Sick duck-no vet!

[janl]

I'm trying to help my sick duck as my avian vet is not available for several weeks. Would like any input to help me help her. My 5 yr old Peking, Mimo, cannot stand. This has been going on for almost a week now. She can move her legs in the water, but cannot seem to put any pressure on them. She has a bit of arthritis in one leg. One leg appears worse (not the arthritis leg). She is developing red areas on her feet I'm assuming from pressure points (like bed sores). She also feels warm on her underside. She cannot preen very well, but still tries She uses her wings to try to stand and is wearing her feathers off. Her tail feathers look terrible too. She has been eating/drinking the whole time - although not as voracious as usual.
She also feels a bit tender near her vent area and feathers are missing-maybe due to constantly being on her belly. She'd been laying eggs up until 3 days ago, but no more. The symptoms started while she was still laying so not sure if egg-binding is an issue. I just started her on Baytril that I got from another vet (who wanted to do $500 worth of testing to try and figure this out!), and she is taking infant ibuprofen. She did appear to get more strength after her first dose of baytril. I read a thread re. botulism and it said some ducks can recover by giving fresh water? Not sure if these symptoms sound like botulism or not. Any info would be helpful. Thank you.

[goosedragon]

I'm trying to help my sick duck as my avian vet is not available for several weeks. Would like any input to help me help her. My 5 yr old Peking, Mimo, cannot stand. This has been going on for almost a week now. She can move her legs in the water, but cannot seem to put any pressure on them. She has a bit of arthritis in one leg. One leg appears worse (not the arthritis leg). She is developing red areas on her feet I'm assuming from pressure points (like bed sores). She also feels warm on her underside. She cannot preen very well, but still tries She uses her wings to try to stand and is wearing her feathers off. Her tail feathers look terrible too. She has been eating/drinking the whole time - although not as voracious as usual.
She also feels a bit tender near her vent area and feathers are missing-maybe due to constantly being on her belly. She'd been laying eggs up until 3 days ago, but no more. The symptoms started while she was still laying so not sure if egg-binding is an issue. I just started her on Baytril that I got from another vet (who wanted to do $500 worth of testing to try and figure this out!), and she is taking infant ibuprofen. She did appear to get more strength after her first dose of baytril. I read a thread re. botulism and it said some ducks can recover by giving fresh water? Not sure if these symptoms sound like botulism or not. Any info would be helpful. Thank you.

They do NOT sound like botulism to me, but fresh water never hurts. Sorry but I don't have much experience with duck diseases. I hope someone is able to help.

[janl]

Yeah, the more I read about botulism the more it doesn't sound like that. Maybe she just has bad knees or hips?

[Evy]

Your Pekin may be egg bound with resulting nerve pressure causing the paralysis. Does she appear to be straining ? You can try putting her in some warm water (bath temperature) for a while to help relax her. Has anything frightened / chased her? Extreme stress can also cause these symptoms. It may be nothing more than a sprain from which she'd recover given time & quiet.

Giving a powerful antibiotic like Baytril indiscriminately is NOT a good idea & I have no idea what ibuprofen might do for or to her.

[Katy]

Has she possibly been over mated by an aggressive drake, or chased by a dog or child which may have caused a leg injury? You might be able to more closely pinpoint the location of the injury by feeling for hot zones in leg joints or toes where there may have been an injury. If you can locate some powdered brewers yeast at a healthfood store, sprinkle some on her food pellets. Additionally, adding old fashioned rolled oats to food was recommended to me by Holderread Farm when I had a duckling with weak legs and couldn't stand for more than a few seconds at a time. She fully recovered. That was a temporary situation in which her body was growing faster than her legs could catch up. However, I add the oats now on a daily basis even a year later for my drake with genetically shaky legs. I would encourage swimming water frequently, and as for ibuprofen for ducks, I have no knowledge of this being effective, safe, or otherwise. The only pain meds my avian vet ever prescribed when my eggbound duck had surgery a couple months back is Meloxicam liquid. If you have other ducks not affected, then I woudn't think it's a nutrient definciency, but each duck has differences in how it's body absorbs some nutrients so if you have changed feed brands recently, be sure that it is nutritionally complete for Waterfowl. Best of luck, I hope she recovers. This is all I can think of for now given the info you have posted.

