How to Trim Your Rabbit's Toenails

Video Transcript

"My name is Dr. Endre Sos and I will tell you quickly how to trim your rabbit's nails. If you learn this process it is easy but there are some small tricks to avoid bleeding and painful moments for the animal. If you calm down your animal you just kneel beside him and use a towel. You can grab gently and always use or always work on the paw which is a little bit further from you and if you have an animal with dark nails it is better to use a flash light because you can see where the vessel ends and it is called the quick. If you see where the vessel ends then you just leave some space within the end of the nail and the end of the vessel and then you can avoid bleeding. You know that to avoid bleeding or if you get the bleeding you can stop it otherwise it can have a very profuse bleeding so before you start the trimming of the nails just prepare some baking powder or corn starch and if you get bleeding, just use a spot, dip it into the corn starch or baking powder and then just touch it against the bleeding nail. Otherwise you don't have to trim the nails too often. If the surface is good enough and the animal is moving a lot probably you have to do it only every three months and of course you can do all legs and the best way to do it is if you have someone who helps you. It can be done alone but if someone just physically restrains the animal it is an easier process. If the animal is calm usually there is no problem and it can be done for example during the plays during the bonding processes and he will feel no pain or any kind of bad experience for the animal. When you finish trimming just give some treat for the animal and then leave it like that. If you do it it can associate with the tidbits and this can be a kind of positive reinforcement for the animal."