Acceptable/comfortable pig claw length?

**2pigs4rats** · #1 12-13-05, 01:12 pm

How long should cavies claws be kept - what is an acceptable length, does anyone have any picture of what they should be trimmed to?
I'm pretty sure my piggies claws are too long but they hate having them cut!

**Ly&Pigs** · #2 12-13-05, 01:28 pm

They need to be kept trimmed pretty close to the quik. If you do monthly nail trimmings and keep them cut as I just suggested, then you won't have any problems. I think 1/4" nails are much too long and anything over that is even worse.

**nonamian_girl** · #3 12-13-05, 01:34 pm

If you don't cut them they'll start to curl up, and then it's REALLY hard to cut them. I usually cut off about 2-3 mm, a really small amount, but i don't let them grow more than that. i try not to get too close to the quik because if you snip it it REALLY bleeds, which is not pleasant. Try to leave a couple mms past the quik and you should be safe I think?

**kittnkarr** · #4 12-13-05, 02:33 pm

Can you file their nails? My one pig's nails don't grow as fast as the older pigs and stay rather sharp. It's like having little knives slicing you to peices when you pick him up.

I didn't want to just in case their nails were not thick or tough enough to handle an emry (sp?) board.

Thanks

**homeschoolmama** · #5 12-13-05, 02:47 pm

I was wondering about filing too... would love to know, as Juniors little black nails are sooo hard to see the quick on!

**i love piggies** · #6 12-13-05, 03:01 pm

If you hold a light or torch under Juniors nails it will be much easier to see the quick. I have a shih tzu and he has black nails, this is what I do and it works.

**Ly&Pigs** · #7 12-13-05, 03:54 pm

If you hold a light or flashlight and shine it on black nails you can see the quik pretty easily. Some of my girls have black paws. It's much better to just clip than to file them down, but if the nails are already very short and you file it weekly, then I don't see a problem with it.

**kittnkarr** · #8 12-13-05, 10:58 pm

Thanks for the feed back. Callaway's nails stay fairly short so I don't have to trim them that much. I will give it shot with the filing and see how that goes.

I was rather hoping that with having them to use bricks to get to different items in their cage that it would act as a natural file.

But alas -- it is working according to plan. Oh well

back to the drawing board for me.

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