Nail Trimming/Handling of Very Shy Rabbit

[kraine]

Hey there. So I’m reaching the point where I’m going to need to hold or restrain my rabbit for nail trims.. but he absolutely hates being held and restrained. I haven’t yet been able to find a safe way to do it, because he’s super slippery and never settles down when being restrained. He’s pretty big, being a baby giant. I’m also concerned that each time I try I’m undoing any bonding progress I’ve made between us! I will say (and maybe it’s not a good thing, not sure) that when I try to handle him and he scuffles madly, he doesn’t run to hide when I release him. Sometimes he even hops around and back to sniff me despite the crazy episode of attempted restraint.

He’ll be going to the vet soon where hopefully they can give me some tips and show me how it’s done, but until then I want to have some basic ability.

[Azerane]

I always tried to do nail trimming at their level. So if Bandit was lounging on the couch, I would just pet him there and touch what I needed to of his paw to clip a nail or two (you don’t have to get them all done in one day). Even if he was sprawled out on the floor often if I pet him down along his back and continued through to his legs and feet if would get him accustomed to me touching his feet at that time and it would allow me to clip a nail or two while he was sprawled. Obviously this is a more time consuming method than simply being able to restrain them and clip each nail one right after the other, but it’s a much more calm atmosphere. The other technique that can work is just to lift up their front half, and extend one of the fore legs out and often they’ll hold it there while you clip. The same can be done for the back legs you just have to rock their weight back on to the other back leg that you’re not clipping.

Here’s some videos showing a few of the different techniques: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9KemnaTGIs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEFrHZbw6tQ

[kraine]

Thanks for the tips. Sounds like a better idea than stressing him out terribly every time he needs a trim. I’m gonna limit the picking-up as much as possible.

[MiNinoJack]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9KemnaTGIs

That video is great, but I will never know how she gets the bun to be so calm! My bun cuddles with me, but on his terms. He sits on the couch near me and likes for me to lean over and snuggle and give him kisses. He rarely gets onto my lap and I have only ever picked him up once or twice and it was fairly traumatic for everyone involved.

Is there a technique suggestion for approaching your rabbit to do this so that he’s not immediately scared when I get near him with intention? Somehow he always knows!!!

[Author]

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