My duck can’t walk!

[Cayuga Lover]

@Dougdilman i was trying to get a video but it’s hard to get the right angle and close enough that she doesn’t get nervous I’m going to pick her up and “torture” her. I did post two videos near the beginning of this thread.

It is soooo hard to see babies injured and having a hard time. And Miss Chevious is my special baby. We brought her back from the brink of death once and she cuddles with me and wraps her neck around mine to hug me when she’s not under the weather and stressed and worried. It completely breaks my heart

 

[Cayuga Lover]

She actually stood up to get peas out of her water bowl today! We haven’t seen that for a week or more. We’re hoping the rest is helping but it’s so hard to watch her struggle.

 

[Miss Lydia]

If this is an injury resting and water therapy is the best medicine for her other than Meloxicam for inflammation and pain. Sprains, tendon damage can take a while to heal.

That's great she was up eating, hopefully though she'll take her time and heal.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

She actually stood up to get peas out of her water bowl today! We haven’t seen that for a week or more. We’re hoping the rest is helping but it’s so hard to watch her struggle.

She will be a bit better every day now - It is a good sign when ducks eat their treats. I am not too worried when one of my kid's is ill, unless they stop eating peas, meal-worms or cat-kibbles. Then it is serious!

 

[Cayuga Lover]

Thank you everyone for the support. You all know how hard it is to watch a baby suffer when you can’t really help.

@Miss Lydia @WannaBeHillBilly our vet is used to chickens, we have her first ducks. Do you think she’d be able to tell if it’s a tendon or ligament issue? I know if humans, you can’t accurately diagnose without scans.

On a side note, after resting all day, she just quacked at the top of her lungs!! It scared the poop out of us cuz we haven’t heard it in quite some time, but I’m hoping it’s a good thing. I think she wanted her pop to go in for evening cleaning.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am not sure what an examine would tell but might be worth calling an asking about. Quacks are good to hear aren’t they.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Thank you everyone for the support. You all know how hard it is to watch a baby suffer when you can’t really help.

@Miss Lydia @WannaBeHillBilly our vet is used to chickens, we have her first ducks. Do you think she’d be able to tell if it’s a tendon or ligament issue? I know if humans, you can’t accurately diagnose without scans.

On a side note, after resting all day, she just quacked at the top of her lungs!! It scared the poop out of us cuz we haven’t heard it in quite some time, but I’m hoping it’s a good thing. I think she wanted her pop to go in for evening cleaning.

If the vet is not charging you a fortune, i would have her take a look at the leg. Also she should look at the other leg, that bumble-foot may not even be bumble foot, but warts:
https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/papillomatosis-or-warts-in-birds
And i remember how happy i was when Bazilla Duck greeted me with a loud QUACK the morning after she had collapsed with over-heating the day before!
It is a relief!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Hi @Cayuga Lover
How is Miss Chevious doing so far?

 

[Nay]

Hi everyone,
I searched and didn’t find anything that seems to apply to my duck so I’m hoping someone can help. One of my Cayuga ducks, Miss Chevious, can’t walk. She will be three years old in May. She lives inside with two ducklings we got her who are now full grown. She has chronic bumble foot in her right foot so she couldn’t go back outside with our flock, hence getting the ducklings so she’s not alone.

We have separated their living quarters so they can see each other, but the “babies” can’t pull her feathers out. She eats Purina organic starter/grower food. It’s their maintainer poultry food. We’ve been putting brewers yeast in her food and giving her vitamin water.

To her symptoms: she started with a respiratory infection and we gave her a course of antibiotics. That seems to have cleared up but during the infection, she started molting and a few days after she stopped the antibiotics, we noticed she couldn’t walk, but on her LEFT foot, not the right which is her normal trouble foot. We examined the foot and leg and it all feels and looks normal but it did seem to bother her when we were touching it. She tries to stand up but can only do it for a short time and she can’t walk. She scoots herself around thrusting herself and using her wings for balance. She will eat but not a ton because it’s so hard for her to get around. We put her by her food and water and she’ll chow down, but then she’ll inevitably move and choose not to get up to go eat again until the next time we move her food near her.

She is scared because her right foot has never been good and now her left foot/leg is giving her problems, so she “runs” from us a lot, not knowing if we’re there to torture her or not. But we still get her food and water near her as often as we can. I think she has PTSD from when we originally were trying to treat the bumble foot on her right and we cut into it often to get pus out.

Anyway, we have no idea why she can’t bear weight on her left leg now. Does anyone have any ideas? We could use all the help we can get.

Is she getting enough niacin? I'm not sure how much niacin is in Purina's starter/grower, but any reason why she's not on waterfowl feed that includes added niacin?

What is her weight like? Living indoors with a lot of bumblefoot problems, reduced mobility, any excess weight will put a lot of stress on her joints. Water therapy should be a daily part of her routine just for the exercise. Especially since the one good leg is taking a lot of pressure since the other has frequent bumblefoot. It makes sense the joint is under a lot of stress.

Organic starter/grower is at a minimum 3.00 % crude fat. In comparison Purina's duck pellets are 2.30 % minimum crude fat.

 

[Miss Lydia]

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