Dark cuticles?

[Angel_Momma26]

So I have an adult female lionhead. She’s a rescue and when I got her it seemed like she had never had her nails trimmed or if she did it hadn’t happened for a while. Anyway when she came to me she had very dark cuticles. She’s a very good girl and has never given me any trouble when I go to trim her nails but I found out pretty quickly that the nails with dark cuticles seem to bleed even if you don’t get close to the cuticle. I’ve recently bred her and now I’m having the same problem with a couple of her kits (they’re about 9 weeks now). I’m wondering if it’s me messing up or if this is common for buns with dark cuticles and I should continue to file instead?

 

[Mehidk]

With dark cuticles, are you using a light to see through the nail prior to clipping? if not, you may be getting closer to the quick than you think. I use a pen with the light at the tip and place it right against the nail to check for the lighter pink area. Then, to be safe, I press down lightly on the clippers twice before I make the final trim. If my rabbit reacts to the first or second clip, that could mean you're too close. I've clipped her nails a few times now and she has not bled.

 

[Angel_Momma26]

I’ll try that. Thank you!

 

[Mehidk]

Here’s a video to give you a general idea. The girl uses the light from her phone which works just as well too.

 

[Hermelin]

Try to do a few pre-press before cutting when you handle bunnies with dark claws. They will pull away when you are too close the pulp.

I have a bunny with dark nails, sometimes I’m too close to pulp when I trim. He will directly tell me and I have never cut the pulp. So the press and stop method work really well. You easily get too close to the pulp with dark claws.

 

[Apollo’s Slave]

So I have an adult female lionhead. She’s a rescue and when I got her it seemed like she had never had her nails trimmed or if she did it hadn’t happened for a while. Anyway when she came to me she had very dark cuticles. She’s a very good girl and has never given me any trouble when I go to trim her nails but I found out pretty quickly that the nails with dark cuticles seem to bleed even if you don’t get close to the cuticle. I’ve recently bred her and now I’m having the same problem with a couple of her kits (they’re about 9 weeks now). I’m wondering if it’s me messing up or if this is common for buns with dark cuticles and I should continue to file instead?

It may be a thing where her quik has grown too long, due to the fact that her nails have never been cut before. My rabbit has different colour nails, although a majority of them are dark, and I can not cut them any shorter because his quik has overgrown.