Shall I trim myself?

[Cerr83]

Hi I'm new here my name is Caroline and am from Malta I had my lovely adorable Galah Suzie for nearly a year now. We have a strong bond ... She is more of a dog than a parrot. She lets me hold her and do with her whatever I want. From tickling her tummy rolling over to playing ball. Anything!!! The bond is amazing. She is well behaved ... Screaming under control... Toilet trained (most of the time) gentle with kids. In one word the perfect bird ever

The only thing is I never worked on training her to trim her nails. Partly it's because I'm afraid to trim them as I'm terrified of hurting her. I'm the same with trimming my dogs nails lol

I bought sandy perches but read that they damage their feet the natural wooden ones don't work on the sharpness I'm thinking of taking her to the vet will this be of a trauma to her? Don't want to risk that she is very friendly around people. But don't wanna risk a trauma

Any thoughts?

Lots of parrot love
Caroline

 

[Cerr83]

This is my Suzie xxxx

 

[TessieB]

She's a beauty. Taking her to a vet will be traumatic. Just like us going to the dentist. Just ain't no way to enjoy a dentist visit. However, there are things you can do. Select the vet you want to see and visit the office before taking your pet. Or you can call them and see how the receptionist handles your request for a 'get acquainted visit'. If you like them then you can schedule an appointment for your bird.

You can trim nails yourself, but usually you need an assistant to hold the bird. Some owners want to hold the bird and allow the assistant to trim the nails. Some owners don't want to be in the room during the procedure to keep the bird from holding a grudge.
It's a choice. But remember dulling your bird's sharp points may cause them to slip as they use those sharp nails to grip. However, if the nails are getting caught in things, it is definitely time to dull those nails!

Trimming nails is disconcerting but always give cuddles and treats after the event and your bird may learn to accept the procedure.

 

[thekarens]

I don't own a too, so I'm not sure how they handle things, but my pois and our grey bird handled it just fine. They get wrapped up like a papoose while their nails are done and they get over the "trauma" very quickly.

If you decide to do it yourself and emory board or a dremmel tool works well to blunt the sharpness. I prefer the dremel because it's fast.

 

[jenphilly]

We take the cockatoos to the vet for major nail trims... mostly because the nail is black and its really hard to judge the quick. But, we do take the tips off and have been working with Ivory on a nail file. But be sure to use a professional type nail file, either a good metal board or my preference are the glass boards (more expensive, but they do not rip or pull). Use them for myself too

Ivory gets very upset when she has her nails done, so I joke I take her to the vet so she's angry with them. Taking your bird to the vet does not need to be stressful, we have a great vet that talks and fusses over the bird during the checkup, so Ivory does not realize she should be stressed! But she does not like being toweled and girlfriend holds a grudge!! We just did nails the other day cause Ivory's nails were like little pins at the tips (tho not long, just sharp). I have MS and when things are acting up and I have pain, her landing on me with nails like that is beyond excruciating, so we keep her nails a bit blunt. But, when we do work on her nails she literally won't talk to me for hours. She will fly away from me, turn her back and puts her foot out like she is pushing me away. She gets over it, but it is funny in a way, very much a sulking child!

We trim nails for all the small birds, they are much much easier to do.

 

[Cerr83]

Oh thanks a lot everyone I will try to train her on using a good nail file ( the glass ones as suggested) I will also take her to the vet because she def needs to trim her nails. I'm convinced they r so much like children hehe Can be very funny silly and grumpy at times hehe. Will book an appointment and will let you all know how it goes

Thanks once again

 

[jenphilly]

Take her favorite treats with you and when they take you to the exam room, let her come out and see what's happening, give her a treat, fuss over her or whatever she likes. If you're calm and all positive, they will usually follow your lead! When we took our little nut job Folger to the vet, I was even playing Maroon 5 in the exam room for him.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!!!

 

[Kiwibird]

Trimming is typically a 2 person job, and it really depends on the bird whether it would be more traumatized by you trimming or a stranger and then it can run back to mommy.

