How to Trim Your Rabbit's Nails | Pet Rabbits

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So we're going to talk about how to cut your rabbits nails. And a lot of people have trouble doing this at home and they end up making it into a two person job. I've seen this in a clinic, sometimes in a clinic they have two people doing it. It's actually less stressful for the rabbit if you can just do it yourself as you do at home as I do at home. Fewer people around the rabbit, less commotion. It's just much easier. You make it a one person job. Now this bunny has not had her nails cut before. And she's a rex rabbit. Her nails a little bit different then they are in a non rex rabbit.

What's different?

We'll take a look.

Okay.

Let's watch. Their nails tend to be a little bit curlier in rexes in my experience.

Okay.

And the vessel may be a little bit. These are pretty easy to see. This rabbit has both dark nails and light nails and it doesn't make any difference what color the nails are when you use this technique because what you're going to do with this technique is you're going to use the rabbit's own feedback to let you know when you're too close to the blood vessel. Instead of depending on your eyesight to see where the blood vessel which you may or may not be able to do. You're going to squeeze on the nail a little bit.

First of all you need scissors. Like little clippers like this right? Are these for cats or something?

I think they're considered bird nail clippers but I've seen them called kitty clippers too, sometimes they have a long spike down one of the handles. I don't like that, but I put the rabbit on a towel. I want her on a towel because I want her to feel good traction which she probably feels from these little rugs too and then I press her against myself and restraint is probably the most important part of doing a nail cutting. If a rabbit is carefully and gently restrained and not over restrained, you'll get much better results and I think you've seen this at home with Dusty too. Amy's rabbit hates to be restrained. She just really doesn't like this. So the less restraint you can use, the better off you are so what I do is I put the bunny against my body and I use this part of my arm, my rolled up sleeve to press against her hind quarters like this and I pick up just one paw and then I put the clippers around the paw, just the very tip. Don't try to go down too much. And I go press, press clip. And then I'm going to put it around this nail. Press, press clip. Why am I going press, press? Because I'm giving the bunny an opportunity to react to the pressure and the position of the scissors. If I'm too close to the vessel the bunny will suddenly pull back her paw and sometimes they'll shake the paw to show you that you've sinned.

And that's the same as what they call a quick. Right?

Yea. The vessel is the quick. And the bunny will pull her paw back if you're too close to it and that gives you an opportunity to reposition your scissors because what you've done by doing press press first you've made a little white line on the nail. And if the bunny is disturbed that you're too close to the quick. She'll shake her paw to get rid of you and then she'll quiet down again and you can pick up the paw and cut on the other side of the white nail. And it won't bother her at all. So we've done a couple of nails on that paw and they're are four pointing forward nails on the front and then a dill claw, a fifth one which is up on the side the equivalent of our thumb and that is always hard to see. So you just do your best.

She's being so good this bunny.

Press, Press Clip.

Great.

Thank you very much.

Look at you!

That was great. That was that paw. The next paw, you're going to stand the bunny on her hind legs supporting her chest and letting the paw hang down like this. You should be able to put your chin on her head and kiss her head.

Aw. She loves that!

And this is very easy nail to visuali

[Szsweetvalentin]

"To show you you have sinned" IM DYING

[arjuna]

I have watched this video like 10-15 times with awe and respect until I finally gathered courage to do it all by myself today!
And surprisingly I succeeded. It wasn't easy but I know I will get better!
Thank you Mary and Amy! Love from India ❤️

[msdesiree]

she makes it look so easy! and that bunny is very calm. Mine hates being picked up nor she doesn't like her paws to be touched

[happypuppytruffles]

I was so scared to cut my bunnies nails, because Marshmallow loves to run, but this totally worked and I feel like a super hero! Thank you!

[mzgabbster]

Can I get a video on how to trim a rabbit who goes into full on demon mode when his feet are touched or the nail clippers come out?

[DibGoat]

I have been absolutely terrified of clipping my rabbit's nails for months, because he hates being handled so much. Tonight I finally bit the bullet and tried this technique, and to my amazement my rabbit remained almost as calm as the one in this video. I cannot thank you enough for sharing this.

