Need an outside opinion– hip/back injury?

[caudex]

This has been troubling me for some time, but the vet is pretty thoroughly brushing me off. I’m hoping someone’s seen this injury before.

I had Liam in my lap, and he leapt off– straight on top of Sophie. Freak accident. Afterwards, she wasn’t hopping but creeping, obviously uncomfortable on one leg. I gave her 24 hours to come out of it if it was just sore, then took her to the vet. His handling of her was good; he had a tech hold her and palpated her hips and moved each leg its full range. He said he didn’t feel a break or a muscle tear, and she didn’t struggle, so he thought it was just soft tissue damage and to let her recover. I do believe him when he says he felt no break on the hip. I have been back one other time with her and the assessment was the same. He saw no issue.

 

She has recovered, in the sense that she hops, flops, binkies, climbs the tower, and generally does whatever she wants to do. However,  her back looks… wrong. Like she has an S curve, like a human. It’s not as obvious when she’s sitting, but if she stretches forward, or up, you can see it. I’ve attached two that are the best I have; unlike the boys, Sophie is not a poser: (PS please be not alarmed by the dog. Never out of arm’s reach, he has to lie down to interact with them, and he loves them desperately. Obviously, they have never had reason to be scared by him, given her boldness.)

 

Liam and Finn don’t have that dip– they’re question mark shaped. Again, she is not limited, though a bit slow, and the vet, the best I’ve had yet in this not exotic friendly area, seemed competent enough, though between the dog and rabbits thinks that we are “helicopter” animal parents. He doesn’t see anything wrong, since he can’t find a fracture. Possibly a break in the back, not the hip? A dislocation? A torn ligament that didn’t heal? What if anything can be done? I have had terrible luck with surgery on rabbits, I’m really reluctant unless I can get a definite “this is it.”

[Sarita]

If she broke her back she wouldn’t be able to hop at all.

My opinion is if she is able then you would not want to consider surgery at all. She seems mobile based on the photos and your description.

I would also imagine that any vet regardless of their experience with rabbits should be able to tell about injuries. I guess if you have further concerns you can always ask the vet to do an x-ray….

[caudex]

I am mostly worried about her as she ages. She can do what she wants, but is slow and looks a bit awkward when she jumps up. It’s just so hard to tell pain with rabbits that it worries me.

[Sarita]

It is very possible with the injury that she will develop arthritis and actually arthritis is very common in rabbits – Elrohwen’s Otto was just diagnosed with arthritis at 4 years old and I had a rabbit Mango that was diagnosed at this age also.

It is difficult to tell if rabbits are in pain – they seem to have a high tolerance for low grade pain.

Again, I would suggest an x-ray if you have some concerns – it likely won’t show any soft tissue damage though. But if you are concerned with the spine it would show that.

[MoveDiagonally]

I’ve seen my rabbit’s backs to something similar when they’re “slow hopping” or slipping. 

 

Are you sure it’s a completely new thing? Could it be just something you’re paying closer attention to because of the injury? I’m not second guessing you or anything but I know after my rabbit fractured his foot I was hyper vigilant about everything and noticed things that I never really paid much attention to before. 

How long has it been since the injury? 

 PS. I LOVE your dog. 

[Author]

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