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How do you trim your bird's nails?

Pepebirdie

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I am having a lot of tourble trimming my bird nails. It's a stressful situation for both of us and I dread doing it. I don't wrap him up in a towel because I don't want to traumatize him. I used to be able to just clip him nails while he was on a perch and he didn't even care. But now that he is older, he will actually start screaming as if he is in pain before I have even touched his nail. He hates the clippers and nail files. I have tried using the nails file to be safer but he just hates it. I have tried distracting him with toys and I have tried using the wave trick as an opportunity to trim his nails. But nothing works. How do you guys do it? Any advice?
 

Zara

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saroj12

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Two vet techs come to my home every month and trim 3 birds Out of six. One goes to the vet to get beak and nails under reversible anesthesia. One I trim myself. One does his own nails.
 

Shezbug

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I don’t push my bird to do anything he doesn’t seriously need to do (if it’s serious then he will be towelled and made to cooperate for his own good) but I do encourage him to work with me even on the things he really dislikes.
I have a couple of pedi perches and I file tiny bits of my birds nails nearly daily- not a lot and not for a long time as he doesn’t seem to like the feel of the file dragging across his nails.. he is fine with me buffing them for ages lol but he gets fidgety with the filing after about 45 seconds on each nail. I make a big deal of him cooperating and I work with his moods.
The vet trims them once a year- but if they got real bad and he wasn’t letting me file regularly he’d be straight off to the vet for them to clip them.

You could also look getting a pedi perch.
 

Pepebirdie

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I was thinking of making a vet appointment. But his nails grow back super fast...I will look into getting a pedi perch
 

Sparkles!

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Start with a popsicle stick. Using it, pretend like it’s a file on one toe for 5 seconds. Give bird sunflower seed. Next day, try for 6 seconds. Any day where you regress, start the next day from where you regressed. The goal is not to actually get your birds’ nail trim done. You want to rebuild the act of her trusting you with her toes when you have something that looks like a file in your hand. Once you can rub a popsicle stick on one toe for 30 seconds, do two toes but that second toe only gets touched for 5 seconds. Keep this up, every day. At some point your birdie got physically hurt or her feelings hurt in past toenail trimming adventures. You want to build her trust back up. Once you can popsicle stick her toes, you’ll be able to file all you want, whenever you want with her.
 

clarousel

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I've got a couple of pedi perches around the room and natural wood perches which seem to have done the job. Preeno's nails are sharp but they've not been overgrown but budgies could be different.

I used to have sand paper stuck to my chair when Preeno used to hang out a lot on it. They were just low enough to touch his nails and not the feet. Not sure if they helped but it was a suggested from nother user on here with her CAG :)
 

Toy

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I groomed dogs in my house for many years. Mostly toy poodles. Many of them hated getting their feet shaved & nails clipped & would jerk their feet. It made it very hard to get done. I would instruct each owner to genlty rub their feet so they'd get used to the feel. I also bred & sold toy poodle puppies for many years & it was one of the instructions I always insisted they do, so as to make it less stressful for the dog. Try shaving a jerking foot or painting nails on a jerking foot. Not easy. I would calmly talk them thru it. I had a few that other groomers refused to do, as the dogs had major fear of anyone, including their owners touching their feet. They would growl & snap. One lady brought me her dog & said he bites if you try to touch his feet. It had been abused by previous owners who I assume thought it was funny to grab it's feet. It had to be sedated by the vet to get it's nails clipped. She came back to get her dog & insisted I was trying to give her someone elses dog, LOL. I had it's feet clipped, nails painted & a bow in it's hair. Animals have very sensitive feet & they should never be grabbed.

When we got our parrots I did the same thing. Rubbed their feet. JaKhu has gotten her feet rubbed daily since I got her last August. Jasmine U2 loves to have her feet rubbed. Jengo CAG not as much, but she tolerates it.

