How To Cut A Cockatiels Nails The Right Way (Step-By-Step)
One of the best parts of cockatiel ownership is having the honour and privilege to cut their lovely nails.
Yeah, not really.
It’s not fun at all, in fact, cutting a cockatiel’s nails is probably the task we owners dread doing the most.
Although we can always take our cockatiels to the vet for a nail trim, most of us don’t want to do that whenever the nails get a bit too long. My avian vet even gave me advice on how to cut the nails so I wouldn’t need to come back every time they need trimming.
Knowing how to do this task by yourself will make your life so much easier!
Below, you’ll find a step-by-step guide explaining exactly how to cut a cockatiel’s nails at home while also keeping them as calm as possible during the process.
Quick Navigation:
- When Will Cockatiels Need A Nail Cut
- What You Need Before Cutting Cockatiel Nails
- Step-By-Step Guide To Cutting A Cockatiels Nails
- Short Summary
When Will Cockatiels Need A Nail Cut
You need to clip your cockatiels nails when you notice the nail starting to overlap the toe, that’s how you know it’s getting too long.
Cockatiels should have their toes flat on the surface they’re walking on.
They should not be walking on their nails.
When walking on a flat surface, your cockatiel’s feet should look like this:
This is the ideal nail length for cockatiels to be comfortable walking around.
Notice that his toes are flat on the surface as the nails are short and trimmed.
Overgrown nails will prevent the toes from being flat as they curve over the toe and they’ll essentially be walking on their nails if they get too overgrown.
This can cause joint pain in their toes.
After your cockatiel’s nails have been trimmed, they won’t need another cut for roughly 2 months.
Do Cockatiels Trim Or File Their Own Nails?
In short, cockatiels can keep their own nails trimmed.
For this to happen, they’ll need LOTS of different perches and texture variety in their enclosure. Wild birds naturally file their nails by landing and walking along a large variety of rough surfaces. Unlike their wild counterparts, our pet cockatiels often don’t have enough rough surfaces to trim their nails on, which leads to easy overgrowth.
Make sure to add lots of natural wood perches of varying sizes and diameters to your bird’s cage.
Pumice perches are specifically designed to keep nails and beaks trimmed, so it definitely wouldn’t hurt to add one to the cage.
Nails are naturally filed when cockatiels walk along the rough sides of the pumice perch
Click here to view the best pumice perch for cockatiels on Amazon…
Install it near the food bowl to promote beak filing when they wipe their beaks after a meal.
What You Need Before Trimming Cockatiel Nails
Everything you need to cut the cockatiels nails should be set out and ready to use BEFORE starting the procedure.
You don’t want to be halfway through the task and realize you’re missing something, that would just be the worst.
Here’s a list of everything you’ll need to trim your cockatiel’s lovely nails:
- Towel or mitten to grab cockatiel
- Human nail clippers [Not pet clippers]
- Styptic powder or cornstarch in case of bleeding
- Q tip to dab styptic powder
- Treats for after the procedure
- A light source (To locate blood vein)
- And of course, your unsuspecting cockatiel
By the way, if you don’t own styptic powder, don’t purchase it online.
I’ve seen customer reviews on styptic powder from amazon, and oh boy…
People were NOT happy.
There were many online complaints, some were about the condition of the bottle it’s stored in and some were about the powder being discoloured.
Sounds to me like there is no quality assurance with online styptic powders.
Thankfully, you don’t need to buy it online.
This stuff is meant to be in contact with your birds’ blood veins and there is less risk of contamination or mistreatment if purchased from vets or pet stores.
You will likely find styptic powder brands such as kwik stop at your local vet or pet store.
Most styptic powder brands are used on all pets, cats and dogs included, so finding some shouldn’t be too hard.
Just thought I’d give you a heads up on that one.
Step-By-Step Guide To Cutting A Cockatiel Nails
Step 1: Locate The Blood Vein
Before you trim your cockatiels nails, you first need to find where exactly to cut.
You can’t just go ahead and trim any part of the nail as you might chop the blood vein, which will cause your bird to bleed.
There is a simple way to locate the blood vein so you don’t accidentally cut it…
However, this way will only work for cockatiels with a lighter toenail colour.
Shine a light (or use natural sunlight) on the nail and you should be able to see where the blood vein ends and the nail begins to overgrow.
It’s a lot harder to see the blood vein on cockatiels with dark toenails.
For darker nails, you’ll need to make an educated guess as to where the blood vein is and probably do a shorter cut to ensure you don’t clip too much off.
