How to trim your Rabbit’s Nail and clean their scent glands

Rabbit’s Nails should be trimmed every 6 to 8 weeks. You should also clean their scent glands at the same time. Rabbit’s nails just like yours are always growing. If the rabbit’s nails become too long it can cause the following.

1.      Difficult to hop around.

2.      Pain and discomfort

3.      Increase of risk of injury.

You will need the following items.

1.      Quick Stop or corn starch to stop bleeding if you hit the quick.

2.      Nail File for baby or young rabbits where you might just need to file the tip of the nail.

3.      Cat Nail Clipper.

4.      Dog Nail Clipper

5.      mineral oil

6.      Qtips

7.      Small Bowl for the mineral oil

8.      Clean towel to place the bunny on.

9.      Small flash light might be needed to see the quick on dark nails.

10.  Small Foot Stool if needed to rest your feet.

11.  People do use a power tool to trim the nails. We only used this for our dog at times. It does create a lot of noise that can cause discomfort for your rabbit.

We show in a video

1.      How one person can trim the rabbits 18 nails.

A.      5 on each front paw.

B.      4 on each back paw.

2.      How one person can clean the rabbit’s scent glands  One located on each side of the rabbit’s private part.

3.      How 2 people do the nail trims and scent gland cleaning.

A. One person can stand and hold the bunny.

B. One person can have more control of the bunny while sitting.

The video shows one way to find the quick. Each person is different.  The location of the quick is near the curved part of the nail. You can see it on white nails it might be more difficult to see it on dark color nails.

1.      You can trim in small steps.

2.      You can trim gently press the nail trim prior to cutting. If the bunny moves you might be too close to the quick.

3.      You should however use sharp nails trimmers in all cases.