We trim and clip at home. Kiwi is not pleased to get restrained by anyone, but I think he feels safer with myself and my husband working on him than he did the vet. He knows us and knows we aren't going to harm him, so he just gives us the stink eye and (in birdie language) a very rude word afterwards, but doesn't struggle. When we took him to the vet the first few times, he would struggle SO hard it would end up seriously messing up his feathers and brought me to tears because I thought he was going to have a heart attack he was so stressed out. It would take like 15 minutes of the vet restraining, him squirming out, vet catching him, him biting vet just to get him taken care of. We eventually bit the bullet and started doing it at home. My husband restrains him and I clip. All his talons and wings takes me under 2 minutes and it's over. We always have styptic and hydrogen peroxide on hand. I might give it a try at home so long as you are prepared if you clip too much to stop the bleeding and disinfect.

 

[jenphilly]

If you do try at home and do not have styptic powder in case of cutting a nail too short and bleeding, cornstarch is a good substitute that most everyone has in the house!

 

[Kiwibird]

Jenphilly is right, you need to have something to stop the bleeding and you need hydrogen peroxide to disinfect if you do draw blood. Neosporin and similar antiseptics won't work on a bird, as they may ingest it.

You also have to have special clippers for bird talons, your nail clippers won't work. They are cheap and make your job so much easier- [ame=http://www.amazon.com/PET-BIRD-NAIL-CLIPPERS-SCISSORS/dp/B003IJ8RBE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1395973118&sr=8-3&keywords=bird+nail+clipper]Amazon.com: PET OR BIRD NAIL CLIPPERS / SCISSORS: Health & Personal Care[/ame]

You can use any nail file to smooth the talon once its been clipped. Just a couple swipes is all they need, you don't want them so dull your bird can't grip, you just don't want them puncturing your flesh.

 

[Empath]

Most of my birds hate it but I do it myself. Any bird with black nails is harder but the way I do it (1 person) is to use a towel or sweatshirt to wrap the bird up like a baby, either hold them upright or on their back and pull a claw out.
I only try and take the tip off unless I'm certain I can do more. Less is better than more. I have hit the quick several times and the birds have all been fine. I just put them onto my shoulder and let the shirt clot the blood.

I use similar clippers to the ones linked. Birds aren't any more scared of me afterwards and they settle down quickly after its done

 

[Mishcka]

I must say I think Loki my cockatoo is in love with his vet lol. We go there and he get extremely excited to see everyone and can't wait to be passed around from vet to vet and person to person.... Maybe it's because he has spent a lot of time with them but he would let do almost anything to him. Loki is extremely passive tho. I sit and file his nails while we cuddle and he goes to sleep, I'm thinking about painting them just to freak him out when he wakes up lolol

 

[RavensGryf]

I've been meaning for a while to get a Dremmel. It's faster, and easier for all... The speed of the instrument actually clots the blood if it should go a little too short. I do trim my Budgie's nails (so tiny I practically need a microscope, or at least good glasses ) but they're clear, and I'm extremely slow and careful.

I'm generally afraid to trim nails with a clipper on black nails though. Here's why... Some time ago when my mom got her Princess of Wales parakeet (feet and nails about the size of a Senegal or Sun conure?) I trimmed his nails with a cat nail scissors, and I had some styptic powder right there 'just in case'. I THOUGHT I was being careful, but apparently not :11: I cut one nail so far that even a ton of styptic powder took a very long time to stop any bleeding. I was sure I had killed her new bird. By the time it was done, poor Patches was very tired, probably both from the ordeal and blood loss. He was fine a little later. I was horrified by the experience, and it left me a little gun shy about clipping nails...

 

[MikeyTN]

I clip all my bird's nails on my own. I used to take the macaws to have them done until the last vet I had left my clinic and I got tired of searching for new ones. The only ones that bother me to do is the macaws. I shake like a leaf while doing it cause I usually have to do them on my own since my partner won't help me. At one point I made Willie bleed and I couldn't stop the bleeding cause he won't stay still. I finally got it to stop. It bothered me to do the macaws since.....Thank goodness to my neighbor who made an agreement with me as she recently adopted a female cockatiel that needs to have her beak trimmed often do to an old injury. I told her I'll trim her beak for you if you help me hold my macaws. So today I went over and trim the bird's beak for her and she came over and helped me hold both macaws so I can trim them. I taught her how to hold them properly and she did wonderful. I made one nail bleed on each of the macaws so I did pretty good. Flour works great to stop the bleeding as well. You get a pinch of flour or corn starch and cover the tip then use your finger and press towards the cut nail. It stops the bleeding in just a few sec. That's what I've been doing for years. I shake like a leaf afterwards....