by Colin Arundel
Not only
essential for purposes of entering your rats in Shows but it makes it less
likely that the rats will cause ' self-inflicted ' scratches on their backs and
around their ears.
First do
not rush. Keep calm and gentle but firm with your rat.
Be
prepared to have to keep re-positioning him as he/she will keep attempting to
make a dash up your front to ' safety ' [ your shoulder ]
Spread
it's digits and ONLY aim to cut 1 claw tip at a time. On the rear leg claws
only aim to square off the tip by trimming the sharp tip (approx 1 m.m)
Be sure
to sit in good bright Sunlight if possible. I sit on a kitchen chair so that I
can present a knee for the rat to be comfortable on.
Remember
as the rear claws are darker coloured it is easier to misjudge & cut too much
and cause a bleed. The front claws are easier. The claw tends to grow a
fragile glass-like arc about 1½ m.m long. This breaks often if the rat has
cause to struggle say against a wooly jumper front. It is much better to trim
those glass arcs off properly instead.
As can
be seen in these two lower pictures, there are two holding options for a Right
handed person as myself, when dealing with the claw tips on the front paws.
Sometimes with calm rats we can do both its front claws while the rat is '
standing ' in our Left hand but we can always draw his front leg/ paw slightly
towards his tail so we can do the final job on his Right front foot.
Do not
grip a claw with the clippers because if he/ she jerks suddenly the claw could
be pulled out of the toe end, so set your aim, hold toe steady and clip the
sharp tip off in one quick positive movement.
I use
small Puppy clippers ( with my own Lathe made stop ) that prevents too much claw
being inserted, but you can use a pair of normal Human Nail clippers to trim
claws on all four rat paws.
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