Rabbits

How To Cut An Aggressive Rabbits Nails?

How To Cut An Aggressive Rabbits Nails
Written by Mehwish Imtiaz

Cutting your rabbit’s nails off is one of the essential parts of its grooming sessions. Otherwise, the nails will grow to the extent that they can also pierce the meat. However, bunnies usually do not like getting their paws trimmed. They think of their nails as safety weapons. Therefore, it is pretty natural if your bun gets scared and starts being aggressive to you in each grooming session.

It would be best not to force anything on your rabbit, even if it is for its good. Calming your rabbit and making it cooperate with you is the best way. The nail trimming process can be dangerous. You have to be careful and only cut close to the quick. Doing anything by force can not only hurt your bunny but will also ruin your relationship with it.

In this article, we will help you calm your bunny and make it cooperate to get its nail trimmed. If you follow the tips exactly as described, your rabbit will surely come to your lap with its paw out!

Calming an aggressive rabbit to cut the nails is not easy. You will possibly have to leave it to have its time to get relaxed.  Therefore, you should prefer to avoid inciting aggression in your bunny. If you keep it calm and pampered from the beginning, it will cooperate with you during the trimming process.

Here are a few working tips that did great for me when I trimmed my bunny nails. Before you begin, make sure you give the article a good read: How to cut the nails of a scared rabbit, A complete guide

Treat Your Bunny

Yes, treating your bunny is the best way to gain its favor. Bunnies usually love fruits. You can schedule fruit feeding to your bunny at the time of the nail cutting session. Here is the list of Human Foods Your Rabbit Love.

Feed your bunny with your hand. This will make your bunny love you and have more confidence in you.

Hold Bunny In Your Lap

Your bunny can easily get agitated when it is not on a hard surface. Therefore, hold your bunny in your lap. Let it rest calmly. Make sure it is well settled.  If your rabbit is already aggressive, you can also hold its weight between your thighs. However, doing so is not always recommended.

If you do not want to place your bunny in your lap, you can also place it on any hard surface. Also, the surface should be non-slippery for your rabbit to get settled well. 

Do Not Refrain Your Bunny

As you get ready to wrap the towel around your bunny, you need to make sure it does not refrain. Rabbits hate to be refrained and get agitated easily when you refrain from it a lot. So, take care of the comfort of your bunny before anything.

Secure The Paws

If your rabbit is not cooperative with you, it will absolutely try to attack you with its free paw. So, another tip is to place your other arm on the paw of your bunny. However, do not apply a lot of pressure. Make sure you are not overdoing it to aggravate stress. This might not be easy in the first go. However, you will master this technique as you go.

Here is a short clip to assist you in controlling a skittish rabbit as you cut its nails.

Expose The Nails

Bunny nails are often covered in a lot of furs. This will make it easier for bunnies to use their paws when needed.

So, when you are going to trim your rabbit’s nails, you need to expose them. In this way, you will not have to cut the paw fur.

Instead of struggling with finding the right point to cut, you can give it a brief squeeze. Hold the paw in your hand and squeeze it. Make sure you do it softly. Squeezing will expose the nails and will help you do your thing quickly.

Cut Close To Quick

Take care of the quick and make sure you do not hurt your rabbit. To learn how to cut the nails of your rabbit correctly, you can visit the article: How to cut the nails of a scared rabbit, A complete guide

Make It Short

If your rabbit is new to you, do not be too rash in your moves. Approach your rabbit slowly. Position your hands in a way that it can see them clearly. You do not want to make your rabbit feel entangled.

Emergency Management While Cutting Nails Of Aggressive Rabbit:

  1. In case of any injury, apply the blood-stopping agent and apply pressure with cotton to stop the bleeding.

Blood Stopping Agents

Blood-stopping powders and gels are available for emergency management. They should be applied right after you made a wrong move. If your rabbit is aggressive, it might hurt itself during the process. So, you better have any blood-stopping agent in hand in case any accident happens.

Recommended Blood Stopping Agent

It is an easy-to-apply gel that can be used to instantly dry blood to avoid any further bleeding. The formula is versatile and can be used on any four pawed animals, e.g., rabbits, dogs, and cats.

This product is preferable for minor cuts and can be used in rabbits, dogs, and cats. It also helps to relieve pain after the cut. You should always have it in the first aid kit of your pet to help in case of any emergence.

  1. In case bleeding is continuous, contact your vet immediately.
  2. Take a break if your rabbit is getting too aggressive. It is better to stop than to hurt your pet. Hurting your rabbit will make it more aggressive and more reluctant to nail trimming.
  3. Not all rabbits will get calmed easily, especially when you are new to bunnies. So, you can take your pet to your vet to assist you in cutting your rabbit’s nails. You can also ask the vet to teach you how to cut nails properly.

Conclusion:

Trimming your bunny’s nails is a significant part of its grooming. However, you need to be very calm and composed even if your rabbit is not very willing to get its nail trimmed.  You need to make the trimming process look like nothing. Try to distract your bunny with different things during the process. You can lure it with delicious treats. Make the process seem effortless. Your bunny will only be calm if it realizes nothing is going to hurt it. If you stay, calm nothing bad will happen.  If you accidentally injured your rabbit, give the first aid quickly.

I hope this article helped you in managing your aggressive rabbit. In case of any other questions, you may comment below. We would be happy to help.