know what is coming!:)
 
soo happy i found this thread ! our piggys nails are too long as they are feeling sharp i was considering popping them onto the paving area to reduce them naturally but was unsure, but I'm off out in a mo to get our little piggys onto the paving while the rain has stopped :) ( i may pop something over to shelter them a little if it suddenly starts to pour ) x
 
I give my piggies nails a trim once a month (religiously marked on my piggy calendar) then i know how much to trim

I try to do it near the window when its sunny so i can clearly see the quick

I use special guinea pig nail cutters which are very efficient and work a treat

So far so good :))
 
Not sure if this has already been asked as there are so many posts! But my problem is that one of my guinea pigs has black nails.. just on one foot. I have no trouble cutting his other nails but the black ones seem to be getting way too long. I just trimmed them down a little bit.. wondering how long it takes before the quick recedes? I want to trim them a bit again to get them to a normal length but don't want to end up snipping too far. Thanks in advance :)
 
Lots of useful info here, many thanks! Thinking we may need to trim ours soon, but they're not settled yet. We've only had them a week.

Salt fidgets a bit when we pick him up, but is okay after that - not sure about cutting the nails yet. As for Pepper, he's still too nervous.
 
Thank you for the information. cut my two boys nails for the very first time this evening and didnt have a single problem! much much easier than I expected.

Thanks again :o):))
 
My pigs all need their nails clipping, but I'm very nervous about doing it - they've always gone to the vets. Going to try it today so fingers crossed. :)
 
first little nail trim went ok...they squealed thier heads off and if id not a towel wrapped round the part of the pig that bites, I'd have been bitten. but anyways...that was a few weeks ago. decided i would gently file them tonight as they are getting rather sharp ..and oh boy. either they learned the loopholes from the trimming episode, or flat out they've just gotten less scared and more wiggley. I was scratched, screamed at...bitten THRU the towel (not hard, but i did feel it)...and then we had, I'll do an alligator roll over and over so you cant get to my feet. .....

UGH! advice...because god knows if they go to do that next time I'm TRIMMING...i may not be able to get them trimmed.
 
I have not had to cut my piggies nails yet but I'm sure this will help me greatly when I do.

Thank you :)
 
Does anyone have any advice on how to do the 'thumbs'. One of my piggies (black pig, black nails - urgh) just won't let me get near her 'thumb' without taking a chunk of my hands and wriggling like mad. It's a real struggle and I wondered if anyone has any tips? I've put a brick under their hayrack in their cage in the hope they'll wear it down - but no such luck as yet!
 
I find nail trimming best done as a 'two-person' job. My daughter holds each pig just underneath their front paws (so they cannot get to her hands and nip/bite/struggle) and lays them against her chest (if that makes sense) i then hold each paw and trim each nail - it's done very quickly, so less stress for them and less stress for us - we did all 10 pigs (front and back paws) last night in about 15mins.

There are a couple of my boys who will just sit there while you lift each paw and trim their nails so long as you distract with some food.

A couple of my girls scream at each nail cut rolleyes
 
Cut my boys nails for the first using your instruction, went very well. So much easier with the clear nails than black that is for sure!
 
If he has white nails its easy. The pink in the nail is where the blood starts. Cut as close as you feel comfortable doing .
If it has dark nails cut a little at a time and look at the center of the nail. There will be a dark spot in the center with like white powder around it.The closer you get to where the blood starts ,the bigger the circle gets.
 
Mine are exactly the same no matter how happy distracted by food or relaxed soon as they enter the position they wiggle scream and try to run away whihc means I do tend to miss where I want to hit :( x
 
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