Lulabells guinea pig & rabbit nail care & grooming

27/01/2025

We are excited to be working with Sam from the Little Pet Inn! I’ll be offering nail trims to Sam’s boarding animals! So if your pets are staying with Sam and require a nail trim, I can do then during their stay. Sam has some details on her booking form & permission for owners to sign.
We are fully insured & have many years of experience with small pets. I’ll usually be available on Wednesdays & weekends to visit The Little Pet Inn! 🐹🐰
Sam and I have known enough other for a few years now as I used to look after her little piggies when I did my small pet boarding 🩷

27/01/2025

Something to consider if you have rabbits, we obviously do need to handle them for health checks and nail care, but we must do so carefully & do our handling close to the ground to avoid injuries. Rabbits should NEVER be held on their backs with their legs in the air. This is extremely dangerous and inhumane, I’ve unfortunately seen a photo of a rabbit rescue holding in such a way 😞

Seeking a cuddly, handleable rabbit should be a thing of the past.

As prey animals, our rabbits prefer all four paws on the ground - with obvious exception for vet treatment, health checks and necessary transport.

As guardians, we should avoid picking our rabbits up for cuddles or attention, and should instead focus on letting them come to us on their own terms. Building trust at a rate they can dictate is so rewarding and creates such a strong bond.

25/01/2025

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25/01/2025

25/01/2025

It’s a well-known narrative that rabbits can live just as contented and fulfilled a life singly as they can with a friend of their own kind.

And unfortunately it’s this narrative that leads to so many rabbits - 42% in the UK - living by themselves without a key welfare need being met.

Rabbits are incredibly social animals who thrive on being able to spend time, talk to (in their own language) and interact with a bonded friend or friends. As crepuscular animals, most active dusk and dawn, we’re often asleep when they’re up and about, and we also have life commitments that prevent us from snuggling up with them every day for hours when it’s nap time.

Rabbits are prey animals, they find being removed from their home environment for vet trips, boarding facilities, health checks and the like stressful and scary - and studies have shown that having a friend to accompany them through experiences like this lowers their cortisol and helps them settle and relax far quicker. From a rescue point of view, we have always seen pairs and groups of rabbits adjust to boarding far faster than single rabbits who are left to navigate a foreign environment on their own, without a support buddy.

One of the five freedoms (which are the animal version of human rights), is to afford rabbits the right to be with their own kind, rather than isolate them. Seeing bonded rabbits together will leave any guardian with no doubt that it is the best thing for their rabbit’s health, welfare and wellbeing.

No amount of human interaction can replace the value and importance of rabbits having a friend or friends of their own kind; studies have shown that rabbits value companionship as much as they do food - and as guardians it is our responsibility to ensure our rabbits live as happy, comfortable, healthy and fulfilled a life as possible.

Find your single rabbit a friend today - and always adopt, don’t shop.

25/01/2025

24/01/2025

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24/01/2025

Housing as enrichment:
The way we house our guinea pigs is extremely important, it’s part of their welfare needs to have the correct housing.
Housing is a type of enrichment in its own right. Guinea pigs need space to explore & exercise. They are prey species so plenty of places to hide is a must. In the wild, they would not be travelling around in the open!

Guinea pigs are curious and like to use tunnels, hidey houses, boxes & large piles of hay!
The housing needs to be predator proof, secure from the elements and be spacious!
Small cages and hutches are not great examples of housing options.

Small sized accommodation can lead them becoming board & behavioural difficulties may arise. Conflict with other Guinea pigs may also be a problem due to the sizing.
As always I’m here to help and guide with anything piggie related!! 🧡🐹

24/01/2025

We met these 4 lovely boys this week. Nails, weights, parasite checks & cleaning out stinky impaction! Impaction happens when the muscles of the a**l sac have weakened. This happens with mostly older guinea pigs and in my experience, entire males. They also like to scent and drag their bottoms along the floor! Impaction causes the faeces to get stuck and impacted, this can be uncomfortable & requires regular cleaning!!! It’s absolutely not a job for the faint hearted and glove are a necessity! I’m sure it felt much more comfortable afterwards 🩵🩵🩵🩵

23/01/2025

Please take care with the weather warnings in place. Bring your little ones inside if you can, hutches can easily blow over. Rabbits can sometimes get scared of the wind and our guinea pigs don’t like draughts, it’s best to protect them from the elements 💛

UK and Ireland STORM EOWYN UPDATE.⚠️⚠️.

