Duck foot injury - no blood?

[fowltemptress]

Hey y'all. First off, this isn't an emergency; my muscovy is up and eating, drinking, and walking fine, albeit with a slight limp. This is just an observation and something that may be interesting to look into.

I walked out for my midday feeding and noticed one if the young girls next to the fence. Things didn't look right, so I approached and realized she was caught on the fence wire by one foot. As I was attempting to free her it seemed she was attached somehow by some sort of string on one toe . . . except it wasn't string, it was sinew, and the entire tip of her middle toe had been detached and wrapped itself around the fence by this strand of sinew. I cut through it to free her, rinsed her foot and smeared it with antibiotic ointment, but there was absolutely no blood. None - no evidence of it at all. I've dealt with toe injuries in guineas, chickens, and even a cockatoo, and they all bled like stuck pigs, so I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this and how common it may or may not be. I've read how waterfowl restrict bloodflow in their legs so they don't freeze in low temperature water, and my first thought was this may be related? Has anyone else experienced this with a foot injury on a duck?

 

[casportpony]

Can you post some pictures?

 

[fowltemptress]

Can you post some pictures?

After a couple of days of trying to photograph her without stressing her, I think I can confidently answer with, "No."

I did, however, find the toe.

 

[casportpony]

I've had some with similar injuries. Some I've wrapped, some have healed on their own.

 

[fowltemptress]

I've had some with similar injuries. Some I've wrapped, some have healed on their own.

Did they bleed, though? There was no blood at all with this injury. That's the weird part to me. If my chickens manage to lightly nick a toenail it can wind up making the coop look like my entire flock was massacred.

 

[casportpony]

Did they bleed, though? There was no blood at all with this injury. That's the weird part to me. If my chickens manage to lightly nick a toenail it can wind up making the coop look like my entire flock was massacred.

yeah, I guess they don't bleed as much.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Most likely her circulation was cut off from the fence. That’s why when you put a tourniquet on someone you need to write the time down that it was put on down. It doesn’t take long at all for the blood flow to be completely cut off and that part of the body to start the dying process.

 

[fowltemptress]

The foot was not near the wire she was stuck to; it was about 2 inches away. The sinewy bit that was holding her in place was still moist, and it wasn't wrapped (I misspoke there), but rather caught on a corner of a square. There wasn't any blood, dried or otherwise, anywhere on her or the ground around her. When I cut her free the sinewy bit still attached to her immediately retracted back into her foot.

 

[DaringDucks]

I'm sorry, but my jaw literally dropped at the picture of the toe in question. I have only had a duck accidentally rip off his toenail, which I treated with some silver spray and antibiotic cream. Never a full joint of the toe. That is both impressive and horrible. Poor thing!

But when mine ripped his toenail off, it didn't bleed a ton either. There wasn't even any sign of an injury other than my poor duck laying down to hide the indication of his limp/pain. I think foot injuries on ducks must be quick to clot.