Should I trim her nails?

[tompin]

Hey guys, I have a concern about Dubu's nails. Although I have given her things that would cause her nails to be trimmed naturally but it seems like that didn't work. Should I take her to the vet to get her nails trimmed? Also, I haven't been here for a while, uni was too crazy. How are y'all doing?

 

[Maz]

Hello - good to see you! They do look a little bit long on the right paw, but they’re not so long they're curling over at the edges. Some people take them to the vet for a trim and to see how to do it first time. Or you could have a go yourself. I do the slow patient game of just snipping one or two nails when the hamster is engrossed in eating something while out of the cage. By the second nail they become aware of it and pull away usually.

You need good eyesight! I haven't clipped nails on a dwarf hamster before though so I'll leave others to advise on that. But I know one owner used to use a mesh grid like bird feeder, pop the hamster inside it and their nails protrude through the grid and can be snipped from underneath as they walk around. I haven't actually tried it though.

The main thing is to take the tiniest bit off the end. Just the very end pointy bit - and not take any real length off. That's because the quick extends quite a long way down the nail, except for the tips, so if you cut the quick and can be painful for them and it can also bleed. But if you only take the very tip off you'd be fine. I use a tiny pair of nail scissors as I can see what I'm doing better - I can't get on with the clippers.

So by a tiny bit - maybe 1mm. The idea is that if you just take a tiny bit off the end a few times, the nail gradually gets shorter and the quick recedes more. If that makes sense - there is less nail for it to extend into.

I don't think they look too bad, but if they're trimmed now, it will avoid them getting so long that they curl over as then it's hard to trim them.

 

[Maz]

I can never find a diagram of hamster nails - this one is of guinea pig nails but it's the same theory. ie the angle to cut them at correctly and it shows the quick and the end of the nail.

 

[RainbowBrite]

Nice to see you and adorable Dubu. I hope uni has calmed a bit now.

 

[tompin]

I can never find a diagram of hamster nails - this one is of guinea pig nails but it's the same theory. ie the angle to cut them at correctly and it shows the quick and the end of the nail.

Thank you so much for the advice! I'm gonna try my best to snip off just a bit

 

[tompin]

Nice to see you and adorable Dubu. I hope uni has calmed a bit now.

Heyyy yes, finally ahahah. And, in the meanwhile, Dubu has become completely gray ( She's adorable either way but her white fur was so pretty

 

[Maz]

I'm sure her grey fur is pretty too!

 

[RainbowBrite]

Heyyy yes, finally ahahah. And, in the meanwhile, Dubu has become completely gray ( She's adorable either way but her white fur was so pretty

Dubu could never not look adorable.