We have bumped up the forecast wind speeds for western Ireland and central Scotland, due to an increase in the confidence of a string jet. A sting jet is a concentrated area of more powerful wind gusts. In this case, a sting jet will likely form off the south west coast of Ireland during the 2-4am timeframe, and move north east thereafter. It will push along the western coast of Ireland.
Coastal headlands and coastal villages may see the strongest wind speeds, in excess of 120mph. However, it's effects in terms of 90-110mph wind gusts will be felt at a significant distance inland. Therefore, we have moved the forecast area of 90-110mph further east and also slightly further south.
Further east and south across Ireland, a general area of 75-100mph is given, due to the greater wind area associated with the storm.
This area will move into Northern Ireland by late morning, followed by central and southern Scotland from around 12pm.
Wind speeds will likely reach 100mph locally in the central belt, however more widely 90mph for Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Strong winds will extend into Northern England and North Wales later in the day. These areas will experience a milder version of the stronger winds further north, due to being on the southern extent of the sting jet. Wind speeds will likely reach 75-100mph north of Leeds, through Cumbria, North Yorkshire, Northumberland, Durham, and across North Wales.

For the midlands and southern England, a general area of 50-65mph is given.

An exceptionally serious weather event is about to unfold, and in the worst affected areas will likely be remembered with the same credence as the larger storms in the last century. For central and western Ireland, locally, destruction of residencies is possible, along with extended power outages.

This is not a warning, it is an assessment of forecast wind speeds.
Please heed separate official warnings given by Met Eireann and the UK Met Office.
Areas in red warning areas should follow specific advice, which includes all of Ireland, all of Northern Ireland, and central/southern Scotland.

21/01/2025

20/01/2025

19/01/2025

Foot and nail care is extremely important for guinea pigs. Nails grow continuously and need trimming regularly. Trimming nails also gives us the opportunity to look at the footpads for any redness, swelling, dryness & foot spurs 🐰🐹
Nail trims available for rabbits and guinea pigs ❤️

19/01/2025

18/01/2025

Here’s Frank helping with the 5 welfare needs of rabbits 🖤
I’m extremely passionate about the welfare needs of rabbits and guinea pigs and it’s something I’m going to do more videos on 😊 please message me if you think I can help in any way, I offer rabbit & guinea pig care sessions for owners which cover housing, nutrition, enrichment & health 🐹🐰
Please gives us a follow on TikTok 🩷

1988 followers, 29 likes, 5 comments

18/01/2025

🌟 Helping small mammals feel safe and eat well in hospital 🌟

When setting up a kennel for small mammals in the veterinary hospital, one small change can have a huge impact: placing their food and water closer to their hide.

Rodents and rabbits are ‘prey’ species and often feel scared and vulnerable during their hospital stay. Many of them will hide for most of the day, especially if they feel poorly. If their food and water are too far away from their hiding spots, they may not leave to eat or drink, which is dangerous for herbivores that need constant access to fresh hay and food.

It may seem obvious now we talk about it, but it’s worth mentioning, as we can be so busy sometimes that the ‘simple’ things can be overlooked.

Tips for an improved setup:

• Provide a hide that’s large enough for them to move around comfortably.
• Place foods inside or just at the entrance of the hide to provide constant access.
• For particularly nervous animals who do not move much during their stay, monitor them closely to ensure they’re not lying in soiled bedding, and clean frequently to prevent issues like pododermatitis developing or worsening.