[janl]

Thanks Evy & Katy for your responses! As far as the Ibuprofen...this concerns me and I will stop immediately. But my 'avian' vet prescribed this for her because she thought there may be inflamation from her arthritis (she did not see her). I can't tell myself. Her one knee is 'normally' knobby. She could have been injured during a mating...my drake is pretty fiesty I have two females and the one drake, and both girls get very much needed breaks from him. Also, I think I will stop the Baytril. The other vet I saw thought she may have the beginning of bumblefoot so prescribed it. I'm thinking the red, tender areas on the bottom of her feet are pressure sores. Does this sound possible? Egg binding...she does not seem to be straining or sitting in a strange position. And she did have these symptoms while still laying eggs. How long do sprains take to heal? I do have her floating in water pretty much all day to keep her more comfortable and take the strain off her legs. Hopefully this will allow her to mend. And I do have Brewers Yeast I will give to her. Thanks!

[Evy]

Thanks Evy & Katy for your responses! As far as the Ibuprofen...this concerns me and I will stop immediately. But my 'avian' vet prescribed this for her because she thought there may be inflamation from her arthritis (she did not see her). I can't tell myself. Her one knee is 'normally' knobby. She could have been injured during a mating...my drake is pretty fiesty I have two females and the one drake, and both girls get very much needed breaks from him. Also, I think I will stop the Baytril. The other vet I saw thought she may have the beginning of bumblefoot so prescribed it. I'm thinking the red, tender areas on the bottom of her feet are pressure sores. Does this sound possible? Egg binding...she does not seem to be straining or sitting in a strange position. And she did have these symptoms while still laying eggs. How long do sprains take to heal? I do have her floating in water pretty much all day to keep her more comfortable and take the strain off her legs. Hopefully this will allow her to mend. And I do have Brewers Yeast I will give to her. Thanks!

The aggressive drake may well be the problem. Sprains can take a while. Keeping her quiet & on water is the best medicine. A slipped tendon is also possible, but not common & there's not much that can be done for it.
All waterfowl eventually get callouses on their toes. A ''bumble'' is when it gets infected, swollen & causes them to limp. Yours doesn't sound like that.

[janl]

Thanks again Evy. I will continue to keep her in her pool away from the others. She laid an egg yesterday, but not this morning. She also continues to eat & drink and is still trying her best to preen. I think those are good signs.

[rjones1093]

I have two baby ducks, both about a month old. Yesterday after coming home from school i noticed that one of them was having a neck spasm kind of. She scrunches her neck down and her head moves side to side. Other than that, she seemed just as chipper as normal. At first i thought maybe she had something stuck in her throat, so i gave her water. The water didnt seem to help because she kept having the neck spasm thing, and it seemed as if she was starting to get a little sluggish. I also noticed that she wasnt really eating. My mom told me to give her a tsp of salt to make her throw up, just in case she swallowed anything. After doing so, I read online that maybe that wasn't the best idea. She threw up a few times from the salt, but it was just clear and watery, because she hasnt eaten anything. Ive been giving her alot of water so she wont get dehydrated, i even put sugar in it to give her a bit of energy, but she still seems very sluggish. Sometimes she will just stand up and do absolutely noooothing for like five minutes, like she completely zoned out. Basically she wont eat, zones out, is very sluggish, and only drinks water. She hasnt eaten anything since yesterday around 3-ish, so im wondering if i should force feed her? I dont know what to do, and I'm very worried because i dont want to lose her! Please help!

[Oregon Swedes]

I would check the bottom of her feet for bumble foot. Especially since you say there is heat and it looks like she has sore areas on her feet.

They often stop laying when they are upset, so no eggs doesn't sound that alarming to me.

The feather condition is most likely due to mating activity. They can pluck each other pretty thoroughly.

[Evy]

I have two baby ducks, both about a month old. Yesterday after coming home from school i noticed that one of them was having a neck spasm kind of. She scrunches her neck down and her head moves side to side. Other than that, she seemed just as chipper as normal. At first i thought maybe she had something stuck in her throat, so i gave her water. The water didnt seem to help because she kept having the neck spasm thing, and it seemed as if she was starting to get a little sluggish. I also noticed that she wasnt really eating. My mom told me to give her a tsp of salt to make her throw up, just in case she swallowed anything. After doing so, I read online that maybe that wasn't the best idea. She threw up a few times from the salt, but it was just clear and watery, because she hasnt eaten anything. Ive been giving her alot of water so she wont get dehydrated, i even put sugar in it to give her a bit of energy, but she still seems very sluggish. Sometimes she will just stand up and do absolutely noooothing for like five minutes, like she completely zoned out. Basically she wont eat, zones out, is very sluggish, and only drinks water. She hasnt eaten anything since yesterday around 3-ish, so im wondering if i should force feed her? I dont know what to do, and I'm very worried because i dont want to lose her! Please help!

I doubt you can do much for it. DO NOT give it salt water as that will kill it.