Cracking Noise When Let Out

[gizmos mom]

Gizmo, my three month old holland lop, flew out of my arms yesterday and did a semi twist in the air. It was pretty uneventful, no worse than any binky I have seen, and he was less than a foot off the ground. After he landed he hoped away and I heard a very faint cracking noise as he lifted his hind legs forward. Later that night I let him out again and every so often, during a binky or a super quick run I will hear the crack again. I put him back in his kennel and let him out again this morning, only to still hear some sporadic cracks.

He is still eating, drinking, eliminating and acting completely normal (binkying all over the place and racing around the room). I felt his back and nothing seemed to hurt him or make him run from me, in fact he didn't even flinch. Other than the cracking noise I wouldn't assume anything out of the ordinary.

Does anyone have any idea what this could be, has anyone experienced this before?

Thanks,

Nikki

 

[peppa and georgie]

No it reminds me of when some animals hip bones sort of click but i havent heard it myself with a rabbit. Silly question but it isnt his nails is it? Peppa and georgie sometimes do a foot flick and their nails click at the hard floor xx Sorry not been much help x

 

[gizmos mom]

Nope, not his nails. This noise is occurring when he is running or binkying on carpet. Just trimmed his nails recently as well. I currently have him in his kennel and am going to keep movement to a minimum to see if this helps reduce the noise and/or heal whatever happened. I'm thinking he may have minorly strained something but am not sure. My vets office is closed today so if noise still continues and doesn't reduce in frequency by tomorrow I'm calling the vet.

 

[Maureen Las]

gizmos mom wrote:

Nope, not his nails. This noise is occurring when he is running or binkying on carpet. Just trimmed his nails recently as well. I currently have him in his kennel and am going to keep movement to a minimum to see if this helps reduce the noise and/or heal whatever happened. I'm thinking he may have minorly strained something but am not sure. My vets office is closed today so if noise still continues and doesn't reduce in frequency by tomorrow I'm calling the vet.

I don't know what it is but I agree that if it is still clicking tomorow you may want to get him checked over ...maybe x-rayed

let us know

 

[Pet_Bunny]

gizmos mom wrote:

This noise is occurring when he is running or binkying on carpet.

Could it be that he is flicking his hind legs to make that sound. I always get the flicky feet when I put my bunnies down on the floor.

 

[ra7751]

Hi Nikki,

I would suggest keeping Gimzo as confined as possible. Do you have any anti-inflammatory drugs available such as Metacam or some other NSAID? When a rabbit kicks unopposed and does their little twist, it can many times leads to a luxation...similar to a dislocation....in the spine. Depending on the degree of luxation, there can be anything from some soreness to full paralysis. It all depends on where and how severe the luxation is and the pressure exerted on the spinal cord. I have successfully relocated vertebra that were slightly misaligned..much like a chiropractor does with a human. I would want some radiology of the spine to check alignment of the vertebra. It is very likely there is an alignment problem with the spine....similar to what happens when out knee, elbow or finger slightly misaligns and corrects as we extend the joint and we get a pop. I think you and your rabbit are quite forunate because this usually leads to some major problems. If you vet isn't very familiar with rabbit anatomy....the primary focus should be on L7 in the trans-lumbar region. The anti-inflammatory drugs will prevent any swelling that might increase pressure on the cord.

Hope I am wrong here but when you combine a twisting fall with a popping noise....my first thought is something in a joint and the spinal column is the most likely cause

Randy

 

[tonyshuman]

Yeah, it sounds like it could be serious, as Randy suggested. It could of course just be air in the joints. I know when ever I bend my knees really far they crack, and it's not a sign of anything bad, but it ended my ballet career as the other girls in the class would bust out laughing whenever I did a gran plie (sp?). I hope that's what's going on here with Gizmo, but Randy is right that it could be something pretty serious with the spine, and it's much much better to be safe than sorry when dealing with spinal issues. I hope that since he doesn't seem to be in pain it is an ok sound.

