Hamster's claws

[Noworrieshere]

14 yr old ds has decided the hamster's claws are too long. He's really worried, he has issues with anxiety at the best of times.

Will a vet laugh at me if I phone them in the middle of a worldwide health disaster to ask them to look at our hamster's claws?

We put a brick in his cage for him to scratch but he's not interested, and bought him some sort of coconut shell thing from the pet shop but that doesn't seem to have made much difference.

I really don't need this right now. Ds is carrying on like it's nails are growing an inch a day, I can't say I've really noticed but then I don't generally do much for the hamster anyway, ds usually does everything.

Any advice much appreciated

Have you tried popping the brick under the water bottle so he has to go on it? My understanding is as long as they aren’t curling completely round they’re fine. Also you can trim them yourself remember

Vets are doing emergency treatment only. Clipping hamsters claws are definitely not an emergency (unless they have grown right into the pads and got infected or similar)

Can't you just trim them with nail clippers? That's what I used to do anyway.... just be careful to avoid the quick down the centre of the nail. I still do the cats claws once a month (she's getting old and scratches less on her post etc) and it's always been fine.

We'll move the brick, that's a good idea. I don't think I would be brave enough to clip them myself, he doesn't really like being held all that much at the best of times. But if we get desperate enough I might give it a try. I didn't even realise you could do it yourself.

If you do clip them take off the tiniest bit so you don’t hurt the little creature. Like 1 millimetre.

I’ve had loads of small caged pets and never once had to cut their claws. I think your dc is worrying needlessly unless they grow right round into the pads on the hamsters feet.

Hmm, his claws are actually quite long. But they don't seem to be growing into his paws.
I'm not sure how that happens, he has rough surfaces to walk on, he often gets rough things like monkey nuts in their shells to hold in his paws. He has a brick he needs to climb on to get to his water, a wheel to run in, a coconut shell thing to scratch about in. So why are his claws so long? What else can we do? I really don't want to try and clip them myself.

Yeah they do look like they need clipping if I’m honest. I’ve seen people but a very very fine grit sandpaper in the wheel and getting the hamster to run on that for a few minutes. I can never tell if it’s safe or not because it’s no rougher than a brick but it does feel weird to do.