URGENT Welsh Harlequin with Severe Wry Neck

[Ori]

This is my second post here, but I need help. I have two ducks in my care, one of them is a Welsh Harlequin (don’t know official gender yet, but maybe male? We still call her Elphie) Both of them are about a month and a half old now, I got them back in July 27th. About a couple weeks ago, I noticed Elphie with some strange behavior. For extra information, I kept both of the ducks in my basement with all provided supplies they needed, and let them outside as much as I could, since I still was figuring out how I’d get them outside. Basically, most of their time/life was in the basement, I know it’s bad but I let them outside as much as I could and I am currently building a really nice duck run for them, they are both happy from what I can tell but Elphie is not acting right. I noticed that the puppy pads in the basement were all over the place and I never could figure out why, until one day I saw her behavior in action. She always seemed perfectly fine and acted normal, until she either drank water, ate food, or seemed extremely stressed out or scared by a situation— it was then that in those cases she would lay down/drop to the ground so her underbelly is touching the floor, and violently throw her head backwards and thrash it around. I originally thought it was a seizure or something really wrong, but for the time being, I help hold her head down and stable so she can drink and eat. I think it is called wry neck, I could be wrong since it’s not consistent. It’s like a violent episode almost and I have called a vet that takes care of ducks and I made an appointment for next week. I’m so scared that one morning she is just going to be gone, or it gets really bad. She is completely fine and acts like a normal duck, until those conditions of drinking, eating or being stressed/scared occur. Why is this happening and how can I help her until her appointment? Is this fatal? I am making sure she is drinking and eating enough, and aiding her in doing so. I don’t know if her neck got stepped on by our other duck, or if it has to do with something else? Please, how can I give her a bit more time if it is potentially severe or fatal? I need quick replies, please, I am super worried about her!

 

[Debbie292d]

This is my second post here, but I need help. I have two ducks in my care, one of them is a Welsh Harlequin (don’t know official gender yet, but maybe male? We still call her Elphie) Both of them are about a month and a half old now, I got them back in July 27th. About a couple weeks ago, I noticed Elphie with some strange behavior. For extra information, I kept both of the ducks in my basement with all provided supplies they needed, and let them outside as much as I could, since I still was figuring out how I’d get them outside. Basically, most of their time/life was in the basement, I know it’s bad but I let them outside as much as I could and I am currently building a really nice duck run for them, they are both happy from what I can tell but Elphie is not acting right. I noticed that the puppy pads in the basement were all over the place and I never could figure out why, until one day I saw her behavior in action. She always seemed perfectly fine and acted normal, until she either drank water, ate food, or seemed extremely stressed out or scared by a situation— it was then that in those cases she would lay down/drop to the ground so her underbelly is touching the floor, and violently throw her head backwards and thrash it around. I originally thought it was a seizure or something really wrong, but for the time being, I help hold her head down and stable so she can drink and eat. I think it is called wry neck, I could be wrong since it’s not consistent. It’s like a violent episode almost and I have called a vet that takes care of ducks and I made an appointment for next week. I’m so scared that one morning she is just going to be gone, or it gets really bad. She is completely fine and acts like a normal duck, until those conditions of drinking, eating or being stressed/scared occur. Why is this happening and how can I help her until her appointment? Is this fatal? I am making sure she is drinking and eating enough, and aiding her in doing so. I don’t know if her neck got stepped on by our other duck, or if it has to do with something else? Please, how can I give her a bit more time if it is potentially severe or fatal? I need quick replies, please, I am super worried about her!

Regardless if it's wry neck or neurological, the treatment is usually the same -- Vit E and B-complex.

You'll want to give her an entire human Vit E about 400 iu. Try see if you can get her to eat it whole as it's nasty tasting and sometimes mixing it into say scrambled eggs doesn't work. You'll also need to feed your duck a little scrambled eggs or tuna for the selenium it needs to help the Vit E absorb.

Also, give 1/4 to 1/2 B-complex, again, human form. That can be crushed and sprinkled into food you know would get eaten in its entirety.

These two things need to be given once a day for a good week, preferably two, then assess if your duck has improved, and if so, keep going with it until totally healed.

I'm sure hoping this helps and Elphie gets back to normal soon!

 

[Ori]

Regardless if it's wry neck or neurological, the treatment is usually the same -- Vit E and B-complex.

You'll want to give her an entire human Vit E about 400 iu. Try see if you can get her to eat it whole as it's nasty tasting and sometimes mixing it into say scrambled eggs doesn't work. You'll also need to feed your duck a little scrambled eggs or tuna for the selenium it needs to help the Vit E absorb.

Also, give 1/4 to 1/2 B-complex, again, human form. That can be crushed and sprinkled into food you know would get eaten in its entirety.

These two things need to be given once a day for a good week, preferably two, then assess if your duck has improved, and if so, keep going with it until totally healed.

I'm sure hoping this helps and Elphie gets back to normal soon!

Hi there! Thought I’d give an update on the vet visit, and hopefully anyone in need of advice like I did can maybe have a new idea of what is going on with their duck(s). We took her in for the vet yesterday and she was super well behaved, and snuggled up in my lap during some of the time. The vet was super sweet and very informative and Elphie was diagnosed with two possible conditions. The first idea is encephalitis, but we have no clue what strain. It is unlikely she has this, but if she did, it’s thankfully a very mild case since she is eating well, drinking still and is active like a normal duck. But she was officially diagnosed with ‘seizure activity’ and unfortunately those ‘episodes’ she was having, were actually seizures. She has been prescribed some anti-inflammatory medication in the case it is encephalitis and we are going to keep a close eye on her. Seizures can look different and ducks, so I wasn’t even expecting that to be affecting her. Hopefully the medications and love will help her feel better, and the vet said it could be caused by congestion issues, triggering the seizures or just something she will grow out of. We are hoping for her recovery and that these seizures don’t get worse, or happen way less often. Thank you for your help!