Rabbits’ nails need to be clipped once in a while as this is part of their grooming schedule. The owners often try to act on their own and take the task of clipping the nails on their shoulders. Thus they should know which clipper will be adequate to clip the nail and groom their pet rabbits.
Some owners have pet dogs as well as pet rabbits. As dogs also need nail clipping as part of their grooming, there are specific nail clippers for the dogs. Some owners prefer to keep separate nail clippers for their dogs while some use a singular nail clipper for their dogs as well as rabbits. Is this safe? Let us give an answer to this question and discuss related topics.
Contents
Can rabbits use dog nail clippers?
Rabbit nails are roundish in shape, so their clippers must have round-shaped edges. The clippers with this specific type will be required to trim their nails. There are different styled clippers and some owners prefer to use safety scissor type of clips which are much more sensitive and ideal for cutting animal nails.
If you use the human nail clippers then it will not be of much help as human nail clippers are ready to cut the plain and straight nails, which is absolutely not the shape of the nails of rabbits.
Other than dog clippers, cat nail clippers are much useful and safe choice for grooming rabbit nails. As cats are of similar size to rabbits, their nail sizes also comply with each other. Thus the clipper will for cats function better than the dog nail clippers for rabbits.
Is a cat nail clipper better than a dog nail clipper for rabbits?
We have already mentioned in the guide, that cat nail clippers are much more useful for cutting the nails of the rabbits. The difference between cat and dog nail clippers is, one is for a large-sized creature and the other one is for small-sized pets like cats. Now when the owner gets a small dog, he or she usually gets the nail trimmed by the small-sized nail clippers which are preferably made and sold for cat grooming purposes.
Why dog nail clippers are not always used by the rabbit owners?
Rabbits have quick or sensitive veins in their toe, which are much similar to those of cats and dogs. With the bigger-sized dog nail clippers, you will not be able to see the quick and may cut it. Cutting this will harm the rabbit as it will feel terrible pain and there will be a good amount of bloodshed. So to avoid such conditions you should use small-sized clippers to cut the rabbit nails. Cat nail clippers thus come handier than the big-sized dog nail clippers.
Can I keep my rabbit’s nails short without cutting them?
As for the grooming of pet rabbits, the owners often question that, the wild counterparts of their pet rabbits have never experienced any kind of grooming and yet they manage to lead a healthy life, without getting hurt due to the overgrown nails.
This is possible because wild rabbits often have to climb upon, run on, and dig through hard surfaces. They can climb the trees with the hard trunks, run on the rocky surface and dig the hard soil of the forest. Thus their nails are naturally groomed and never overgrow.
If you want to apply the same therapy to your pet rabbit and save it and yourself from the pain of nail clipping, then use some hard objects to let the rabbit run on or dig into. You can keep some hard plywood inside the cage of the rabbit where the pet will sit upon or dig when it wishes to.
If you leave it to move on the open ground, then also it will get the chance to run on hard surfaces, and this way front nails, which grow really fast, will be stunted.
Should you trim your rabbit’s nails?
Rabbits’ nails are their natural weapon to protect them from their predators. Also, they use their nails to dig the soil or climb up somewhere. But when their nails overgrow, which happens mostly in the case of the pet rabbits.
Wild rabbits use their nails for various purposes but the pet rabbits usually do not have any chance to use their nails for protection purposes or for making burrows to live inside. Thus their overgrown nails often keep tangled on various things and get them hurt. So you should obviously clip the nails of the pet rabbits to keep them safe and save them from various accidents.
Why do we use dog nail clippers on rabbits?
When beginner pet owners wish to get some words of wisdom regarding their pet’s grooming they seek the suggestion of experienced pet owners. Thus, here we would take the suggestions and go through the experiences of the rabbit owners who have experienced nail clipping of their pet rabbits with dog nail clippers.
Specifically, this is pocket friendly and if you own both dog and rabbit, then it will be more economic an idea. Many owners get confused if this is a good or a bad idea to use the same clipper for dogs and bunnies both. To satisfy their queries we would like to inform you that, after using the clipper on one animal you should disinfect it properly with sanitizer or any other option. So it gets completely hygienic when you use it next time on the other pet.
However, another reason for using the dog clipper for rabbit grooming is, that dog nail clippers are much more easily available in the stores. So you can save your time by not searching for an adequate nail trimmer for the pet rabbit and using the dog’s one instead.
However, when you get a dog nail clipper for a rabbit, and you do not possess any dog, then you should get the one used for the smaller-sized dog’s nail clipping. The large-sized dog’s nails are clipped by the bigger-sized nail clippers, which will not be suitable for the rabbit’s grooming purposes.