See this image:
The red line inside the nail is the blood vein.
Anything past the blood vein is an overgrown nail and is safe to cut.
Step 2: Grab Your Cockatiel
After you have located the blood vein, there is nothing left to prepare for and the procedure can start.
*Sigh*
This is the worst part, grabbing your bird…
Use a towel or mitten to gently grab your cockatiel, they won’t like it but it must be done.
The reason you should use a towel instead of your hands is because your cockatiel may not forgive the hand that grabs them (My avian vets’ advice).
Instead of fearing your hands, they’ll fear the towel.
I know, we don’t like to make our feathered friends scared of anything, but this must be done for their safety.
It’s better for them to fear the towel than your hands if they have to fear anything at all.
Don’t worry, they will shake off any stress caused by the procedure shortly after it’s done.
When grabbing your bird, you must have their head and wings secure so they can’t escape.
With their wings secure, you should have easy access to their feet and nails.
Take a look at how avian vet Ross Perry holds this cockatiel for a nail cut:
You want to try and replicate this holding position using a towel or mitten.
The reason why ross perry is not using a towel is because this is not his bird, he doesn’t need to worry about breaking their trust by grabbing them with his hands.
If he was the dedicated owner of this cockatiel, he would likely have used a towel so it wouldn’t fear his hands.
Once the cockatiel is secure and the feet are exposed, you’re ready to cut the nails.
Step 3: Cutting Your Cockatiels Nails
This is the delicate part, lots of care, attention, and focus are needed here.
See this image before trimming:
Not only do you need to be careful where you cut, but you also need to know the correct angle to cut the nails on.
The image above perfectly demonstrates the correct and incorrect angle to cut your cockatiels nails on.
Clipping cockatiel nails at the wrong angle will lead to a weirdly shaped toenail.
As far as I know, this has no real consequences, but it’s assumably better for the cockatiel if their nails are on the correct angle.
Cut all 8 nails at the same angle and you’re pretty much done with the procedure.
Also, don’t use these pet clippers to trim the nails:
It’s easier and much more effective to use regular human nail clippers.
From my experience clipping my cockatiels nails, it’s easier to get the angles right using regular clippers.
Step 4: Stop Any Bleeding That Occurs
This step is only needed if you have accidentally cut too much nail off and it’s starting to bleed.
If this happens, DO NOT PANIC.
Even avian vets chop a little too much off at times, it’s perfectly fine.
The styptic powder that you should have on standby is there for this exact situation as it works as a clotting agent.
Use a damp Q tip, dab it into the styptic powder and apply it to your cockatiel’s bleeding toenail.
Only a little bit of styptic powder is needed to stop the bleeding, keep in mind, that the powder should not be ingested by parrots so try to use as little as possible for each nail.
The bleeding will stop shortly after the powder is applied.
Step 5: Reward Them For Being A Good Bird
The best way to make your cockatiel feel better after that stressful procedure is to give them tasty snacks.
Nail clipping is often stressful for cockatiels, and food always makes them feel better.
Giving tasty snacks right after the stressful nail clipping can make them less fearful the next time you need to do it.
They’ll start to remember that they get something good after the procedure which will make them less fearful next time.
It’s also good to give treats just in case they don’t forgive you right away.
Short Summary
Nail trimming is not something we look forward to as cockatiel owners.
However, it is so important to their overall hygiene and comfort that we must do it anyways.
Overgrown nails have a higher chance of getting caught in toys, clothing, or the cage, which can lead to other problems such as broken nails or even toes.
Long nails are a danger to cockatiels, see the full list of other household dangers.
I want you to see this list so you can adequately protect your bird from common household threats.
Anyways…
It’s much better to learn how to cut cockatiel nails yourself instead of bringing them to a vet every 2 months to get it done.
It’s much better on your wallet too, vet bills can get expen$ive.
Before you start clipping your birds’ nails, you’ll need these things:
- Towel or mitten to grab cockatiel
- Regular nail clippers
- A light source (to detect blood veins)
- Styptic powder or corn starch in case of bleeding
- Q tips (To apply powder if needed)
- Treats for after the procedure
- Your cockatiel (Obviously)
If you aren’t too confident grabbing and clipping your cockatiels nails, taking them to the vet would be the next best option.
Although it would be better to learn yourself, it’s better to be safe and get it done by a professional if you can’t do it.
Thanks for reading and I hope this has been helpful.
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