Filing is a bit different than just clipping. You need to hold the nail still, so it doesn't move back & forth while filing. The larger files they use for acrylic nails work well, as do metal files. My husband had special metal files made for me, by a machinist, at his work place before he retired. Even a macaw can't bend these files.

I'd also suggest a pedi perch or a cement perch. They both help to keep the shape points filed down naturally.
 

Pepebirdie

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I groomed dogs in my house for many years. Mostly toy poodles. Many of them hated getting their feet shaved & nails clipped & would jerk their feet. It made it very hard to get done. I would instruct each owner to genlty rub their feet so they'd get used to the feel. I also bred & sold toy poodle puppies for many years & it was one of the instructions I always insisted they do, so as to make it less stressful for the dog. Try shaving a jerking foot or painting nails on a jerking foot. Not easy. I would calmly talk them thru it. I had a few that other groomers refused to do, as the dogs had major fear of anyone, including their owners touching their feet. They would growl & snap. One lady brought me her dog & said he bites if you try to touch his feet. It had been abused by previous owners who I assume thought it was funny to grab it's feet. It had to be sedated by the vet to get it's nails clipped. She came back to get her dog & insisted I was trying to give her someone elses dog, LOL. I had it's feet clipped, nails painted & a bow in it's hair. Animals have very sensitive feet & they should never be grabbed.

When we got our parrots I did the same thing. Rubbed their feet. JaKhu has gotten her feet rubbed daily since I got her last August. Jasmine U2 loves to have her feet rubbed. Jengo CAG not as much, but she tolerates it.

Filing is a bit different than just clipping. You need to hold the nail still, so it doesn't move back & forth while filing. The larger files they use for acrylic nails work well, as do metal files. My husband had special metal files made for me, by a machinist, at his work place before he retired. Even a macaw can't bend these files.

I'd also suggest a pedi perch or a cement perch. They both help to keep the shape points filed down naturally.
Thank you! The funny thing is that he doesn’t mind me touching his feet at all as long as there isn’t a file or clipper in sight. It’s the fear of the tools. He has never minded anyone touching him, but he cant tolerate clippers or files.
 

Kassiani

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I have pedi perches in my cages, but they don't do much for my birds, sadly. The Blue Boys nails are very, very sharp right now, and Opie needs a serious trim. I guess I'll take Opie with me in the morning to the vet.
 

Pepebirdie

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Update guys:
A week ago I decided to try in the morning when he was in a good mood. I had him on my knee and just held his foot which he is fine with, and then used the file slowly. He let me do it for about 5 seconds each foot without biting or anything with breaks in between. Yay! idk what changed. I tried it again a few days ago and I was able to do it longer for the front nails. thx for all the help guys. What has helped me is: 1. waiting till he is in a good mood. 2. holding his foot first before showing file. 3. holding his foot very still while using file (I did this before but not as good) 4. only doing each nail for a few seconds 5. lots of breaks in-between. 6. treats!
 

Spearmint

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I saw a couple people talking about Pedi perches, but the issue with majority of them is that it can cut the bottom of your birds feet. Best to look into getting one that's smooth on top and rough on the bottom. 1642320211749.png
 

Pat H

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I invested in the electric roto-trimmer that you see 'falsely' advertised on TV for dogs-- [ie: dogs are so calm-- I'm sure the machine isn't even turned on for the advertisement filming]. It works SO WELL for birds... tho they had to get used to it-- works faster and less vibrating than a hand-held metal file.
 

Mrs c

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Alf has a sandy perch and I put a foraging toy beside it. He trims his nails while he's looking for treats. Anything that doesn't get trimmed that way is filed gently while he's climbing on the cage bars. We've made it a game he plays with myself and hubby. Jeff plays and I file. :)
 

Pat H

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Usually, my hubby holds Abby Cockatoo to snuggle as I trim her nails. Tho I've been able to clip a couple at a time when she hangs onto the front cage bars-- of course she gets a treat after!
 

taxidermynerd

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I've always just taken my bird to the vet to do it. I believe she uses a dremel.
 
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