Nails Like Razors

[angeleden353]

The past few weeks my Bella's nails have grown very sharp and I have read on the internet and watched videos on how to clip her nails, Ive tried the Towel and she goes crazy and makes me nervous because she starts breathing real hard and she squirms so much and We are afraid to hold her to hard because we dont want to hurt her. The vet can do it but of course they are open m-f and I work when they are open so if anyone has any suggestions on how I can do it without scaring my Bella i am open to suggestions.. It has made it very difficult to hold her because of her nails and my arms and hands are scratched up.

 

[Mayden]

I file Merlins I file my nail and just stroke ONE of his claws every once in a while with an ordinary nail file. He barely notices anything, it takes a few days to work on it but it's better than stressing and cutting him etc

 

[roxynoodle]

Pete is hard to towel as well. I just had the vet do his since he was there anyway for the bacterial infection.

I used to file my Blue Crown conure's nails. I was able to start it though from when she was a baby so she was used to it.

You might try giving her a cement perch. Put it up as the highest perch in the cage so she is more likely to use it. My conure does her own nails with it, and I haven't had to trim hers since I first got her. She's almost 12 years old now. I'm still looking for one for Pete. None of the local pet stores seem to have what I'm looking for and I will probably have to order one from the internet. I bought this stupid one called Pedi-Care or something, but it's smooth on top and Pete was scared of it. I can't blame him if he feels like he will slip off of it.

If you have a Dremel, you can just round off the tips if you are scared to cut while she is squirming around.

 

[Remy]

Is there a pet store around that does it? I can't restrain Puck in a towel well enough to do his nails myself. =P

 

[Mare Miller]

I don't cut Amigo's nails, used to, but not any more. I always put a towel over my hand or arm when handling him so's not to get bloodied up.

 

[angeleden353]

She has a cement perch I bought from a local pet store and she stays on it most of the time when she is in her cage but not working, Well we have a petsmart that has a vets office in there but they dont specialize in Birds so how well do the staff know how to handle a Amazon?? Looks like I will probably take a day off work to go have it done, Just trying to figure a way to do it myself, I am going to try the nail file tonight to see how that works out.

 

[roxynoodle]

If you do it yourself, it will likely be a two person operation. A squirmy amazon needs 2 hands to hold onto, and one person will have to do the trimming. Do you have a friend, family member, or neighbor who is animal savvy who can help? I have one who probably could if I asked. She used to breed cockatiels and we have helped each other with our goats that hated having their hooves trimmed, and horses, too. Someone who is used to doing dogs or cats could probably handle your bird if you do the toweling and they do the trimming.

Just make sure you have some Quick Stop around in case of a bleed.

 

[IcyWolf]

Try calling around to some smaller pet stores. A lot of the big chain stores won't do it unless they have a vet in the store, like the banfield vets, but honestly, they are going to charge you an arm and a leg and I have never heard very good things about banfield, and I even worked at a petsmart lol. Our store actually had the facility but didn't have a vet so it was never opened but from what I heard from customers, that was actually probably a good thing. A lot of smaller stores will have someone that knows how to do bird grooming, they are usually open much later than a vets office(usually at least 6-8 and on weekends) and you are going to save a few bucks in the process. I know the store I worked at, I only charged $4 for bird nails and it wasn't by appointment.

 

[echoskybound]

I've actually never towelled my green cheek conure to clip his nails. When I first got him, I started training him to lay on his back and let me clip his nails. I flip him on his back with one hand, and clip a couple nails with the other. He gets a treat and a brief break after every nail clipped. He's not stressed out by nail clipping because he always gets special treats. This takes a little while... nail clipping generally takes a couple days for me, since I clip them just a little bit at first to get the quick to recede, then clip a little bit more a week or so later. This whole training process did take weeks, though... I wanted to be careful about making nail clipping a positive experience. I trained a little bit with him every day before I ever actually managed to clip a nail. Now, every time I put him on his back, he sticks his toes up thinking it's clipping time, lol.

Maybe you could try something similar with your Amazon, although it takes a while. Maybe you could train her to let you put her on her back in your lap. Then you could start to reward her for letting you put the nail clippers near her toes. Slowly move up to clipping the tip of one nail then giving her a reward. She may also prefer nail files, but you'll have to train her to slowly tolerate longer and longer periods of filing.

My main problem is that my conure likes to try to play with the nail clipper while I'm trimming his nails... little pain in the butt! lol.

 

[henpecked]

I'm like echo, my nape ,Jake loves to have her nails trimmed .We play often with her on her back and when i clip i only do one or two,she thinks it's just another game.