Here's a link to a drug dose calculator. http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rx/drugcalc.html You could give ibuprofen as an NSAID if you don't have metacam.

 

[gizmos mom]

Thank you all for your information and advice. Gizmo has been in his kennel all day except for a brief period when I had to clean his cage. He is still acting normally, eating, drinking and moving around his kennel with no problems.

Randy- I'm wondering, if there was a luxation in his spinal column what are myoptions, and is this something that may not be able to be fixed? If it is fixable what will the vet do? Any extra informationwould be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again.

 

[gizmos mom]

Randy- Thanks for the additional information via PM.

Just a little update, I made an appointment for Gizmo and am getting ready to head out. The vet said we may not be able to find anything at this point because he is exhibiting no signs of paralysis and or discomfort. He said that cage rest and some anti inflammatory may be all that it takes to get him back to 100% and wasn't even sure that I should use the money to come see him today although he did add "better to be safe than sorry." So here I am on my way to another vet appointment.....

I'll let you all know what the vet says.ray:

Thanks again for all your support and input!

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

ray:

 

[tonyshuman]

I hope you get an x-ray, at least. Good luck!

 

[pamnock]

Joints can make a wide variety of noises for a wide variety of reasons - some serious, some not.

As Randy mentioned, luxation can cause popping (our dog has patellar luxation). Popping noises can also be caused by ligaments and tendons. The ligaments around my son's scapula make a terrible pop as they slide over a certain spot. Not a problem in itself, but my son does have a lot of luxation and pain in his shoulder (physical therapy help to relieve some of the pain).

I'm suspecting that your rabbits knee or hip joints are popping as he jumps around. The knees are a common "popping" joint in animals (including us).



Pam

 

[gizmos mom]

So some news..

After a long tedious exam the vet found the area the noise was coming from. Gizmo has a tear in the cartilage in his knee, which noise the vet was able to replicate when he rotated his leg and knee. He doesn't seem to be in any amount of pain, and the vet said this is something that they often see in dogs and cats. Gizmo fortunately has a small tear and didn't tear the ligament as well, so the joint is still stable!

The only downside (other than the fact that this happened at all!) is that the cartilage may fuse in the future which could require surgery to remove the cartilage all together. So, this being said, Gizmo is currently on cage rest for a few days to give his body a chance to heal its self and then he is back to his old business.

Thanks again for all the replys and help!

 

[Maureen Las]

Well it could have been a lot worse than that soi am going to say I'm glad that it wasn't worse

 

[peppa and georgie]

Bless him, i have torn ligaments in my knee and been on crutches and boy was it painfull so glad he didnt do that much damage and especially glad he is not seemingly in pain.
It is kind of funny thinking of bunnys knees and they are so diff to ours but perhaps quite similar all the same lol xx

 

[tonyshuman]

Yeah, it could have been much worse, and now you know what it is! I'm so glad it's not the spine causing problems.

 

[dquesnel]

I think that it is excellent that your vet found where the injury was. Many vets would have dismissed, or simply not examined the area and missed the injury. I am glad you found the problem and that this isn't as serious as it could have been. It is less likely that the cartilage will fuse if he is well hydrated and gets his exercise, which I doubt will be a problem at your place.

 

[kherrmann3]

Hooray for only a little torn cartilage! I mean, that's not an awesome diagnosis, but it's a lot better than a spinal injury! Good luck, little guy!

 

[Alexxmarie]

My husband and i just witnessed the same sound coming from our holland lop and it only happends when hes trying to mate with his little stuffed animal while making a grunting sound or grinding sound with the clicking/popping sound in his foot. It was very weird i didnt at all think of it as hurting him he was just happy to see his stuffed animal and only hear that when he trys to mate or hump things i havnt got him neutered yet. But dont you think if it did hurt he would let you know by maybe running or biting. Thats just my 2 cents in i honestly dont know either my buck is always doing it though and still happy as ever.