I feel very accomplished! Nail clipping + Anal glands DONE!

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Yes! I did all my bunnies monthly maintenance and I feel very accomplished, I even managed to do both of their anal glands.

I realized in this excapade that Thistle HATES being flipped over, he already hates being picked up but I didn’t expect such a reaction when he was flipped over, he would kick violently and struggle on his back while he was actually very goood for the nail cutting, (I clip nails without flipping them over) he just sat there and it was easier than Fern because Fern is so darn FLUFFY, and she was a little less cooperative. My mom suggested jokingly that we should soak Ferns feet in nair!

I was really worried because he kicked VOILENTLY! I have a few scratches to prove it, but I was too worried about him to care about a few scratches.

Well anyway I tried various ways of flipping him over, Slowly while patting him – with this he realized what was happening and struggled before he was on his back. Quickly was the one way that worked but I had to do it quickly then hold his back legs to stop them from kicking and cover his eyes.

During the whole nail clipping Fern was being very uncooperative! She would not let me cut her back legs nails! The little bugger. (she wouldn’t let me pat her after the clipping and cleaning was over, she let me pat her after she realized I was not going to clip any more nails any time soon.)

Well anyway I just wanted to share my feeling of accomplishment that it is DONE! And that was the first time Thistle had his anal glands cleaned.

[Desma]

Do you ever trance your bunnies so that they lay comfortably on their back so you can clip them easier? I am able to clip Hunny’s nails by holding her on her back and I hold each claw at the point where it needs clipped with my thumb an finger firmly holding down and my husband clips her for me while I hold her. That is the easiest way it works for me. She is used to laying on her back also. I can hold her for a whole hour on her back as long as I pet and stroke her head and I make honking noises and breath warm breath on the top of her head. She honks back at me too! I jut found out this game the other day by accident by the way. I started to honk at her and was surprised that she started to honk back at me.

[Barbie]

Desma, how do you honk? Lol. Leroy never honks at me, and I’ve seen vids on youtube that claim that the bunny is honking but I don’t know… I don’t want to start making the WRONG noise at him =P

It must be nice to have a helper with the nails and glands. I dread doing them because I have to do Leroy on my own and he doesn’t trance and completely freaks out when I try to wrap him in a towel. I can’t get my bf to help me hold Leroy cus he’s really allergic and is convinced that by holding Leroy for 3 minutes is going to make his allergies worse than when he sits and pets Leroy

Sigh… I do need to clips Leroy’s nails… I;m off to try that right now, lol.

ETA: done! And it wasn’t tooo bad this time, thank goodness!

[bunnytowne]

Some rabbits are more difficult.  Take Cotton for example.  I did good this tiem and didn’t cut 1 too short.

Ruby does good.  I am glad cuz all that long hair she has.  When I hold her on her back she curls up so tight her hind feet are at her chin.

With Cotton I to sit on the couch and put him between my thighs all on the couch so I can work with him better.  Sheesh

You know there are times Cotton even gave me a few kisses when we were done.   Not that is rare.

[Desma]

I do a medium pitched noise that is more like a grunt at her. It sounds to me to be exactly the same as she sounds, but, we all know that when we hear our voice on a tape recorder out voices sound so different that how we hear ourselves. All I know is that he honks back to me. I make sure that I am feeling very happy and lovey to her at the time so she can translate it as affection. It is not very loud. My husband has also heard her honk constantly when I am holding her in my arms like a baby on her back when I have kind of tranced her into a comfy zone.

[Moonlight_Wolf]

when we hear our voice on a tape recorder out voices sound so different that how we hear ourselves.

I know! It is true, but then again I have heard other people on the tape recorder and they don’t sound like them selves.

I am not sure if I trance them, I think that thistle might have tranced but I am not so sure about Fern, she doesn’t really trance.

Haha BT Fern is very angry once I am done clipping, she runs away and doesn’t trust me for the rest of that day. Thistle doesn’t really care, he still acts pretty much the same after a clip.

I really wish I had someone to help me clip their nails but to tell you the truth I wouldn’t trust anyone else! Sometimes I just wish I had a third hand! I do it all by myself and it is a bit hard but I manage.

[skibunny8503]

I just did mine tonight…well 2 out of 3. I love doing Gracie’s because she is so calm and goes right into a trance, I can do her nails and glands and take as much time as I need. The poor girl needed some trimming down there tonight though. Archie’s ok as long as I cover his head with the blanket. Archie thumped once today. We did him first because he’s a smart little guy, he knows it’s coming and will hide if he sees Gracie being done first. We’ve only did Sandy’s nails once and we hardly cut them. They’re dark so it takes us a lot longer. She would not sit still tonight and her nails are so sharp they kept catching on the blanket so we let her go. We’ll try again tomorrow. I have yet to do her glands though. Wish us luck tomorrow haha!

[MimzMum]

*sticks tongue out* You people who actually manage to get to the glands and clean them…BLEAH! You just fry me! lolz…j/k

I am lucky to get Fiver’s rear end cleaned, never mind his ‘other’ areas (and I don’t do the cleaning, my daughter does while I wrangle him) and as far as Pip & Mimzy, I think they haven’t had their glands cleaned since the first year with us. They just WON’T cooperate and I’m afraid of hurting them. What if their backs twist while I’m trying to burrito them? They could fall…or suppose I poke the q-tip too far? Gives me the willies just thinking about it.

It’s about nail trimming time too. *shudders* I’ve been thinking about employing the assistance of the lady who lives down the road who we get our eggs from because she apparently has been keeping rabbits this year and is pretty accomplished with them from what I hear. It would beat having to drive the buns 30 miles into town to have the vet do it. Not that she doesn’t do an excellent job, but she also seems to think that this is something that rabbits should be doing themselves (anal glands, not trimming their nails…geez, I WISH my bunnies bit their nails…lolz!).

How does one talk a vet into exploring the anal gland question? I mean, these things can get infected if they aren’t cleaned regularly, right? Or not?

[Author]

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