[latanadelbianconiglio]

Thank you so much! I was so anxious about clipping Binky's (my bunny) nails. He's a rescue bunny and I worked so hard to develop the beautiful relationship we now have, but he hates to be picked up and would always run away from my bf, who's the only one that tried. I was scared that he would dislike me if I did, so I left my bf the job to get him used to handling him, but Binky would always just run away from him and get sheltered beside me. So today we've decided that the nail clipping had to be done, and we found your video. I was so anxious just trying to pick him up, so I was shocked because not only he let me...but he was so docile with me!! I followed your instructions and gave him lots of kisses and kept talking to him to reassure him, but I feel like he was actually the one that was reassuring me haha. Anyway, thank you so much for this video! I'm really grateful for it and Binky thanks you too! He's back here happily zooming around the house and enjoying his apple treat!^^

[brooks.]

On behalf of me and my rabbit, I want to personally thank you for this video! Brownie's previous owners had never trimmed her nails before, and since she's 1.5 years old now, they were quite long. I had tried everything I could think of (distracting with treats, clipping the nails while petting her, gently holding her down while my mom coaxed her paws out enough to reach the nails) and nothing worked. My bunny is fairly aggressive (again, this was because her previous owners mistreating her), so I was worried this wouldn't work. But now her nails are at a safer length, and we'll continue using this method until they're trimmed to perfection. Again, thank you so much!

[madijohnson]

When you look with longing and envy at the technique because you know there's no way in hell your rabbit would ever let you do that.

[Artybodydoubling]

The rabbit on this Video looks very soft and beautiful.

[jessn.]

This video is the most useful video when it comes to trimming animal nails. The pulse pulse clip thing is great. I first watched this when my rabbit was very young, and now he’s 11. Thank you!

[melissalanger]

Great advice about the "press, press, clip, " wet my Holland's paw a bit to expose the nail, and to jiggle their back foot. This makes nail clipping so much easier. Thanks!

[gamingtheia]

You've changed my life, never in my 11 years of having rabbits has nail clipping been this easy. Thank you so much!!!

[Rudedence]

You have no idea how much this series helped me raise my first rabbit, this woman is a genius. Five years later I still come back here every time when it’s time for us to do my girl’s nails.

[TheDreamsypher]

I really appreciate you guys uploading this. My rabbit's nails had been ridiculously long and it was time we got a trimming schedule, I was just too scared of hurting her. I just got done, and she was completely pain-free, happy, and best of all, it was easy. Thank you :)

[makeupholism]

She's such a good rabbit!!! my bunny would have jumped off that table in 5 seconds... I take mine to the vet, I don't dare trim his nails myself! :(

[CiaTheVideoStalker]

Thank you for this wonderful and helpful video! This video made me confident enough to trim my rabbit's nails on my own without getting help.
I don't hold my rabbit like that, but I use press-press-clip every time I trim my rabbit's nails! It really is the best tip ever.
I'm in a facebook group (about rabbits) with almost 6 000 members. Every time someone asks for advice about nail trimming they get a link to this video.

Another tip: If your bunny gets stressed out (or fed up), just cut a few nails at a time. Come back and do the other nails another time, maybe the day after. I think it's better to do it less and more often, so it's not such a big ordeal every time.

[barrettjensen]

This video singlehandedly taught us how to trim our bunny's nails. Excellent description of that to expect. The trimmers shown in the video will get dull. Once dull, they can injure so keep them sharp or buy a higher quality set of clippers. Using this method we have never clipped the nails too short. Our rabbit doesn't mind anymore as she knows what to expect. She will tear around the room and jump around afterward to celebrate.THANK YOU!!!

[homeatlaska]

This method worked PERFECTLY for my Rex who does NOT like to be held. Thank you so much for taking a completely overwhelming (for me) task and turning into something that's just a no-biggie. 💜💜

[Starrydust]

"Then she'll shake the paw and show you that you've sinned..." XD