Nail clipping

[cutlass5268]

I have a one year old CAG that has only been with me a week and a half. Her nails are quite long and do need clipping. The problem is, she doesn't trust me enough yet to do anything close to nail clipping. So the question is, do I wait it out until she will let me do it, or take her to the vet and run the risk of her being mad at me for having to towel her into her travel cage and then put her through the ordeal of having a stranger touching her?

Thanks.

[Dave007]

You should have it done as soon as possible. The longer the nail, a lesser amount can be taken off because the blood in the nail also grows lengthwise. That also applies to dogs and cats. It's best that a stranger touch her rather than you. That way, the bird will hate the stranger, not you. Many people need to bring their birds to others that do that type of work. A vet is the best place to go.

[danmcq]

Dave is spot on as always.

 

If you don't have a cement perch or two in the cage. You should add one. They will help keep the nails trimmed down once you have them initially trimmed and will of course help right now a little.

 

Another side note: If you haven't already had a wellness check performed on your Grey by an Avian Vet, you should have it done. While there, have the nails trimmed. :-)<br><br>Post edited by: danmcq, at: 2009/11/10 15:11

[cutlass5268]

Thanks for the info. I will make an appointment to take her to the vet. You are right, she is probably due for a check up anyway. I did (now that she is finally not scared of it) add a cement perch in her cage hoping to at least keep them manageable until I could clip them or have a vet clip them.

When she is out of her cage, the only place she will stand is on the door though. There is a play center on top of her cage, but she rarely goes up there, and when she does, she completely ignores the dowel up there and stands on the side of her food dish holders.

[judygram]

The cement perches or other rough surface perches will work wonders with their nails, my Josey has not had her talons clipped for some time now as she is keeping them filed down with the perches but they still are at a point but they need some to be able to grip. I get a few minor scratches when she is on my shoulder or I handle her but I don't complain, comes with the territory.

[katana600]

These are all good suggestions and will help me too. At first I thought Juno's nails were really long, but today when he stood flat on the table, it does not lift the tip of his toe off the flat surface, so I guess he just has really big feet and long toenails especially compared to our much smaller bird. We did get a cement grooming type perch and I will put it near something like a food or water dish so he passes by it every day but not at the higher level where he would sleep on it.

[JillyBeanz]

The cement perch is Harvey's resting place in his cage when he's in it - Harvey's nails are beautifully manicured! We also added some nobbly bobbly ones to his playstand too - so if he's sitting on there they get a quick filing too.

 

The way we got Harvey on his cement perch was to make it the highest point in the cage - he heads there all the time. Good luck xx

[rbpittman]

Great idea of putting the cement perch near the food/water bowls. Dixie's nails are very sharp, although they don't appear very long. Beau's nails were done at the vet's office, and much to my surprise they used a dremel to file them down. Unfortunately, it appears that they are also very blunt which causes him to not be able to grip as well.