I was just wondering if you guys had any tips.
Sure do! First of all, make a piggy burrito. Roll him up in a hand towel, place him on your lap face down and hold him against your abdomen with your left arm. That way you can use your left hand to hold the foot and your right hand to do the work. That will restrain him to some degree and make for a much easier job.
I always start with the back feet because they are more difficult and my boys dislike having them done. After the back nails are finished, I then sit him up against my abdomen and work on the front nails. I always wear a glove on the hand that I am holding them with. Even though they rarely bite, if I cause pain they will occasionally lash out and forget to not actually bite.
You use the same type of clippers that I do. Before you make the actual cut, squeeze down on the clippers just short of cutting. If you are about to cut too close, the piggy will wince and cry out. If there is none of this, then do the motion a second time and actually cut the nail. So, it's two motions.......first clamp down on the nail, and then if you are safe, make a second actual cut. This technique works really well on a cavy who has black nails. If I don't use this technique, I invariably cut at least one of Chip's nails too short......which is no fun for either of us.
I see that you are a newbie here on the Forum......welcome. There is a lot of collective experience among the members here and we love to share our knowledge. As a reminder, there is a ton of information in previous posts spanning the past 10 years. Just use the search function on the upper right.
