SICK DUCKIE HELP!

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Reese7383

Reese7383

Chirping
Apr 10, 2015
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HELP MY DUCKLING SEEMS SICK

My 13 day old duck baby seems to be sick, at least that's what I assume.

When it was time for an evening snack i noticed Lamont acting weird. The lil guy did not partake in snacktime. I observed him for a few minutes and He is quite lethargic, his eyes are glassy. His breaths seem to be a Tad rapid. He is also constantly peeping but very quiet. Hes been this way for about an hour. I'm very worried.
We have seperated him from the other 5, lying him on the bed sittin on paper towles. so we can keep a close watch.
I don't believe anything out of the ordinary has happened. He was hanging out with his 4 older peking friends inside before hand and was acting fine. Eating and drinking fine.
We put the pekings in there outdoor coop And returned to give the babies their snack.....

here's a picture of him... any advice would be amazing!

400
 
He's no longer eating or drinking. Has had a few off bowels. Here is a post from another thread...
How is is sitting now. His balance is off. And he keeps leaning backwards. He won't take food or water. He had a worm or two yesterday... called vets, Nobody has an avian doctor till tomorrow. Emergency vet seems.... I can't think of the word.... extensive? It's $160 base line. They can't gaurentee anything, I feel it's a waste. I fear he won't make it through the night. One drop of what? The poly v sol? That's a children's vitamin correct? anything else you suggest? All I want to do is hold him close , is this a bad idea? And his growth seems comparable to the other two his age. As I'm writing this his peeping is slowing down.
 
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Go ahead and hold him. He may have an internal infection, he may have eaten something that is blocking his digestive tract, he may have a congenital problem that is now causing him problems.

Get him to drink lukewarm water if you can, see if you can put a teaspoon of poly vi sol (vitamins) in a cup of the water for him to drink, that way he'll get a drop or two of the poly vi sol. If you have poultry vitamins put that in the water at the amount stated on the label.
 
You need to tube feed him to get food and and Sugar water mixes up. Or sugar water in drops on his tounge.. A 24 hour period without food and water is going to be bad news. They have a much faster metabolism than us, making it dire when food and waters completely out of their system for long.
 
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ok the feeding may not be able to be done since I can't find the proper tubing at this hour. All that is available is a infant medicine syringes Keep in mind he has eaten and drank some through the day. I went to 3 different pharmacies that were still open in search of a urological catheter. what are my other options if any?. how much poly VI Sol do I use? can i still administer it if he is not eating and drinking.
 
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Several hours is a long time to go without water during the day for a duckling, let alone 24 hours. I'm very concerned about the little one but don't have the certain knowledge of what to do.

If I where you I would have put drops on his tongue hours ago. Get a dropper and open his mouth and put some on his tongue. Some will go down his tongue eventually. Keep doing that, three drops at a time every minute at least. He's super dehydrated. Think about how much they usually drink.

I'm sorry I don't know how to not be so blunt. But he might not make it through the night, or till tomorrow night.
 
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I read that ducks don't have huge round crops like chickens. What's what is supposed to makes it easyer to not go down the wrong tube towards the lungs. I've never tubed an animal myself.

He should be just as warm as the other ducklings, sitting on the bed might be warm to us, but it's not the brooder warm.
 
He needs to stay warm and hydrated. I know that's difficult but if you can even get a small syringe down to his crop and hydrate him that would be helpful. I had a duckling that this happened to just last week, his was trauma induced though. He was a wild duckling at a farm down the road and his mom and siblings got eaten by a raccoon... the little one unfortunately idnt make it.. kind of just gave up the will to live after that. I hope yours makes it, but once they stop eating and drinking its not usually good news. Good luck.
 

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