Help! Malnourished and sick duckling

courtjn said:

Originally Posted by courtjn View Post

Okay mid October I found a 2 week duckling wandering my apartment complex. Her wings had been clipped so I knew she had been a pet before so I caught her and took her back to my place and gave her water and whatever vegetables I had at the time. She imprinted on me from the start but I couldn't keep and one of my roommates girlfriends used to have ducks so I gave her to her. However I guess in the time she has had her she has only been giving her oats. She is around 9 weeks old now and looks like she is only 4 weeks old.
The girl gave me the duck back recently and I found out how bad the poor duckling had gotten. I believe she is naicin deffecient, and malnourished. I have been crushing naicin pills and putting it in her water, and got duckling feed for her that is 20% protein. She seems to doing better but her feet will still go bowlegged if she walks for to long. However now she is starting to have labored breathing and open her mouth each time she breathes even when laying down.
I can only keep her for so long and one of my friends aunts has a farm and has ducks and will gladly take her. The thing is I do not want to give her while she is weak. I know what happens on farms when an animal is sick.
Is there anything else I can do to help her? When I first got her she could barely walk, had green diarrhea(now with the feed and naicin she doesn't anymore) and an eye infection(I sprayed them with saline solution and they got better). She does not have any secretions from her nose and no wounds on her feet.
Any ideas?

Click to expand...

Miss Lydia said:

@courtjn
Shes had a rough beginning that's for sure.  You may want to do a round of antibiotics to see if they help. Can you listen to her chest do you hear any sounds  like crackling? I believe most feed stores carry OXYTetracycline  which may help.  Or a good avian vet who could really find out all that is going on.  A good poultry vitamin like Poultry nutridrench would help also. Glad to hear the niacin is helping and her poo is looking normal.  Hopefully she'll continue to improve it will probably just take time.  Bless you for taking her in and working to make her healthy. 

Click to expand...

courtjn said:

@miss
I picked up some of oxytetracycline and a poultry multi vitamin pack and started putting in her water today. I don't hear any crackling in her chest. Also now she does not always have labored breathing or is not opening her mouth as wide to breath. She also is becomeing more vocal and talkative with me when I cuddle with her letting me know when she wants food or water. Also today when I was taking her outside she was super excited and tried getting my hands as fast as she could to get on the grass and walk around a little. And thank you I'm an animal lover and ducks have always had a special place in my heart.

Click to expand...

courtjn said:

She is doing really good! She is walking around much more than she used to. Her feet still cross when she walks still can move around very well. I am able to keep for another 3 weeks due to finals being over and I am back in my hometown and my parents own a house. They had just added turf to our back yard and had left over turf so I made half of my room into a makeshift pen and added the fake grass, a box, small kiddy pool,she seems to like it a lot. However now she has a runny nose of clear liquid and sneezes once in awhile. She still has labored breathing once in a while, if the antibiotics don't clear it up soon I plan on taking her to a vet.

Click to expand...

Miss Lydia said:

Hopefully it isn't serious and the antibiotics will clear it up. Sounds like she has a wonderful place you have made for her.  Considering her immune system was probably very low it's amazing she is making such a great comeback. It just shows the wonderful care she is getting. 

Click to expand...