Rabbits have 5 toes on their front feet and four on their back anxiety. Their nails are very tough: they have to exist, they're designed for digging burrows.  Wild rabbits' nails stay short from all the excavation and hopping over rocks and difficult surfaces only for our pet rabbits there is often nothing to wear the nails down. This means the nails may demand to be clipped regularly.

The long and the short of information technology

If a rabbit's nails get long, information technology changes the bending at which it puts its anxiety down. This may not sound like a big business but it is very important as information technology can add together extra wearable on the joints because they are moving in an unnatural way.

Long nails tin can go snagged easily and tin can be torn, sometimes correct out of the nail bed. This is of course extremely painful, and there tin can be a surprising amount of bleeding. It tin also result in dislocation or breaking of the toes.

If our rabbits' hind feet don't sit down at the proper bending, weight is forced back onto their heels and that can lead to sore hocks, also known every bit pododermatitis. This is a serious condition and very hard to treat. Prevention is most definitely better than cure.

Clipping nails

As role of your regular checks of your rabbits you need to keep an eye on their nails. A expert guide is for them to exist level with the fur. The only exception to this is in Rex rabbits, where the fur is so much shorter!

If the nails need clipping and y'all aren't confident to practice this yourself then ask your vet or vet nurse to practise it. They should be happy to evidence yous how information technology's done safely and then you will exist able to practice information technology in future. In that location is a vein and a nerve running up each nail that has to be avoided. It's known as the 'quick' and if it gets cut it will be painful for the rabbit and there will be a lot of claret. That said, later on some articulate teaching, it is adequately straightforward to cut a rabbit's nails, specially stake, translucent ones where the quick can be seen, and then it's well worth learning how to do information technology.

A note about "hypnotising" or "trancing" rabbits

Some people when clipping rabbits nails will hold their rabbit on its back and so it goes perfectly still as if in a trance. This is in fact extremely roughshod as the rabbit is, in fact, terrified and playing dead equally office of its prey animate being response to being caught by a predator. Never do this to your rabbits.

You tin either hold your rabbit with information technology'south backside supported as if it is sitting up to cut the nails or place it on a towel on a worktop and very gently pull the human foot to the side to become to the nails.

Healthy foot with properly trimmed nails

Avoiding cutting the quick

If y'all accept a rabbit with light nails information technology'due south quite easy to come across the quick merely if the nails are night information technology's far more hard. There are ways to get around it. Yous tin shine a torch from backside the boom. The light coming through will show you where the quick ends, and therefore where it's prophylactic to cut. Another method is the squeeze, squeeze, cut method. Where yous think it's safety, requite the nail a gentle squeeze with your clippers. If your rabbit reacts and then you are too almost the quick. If there's no reaction, squeeze a bit harder. Withal no reaction, give it one final quite hard squeeze just to be sure and then if all is well, it'south prophylactic to cut. Repeat this with each boom.

If nails are very long and the quick is quite loftier, you tin encourage it to recede past what's known as nibbling. Prune the nails twice a calendar week or even every other day, simply by nibbling a tiny flake off. As the nails go shorter, the quick volition as well, until your rabbit has nails that are a comfortable length.

What tools will I need?

If y'all are going to cutting your rabbits' nails and then y'all'll need some decent clippers. These are inexpensive to buy. Nosotros recommend the scissor-shaped type, although some people find the guillotine type easier to handle. Have a chat with your vet at the same time as them showing yous how to prune – they will be able to order a good quality pair for you. Or if you know what you are looking for there are plenty of places online.

Equally mentioned, to find the quick a torch volition exist useful.

It's worth having cornflour too – yes, really. If you lot practise cut into the quick, dab your rabbit's smash into the cornflour and information technology will stop the bleeding. This is much improve than using styptic powder which volition sting the rabbit.

There is no need to plow rabbits upside downward to cut their nails