Nail clipping difficulty

[Bigsize9fot]

Hi,
We have 2 rescue girls aged about 1-2 who’ve been with us just over 2 months. One girl (Tilly) is quite bold- will climb on your knee and runs around quite the thing but will not tolerate handling of any kind. I lift her in a tube. She won’t entertain even the usual favourite spots of an ear or chin rub. I’ve tried to clip her claws today. They were done when they left the rehoming centre. I feel I’ve left them as long as I can. I managed to get one foot but she became quite distressed. Tried wrapping in a towel and distracting with veg- no luck. She became so distressed that her cage mate who is much more timid and hides away became distressed too.

Any advice? The quieter girl (Betty) let me do her back claws but became distressed when trying to do the front ones.

The rehoming centre said they would do them for us but it’s a 3 hour round trip. Incidentally they just picked them up and cut them holding them with no problem!

 

[Deleted member 147316]

Hi,
We have 2 rescue girls aged about 1-2 who’ve been with us just over 2 months. One girl (Tilly) is quite bold- will climb on your knee and runs around quite the thing but will not tolerate handling of any kind. I lift her in a tube. She won’t entertain even the usual favourite spots of an ear or chin rub. I’ve tried to clip her claws today. They were done when they left the rehoming centre. I feel I’ve left them as long as I can. I managed to get one foot but she became quite distressed. Tried wrapping in a towel and distracting with veg- no luck. She became so distressed that her cage mate who is much more timid and hides away became distressed too.

Any advice? The quieter girl (Betty) let me do her back claws but became distressed when trying to do the front ones.

The rehoming centre said they would do them for us but it’s a 3 hour round trip. Incidentally they just picked them up and cut them holding them with no problem!

Start off by hand giving her treats and by stroking her as she eats since this will distract her. Do this and get her used to your hand. Once she's ready to be stroked, lift her up and hold her back against your chest. Then you can clip her nails either on your own or with someone else either holding her or clipping her. Just saying, two-person clipping is a bit easier! Getting her used to your hand varies between each animal but it usually takes 5-7 days. For Cloud, it was 1/2 and hour but Jet took 4 days. Once they are used to your gand, it will take around 2-6 days for you to be trusted enough to clip her. Some guinea pigs, like Jet, take a lifelong hatred to nail clipping. If you want to know what to do if she has a life long hatred, just ask and i'll tell you how to clip her anyway when she wriggles away. Hope this (my first ever response!) is helpful! Good luck!

 

[Deleted member 147316]

Hi,
We have 2 rescue girls aged about 1-2 who’ve been with us just over 2 months. One girl (Tilly) is quite bold- will climb on your knee and runs around quite the thing but will not tolerate handling of any kind. I lift her in a tube. She won’t entertain even the usual favourite spots of an ear or chin rub. I’ve tried to clip her claws today. They were done when they left the rehoming centre. I feel I’ve left them as long as I can. I managed to get one foot but she became quite distressed. Tried wrapping in a towel and distracting with veg- no luck. She became so distressed that her cage mate who is much more timid and hides away became distressed too.

Any advice? The quieter girl (Betty) let me do her back claws but became distressed when trying to do the front ones.

The rehoming centre said they would do them for us but it’s a 3 hour round trip. Incidentally they just picked them up and cut them holding them with no problem!

Also, you can have her buddy alongside her when you're clipping so they are together. This will calm them but if that doesn't work then combine it with a big bowl of veg! This should make them perfectly content. If these fail too, whisper quietly and calmly to them and stroke them to make her calm before the nail clipping!

 

[Tigermoth]

To some extent they pick up your vibe and so if you are nervous then they will be too.

I used to do it with my husband, one of us would hold them and the other would snip. There was lots of flinching and squeeking all round. I had to do them myself one day and just cracked on, no nonsense and it was much easier! I think we were worrying them by trying to be too nice!

 

[Piggies&buns]

I agree with @Tigermoth - they can pick up on your nervousness.
Their like or dislike of being handled may never change - most piggies don’t like it but some will learn to tolerate. For my two, it definitely a dislike of being handled (one more than the other) but if I’m quick I can get at least a few nails done! I dont go in with the idea of doing all feet a once but instead it can take a few days to get them all done and only doing as much as they will tolerate each time. Wrapping them in a towel can help - i found it worked for the front feet - but was more of a hindrance for the back feet and I battled more with the towel than I do the boys!

 

[Bigsize9fot]

Thank you everyone! I’ve been trying for a long time to get Tilly to accept me touching her with my hand. Only very occasionally Will she be distracted by a hidden pea flake in the hay and let me touch her. Otherwise she bucks and squeaks and bites (not hard but enough to let you know) it’s not that’s she’s scared as she is pretty bold- she just seems to hate being touched. She is quite good jumping in the tube for transporting though

Betty will tolerate being touched but generally I think this is because she is absolutely terrified. She still runs off when we go into the room and hides.

I shall try a foot at a time. I did try going back tonight to do another of Tilly’s feet but she was wise to it.

Our last girls stood quite nicely on a puppy pad to have their nails and hair clipped.