Clipping nails

[Ciaytee]

I really need some help with this. I need tips, trick, etc., because I am just not doing this as well as I should be.

I have the worst time with Al. I can get his back feet alright--he doesn´t like it, but I can manage it. But I´m not able to get to the front ones. I have tried distracting him with food and wrapping him up in a towel, but neither works. He pulls those front feet so close to him that I swear they retract into his chest. I can force him to extend them when I wrap him in a towel, but it really stresses him out. I tried again tonight, and it was a disaster. He cried and cried and struggled, and after I gave up he literally curled into a fetal position and sobbed like a hyperventilated toddler for about 15 minutes. And for the next half hour he just laid there and didn´t move a muscle. It´s like he just shut down.

I hate doing that to him, and I´m afraid of stressing him that much, so it ends up that I go too long between trimmings. I would guess that there´s something wrong with his front feet, except that the only time he acts like they hurt him is when I try to trim the nails. They look healthy and he walks/runs (on the rare occassion he decides to get off his fat butt and break a sweat) fine.

I also tried keeping a brick in front of the food dish thinking that it would help keep the nails worn down, but I didn´t keep it in there for long. Al is a chewer, and he kept trying to chew on the brick. I had nightmares of broken teeth, so I took it out.

Do y´all have any advice on this? Should I continue to force his legs out, no matter how stressed he gets? Really, I can´t emphasize enough how bad he gets. It´s not just the bloody murder wheek. He really seems like he has panic attacks when I try to trim those front nails. What am I to do about this?

[cmtigger]

can you get somebody to hold him for you? Try to get somebody to hold him against their chest with his four legs out. then you can easily reach the legs, and even if it stresses him a little bit, it will not stress him like the long battles that you have been having with him.

[pinta]

Bloom has a bad heart and hates her nails being trimmed. She convulses so there´s a 50/50 chance I could take off her entire toe. I watch her colour(lips) and quit when she starts to get pale. I usually manage one or two nails in a session. I just wait a few days before trying the next nail or two. I do the nail check once a week so even at 1 or 2 nails a week it means she is getting a full trim by the time 4 weeks is up.

I hold her with her back against my chest and grab one paw and hold on tight while nudging the head out of the way. (Half the time they´re chewing on my thumbnail while I trim theirs.)

[Lynx]

I sympathize with you. Mine don´t like to get their nails trimmed and Nina sometimes has an attack of the vapors. They are such slippery little devils and it is so hard to hold the paw firmly but not feel you are going to injure them (Nina keeps pulling out of my firm grip -- I guess not firm enough).

I remember someone mentioning using a lose woven towel and the nails stick through. I don´t know if this would help you at all. I´m always a little more nervous clipping front nails because I feel I could get bitten.

I don´t know how much you hold him but always handling his front feet may in time get him used to it.

[Sonia]

With Bramble, clipping her nails is a three person full scle operation. We arm my dad with favourite vegetable treats, and a small but high power, beam torch, and while mum and I work, he feeds the treats in small peices, so she doesn´t choke on them. Mum holds her, as described above, with her paws in the air, against her chest, and I take the paw, straighten her toes a little ( she was a resscue and her toes were deformed from overgrown nails, when we got her ) and clip away. While three people sounds a lot, I do think, the quicker it is done the better, unless there are extenuating reasons such as mentioned above. Then after that we let her get some floortime to work off the stress, and after a couple of hours, she stops chattering her teeth at us, and allows us to stroke her again. She convulses and shreaks as if I were removing her limbs without anesthetic if I do it on my own, so I figure that at least it is over and done with quickly, and she is fussed over no end by three of us after it´s done, which she loves.

Peace, Love, and Happiness, Always
Sonia

[Dobby]

Sonia, what is a beam torch?

[Evangeline]

Flash light?

[Ciaytee]

I think I like Sonia´s idea. Since I´ve had Al, it´s been hit and miss getting someone to help me. I´ve lived both alone and with other people, but even when I had roomies I had a hard time getting help. I kept being told, "I´ll help you later," but later never seemed to get there. But, I used a little guilt and manipulation, and my cousin has agreed to come over tomorrow to help me. Since we work for the same company, and I drive us to work, I can kidnap him tomorrow to ensure he keeps his promise.

If it still seems like Al is getting to stressed, then I´ll try Pinta´s approach and just do a couple of nails every few days.

Thanks for the advice. Oh, and I hope that a beam torch is a flashlight. I´d hate to think she´s using a butane lighter or something like that. It might be quicker, but I bet it´d smell really bad

[Jill]

I had visions of something akin to a blow torch, but knew that our gentle Sonia would never be THAT rough and tumble with her piggies.

[Dobby]

I thought it was some kind of blowtorch, too, IAMPM.
I hope Evangeline is right with her flashlight guess. *LOL*

[pinta]

Today I took Bloom by surprise and flipped her onto her back on my lap(her head by my knees) to do the front nails. Worked this time becasue she haddn´t connected the position to bad stuff.

[Jill]

Were you able to do all of her front nails?