Nails/Nail Trimming I finally did it! Only took me 37 minutes...

Good for you for trimming them yourself! Only one cut quick out of 28, nice job!

@ThePigAlchemist, I probably could have got through Daisy in less than 10 minutes with how well she behaved, but I was being super cautious since I haven't cut GP nails for about 10 years! I have a feeling you're right and it'll just get easier from here on out. I hope Minnie warms up to it a little more, especially since now I can do it myself, I can do it more regularly to get them more familiar with it. It was pretty hard to cut tiny slivers off though. I'll have to hone my technique lol
@pigger123 good for me and my purse! I've been spending £13 on having them done at the vets until now, £21 if you count the taxi money there and back! Now that I don't have to keep money aside for trimming, I can put it in to their emergency fund for ops or meds instead It would've been no quicks if Minnie hadn't managed to get me! I was being really sneaky and just doing one nail at a time before she could realise and try to bite me, and she was just too quick on the very last one :sad:

Well done! I was terrified to do this the first time, but I got the hang of it quickly and now it's no big deal for me or the piggies. Congrats on passing this huge milestone!

@pippypoppy2, I tried it when I first got them and Daisy squeaked like she was in pain, so I was adamant I could never do it again! Once I convinced them to eat carrot and it rapidly became a favourite, I decided to try it since carrot's supposed to be a popular distraction lol

Princess_Piggie said:

@pippypoppy2, I tried it when I first got them and Daisy squeaked like she was in pain, so I was adamant I could never do it again! Once I convinced them to eat carrot and it rapidly became a favourite, I decided to try it since carrot's supposed to be a popular distraction lol

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Pippy did the squeaky thing too and I panicked but once I found the right hold it all worked out. I think it's all about figuring out what works best for each individual piggy. Nice work with the carrot

I have to hold the front of the foot, right behind the "knuckles" if you will. It keeps their toes spread so I'm not worrying about clipping a different toe by mistake lol Plus if I don't get a good firm grip in that area on Minnie she tucks her toes in so I can't clip them!

Yay, great job! I'm not sure I'll ever be able to cut Ferb's, the vet and her tech cut them last week and the vet was only touching Ferb's foot and he was screaming like she was cutting his leg off. The vet was really impressed by his reaction to foot touching. Clearly he has a major issue.

@Rywen I have read a lot of your posts on various threads. Your Ferb sounds like a real character! lol I just recently started clipping my own pigs' nails because I got a third pig and it would be $45 every month and a half or so to have the vet do it. It really didn't go as bad as I had expected. I've really been working with Penelope to get used to being held and she is coming along very well from when I first got her.

On a true note, great accomplishment!

3 out of my 4 guinea pigs are absolute angels when it comes to nail clipping... and then there's Gretchen. Her nails sometimes turn into a 3 person job because she screams and will start lunging for your fingers. I have no clue why she's so against the clipping, I've never once made her bleed but alas, she thinks death is coming when she's getting a trim!

@sallyvh she and Ferb must be related! @MLT2007 the pet sitter was impressed with Ferb's rumbling. I think he needs his own reality show!

Congratulations on that feat! I am still terrified of cutting my piggies' nails without assistance, but we all need to do it. Haha! I still can't cut my little Freya's nails without another person holding her and feeding her a baby carrot because she's always struggling. Then when the clipper is near her nail, she will squeal like she is in pain, when in fact I haven't cut anything yet. What an actress XD

I am scared of cutting into the quick though! Ahhh but it's good that it didn't look like she was hurt too much