Hi all, My name is Anthony and my budgie is an English Show Type called Buzby, and I found this forum through google. I am from S Wales, UK and have a question about trimming my buzby's claws.

 

I have had budgies for 21 years of my life since I was 7, and anyway I have never need to do any of the other budgies claws. I have had the vet trim Buzby's claws 3 times in the 26 months I have had him, due to one foot growing slight curving, and once the claws crossed and caught and I unhooked them and took him to a vet that day to get them trimmed.

 

Anyway, with the winter coming now and we get alot of rain, damp and cold I would rather not risk taking him out in the bad weather, and since I have not got the confidence to clip them incase I catch the vein, I was reading and wondering if it is safe to use a emery board to just file the tip off, so that the claws don't cross and link, and is it true that there is less chance of catching the vein.

 

Buzby is comfy in my or my father's hands, as one of us always holds him for the vet to trim his claws, so holding him is not a problem. Thanks in advance all.

 

Anthony

Filing them is fine, just be very careful not to go too far. You should be able to see the quick fairly easily in good light-just do as much as you need to and no more and you should be fine.

 

Make sure you have styptic powder (or at least some flour) on hand just in case you go too far though. This will clot the blood.

 

Also, do you have a cement perch in the cage? These can help keep the nails trim. Just don't use it as the highest perch in the cage as that's usually a bird's favorite spot and something more comfortable is more suitable there.

 

Lastly, though this probably isn't the case, there are some health issues related to overgrown beak and/or nails. Off the top of my head I want to say that it has to do with a kidney or liver dysfunction but I'm running on a small amount of sleep and might be remembering it wrong. If you notice nothing else odd going on with your budgie, I doubt this is the case. I just felt it worth mentioning.

 

Hope at least a bit of this was helpful!

Eterri, your right, long nails, beaks, ruffled feathers, a larger than normal body that feels very soft (lots of fat), etc can be signs of liver or kidney dysfunction, obesity, mites, or other illnesses. Much of it is caused by a poor diet (seeds only normally), and a lack of exercise, which is usually seen in budgies that are 5+ years old since the health issues usually build up.

 

If of course your worried about clipping them, as Eterri says, fine to file them as long nails can get caught up in toys and such and cause problems for the budgie if they are far too longl

Hi and thanks for that. When I took him to the vet, he said he was healthy, but it is not the growing is the problem, the problem is that they grow a little curving, and when he slides down the bar on the cage, cause his claws is not straight, it can catch the back one.

 

Will see if I can get a concrete perch though, as that sounds a good idea. Thanks again.

 

Anthony

If you can't get a concrete perch, a calcium perch will be better. He will manicue his claws and beak and he can get some calcium at the same time.

Edited October 29, 200519 yr by daz

Budgie claws usually curve around. I would be more concerned if the nails were growing straight.

Good perch manufacturers are

 

http://www.sandyperch.com/

 

http://www.pollyspetproducts.com/

Edited October 9, 200519 yr by Featheredpets