Cracking/popping paws or nails

[fergmatt]

Hello all. Jax has been clicking and popping every time he walks. We thought it was his hips as he does have a mild case of HD but the vet took xrays and could not reproduce the sound. She said his hips where not that bad and should not click the way we described. His clicking was happening 6 out of 10 steps which was alarming to us. We after watching him walk back and forth and trying to figure it out, I decided to see if it was his nails that were making the noise. I put socks (regular ankle socks) on his two front paws and the popping and clicking went away! After my wife and I stopped laughing because he looked soooo funny with my socks on, we could not figure out why the sound went away. Has anyone ever had this happen or heard of this??? HELP!

 

PS He just turned 2 yesterday! I cant believe he is that old!

 

thanks for the help. this board is awesome!

[Sue R]

Just at a guess, is it simply a clicking of his nails on the floor? That is the only thing I can think of from your description - or, possibly, that he walked differently with the socks on and so whatever you are hearing was not happening?

[fergmatt]

no and thats the weird part. we hear it the most on soft carpet. we are dumbfounded (doesnt take much)!

[Sue R]

Okay, if it's on soft carpet, could it possibly be that the joint(s) of one or more toes are bending in the "wrong" direction? In other words (thinking of your finger), bending "backwards" instead of "forwards"? Therefore causing a popping sound, kind of like cracking your knuckles?

 

In soft carpet, I could envision the pad of the foot sinking down but the toes, less weight-bearing, maybe being "held up" by the pile and then flexing backwards.

 

Am I being totally confusing? I can picture it easily in my mind but whether it's at all feasible is another issue.