Duck with both leg lameness, Almost like Superman/Flying pose

[danceonweeds]

I have a 10 month old female duck who suddenly went lame on both legs. We found her a few days ago when she didnt get into the coop at night. She had both legs straight behind her. When I picked her up, she was able to stand for a moment, then when she tried to move both legs went behind her again, like she was in the superman pose/flying. I have never had this happen before.

I am very familiar with bumble foot but this is very different as there are no wounds and both legs are affected. No trauma on other parts, felt her abdomen which is soft and didn't feel an egg. She is eating and drinking and seems fine cognitively.

She is quarantined in a large wire dog crate. Seems to be slightly better after a couple days restricted activity but it is still happening. My first thought was niacin deficiency so I have her on RxVitmains Amino B-Plex which is a mix of different B vitamins. She is also on Nutridrench and I am putting Nutritional Yeast in with her pellets.

Any thoughts? Ive never done deworming but perhaps it is worth a shot?

One side note is that my flock had red mites and while I was waiting for PSP to be shipped I did some dusting with Diatomaceous earth and small amount of Seven powder mixed in. Super poison and not great for their raspatory system I know but I felt I had to do something ASAP. This was about 5 days before she showed symptoms.

 

[Niche Flock]

Yikes this sounds serious. Did you feel her legs for any fractures? Could she have been trampled by the other ducks? I had a geese that stepped on one of my young ducks legs and fractured her tibiotarsus. Her leg was stretched out behind her body and limp. When I picked her up she had limited control of it and not stability standing. I created a splint, wrapped her and crate bound her for 2 weeks and introduced water therapy to strengthen her up.

Nutrients are a great idea as well, sounds like you're giving her some good stuff.
i am not familiar with side effects of the Seven you applied.

I hope someone more familiar with a situation like this can offer a bit more insight. Best of luck to you.

 

[KaleIAm]

How about obturator paralysis?

I know you didn't feel an egg, but when it happened to my duck I didn't either. I took her to the vet, they did radiographs and we could see the egg. They gave her calcium, anti inflammatory meds, and gabapentin (nerve pain reliever) which I believe is prescription only.

 

[3bird]

I wondered about obturator paralysis as well. We had a duck present in a similar way last year. I'll try to find the video.

 

[3bird]

I just re-read your OP, and I would think that obturator paralysis would have resolved relatively quickly (not days, as you've experienced). Regardless, here is the video of Mouse. She made a quick and full recovery.

 

[KaleIAm]

I just re-read your OP, and I would think that obturator paralysis would have resolved relatively quickly (not days, as you've experienced). Regardless, here is the video of Mouse. She made a quick and full recovery.

I'm so happy Mouse recovered well!

I believe it usually does resolve quickly. My duck had a different experience, unfortunately. Hers was reoccurring and would last a few days to a week each time. Our vet told us that she was eggbound as well, and after the egg passed it could take some time for the nerve to recover from being compressed for so long. I'm not convinced the OP's duck has the same condition, but I thought it was worth mentioning that sometimes it lasts longer than textbook cases.

@danceonweeds how is your duck doing?

 

[Isaac 0]

If the egg is of abnormal size, and created pressure against the nerve long enough it can cause extended damage the could last into a few days or even weeks. Anti-inflammatory medications can help improve recovery time. If you have access to a veterinarian it would be best to get some from him, but giving Asprin short-term would be fine. Here is a member who had a similar problem. You can read the outcome here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/goose-not-able-to-walk.1444786/

 

[danceonweeds]

This is so helpful! She is about the same, ill try to take a video when i check on her next.

Now my worry is that she still has an egg in her even if I cant feel it ! I have tramadol from an injury my dog had, but will have to check in dosing. Any other recommendations to help move the egg along if she has one in her? This happened on Sunday night and she has not laid an egg since I found her like this.

 

[KaleIAm]

This is so helpful! She is about the same, ill try to take a video when i check on her next.

Now my worry is that she still has an egg in her even if I cant feel it ! I have tramadol from an injury my dog had, but will have to check in dosing. Any other recommendations to help move the egg along if she has one in her? This happened on Sunday night and she has not laid an egg since I found her like this.

When my duck had eggs stuck in her my vets gave her calcium gluconate, and anti inflammatory meds. They never gave narcotic pain relievers, like tramadol.

A lot of members have found giving their ducks warm baths to be helpful, but it has never seemed to be useful for my duck. You might try it, though.

I have found that reducing stress helps a lot. So I put my duck in a quiet, dimly lit nesting box with a fake egg and leave her alone - except for when I quickly give her medication. I also leave food and drinking water close by so she can focus on resting and laying. Usually I let all my ducks go foraging, but when my one duck would get eggbound I made all the ducks stay home so my eggbound duck didn't get stressed that she was alone.

 

[danceonweeds]

When my duck had eggs stuck in her my vets gave her calcium gluconate, and anti inflammatory meds. They never gave narcotic pain relievers, like tramadol.

A lot of members have found giving their ducks warm baths to be helpful, but it has never seemed to be useful for my duck. You might try it, though.

I have found that reducing stress helps a lot. So I put my duck in a quiet, dimly lit nesting box with a fake egg and leave her alone - except for when I quickly give her medication. I also leave food and drinking water close by so she can focus on resting and laying. Usually I let all my ducks go foraging, but when my one duck would get eggbound I made all the ducks stay home so my eggbound duck didn't get stressed that she was alone.

Thank you for your advice i had just googled antinflamatories for ducks and tramadol popped up, so thats where I came up with that. I will search for the calcium today and dog around in my medicine cabinet as I may have some gabapentin tucked away. Are other pain meds you would recommend? For my dogs i use Resources pain plus which is an herbal anti-inflammatory, but I don't know if it would work for ducks.