Help! Casey (My Duck) has a prolapse! First time treatment for me.

[Miss Lydia]

Yup. I feel they are very honest too. I asked her straight if we were in her comfort zone with Casey, and she said yes, but if we weren't successful after she actually had time to heal (hopefully stitches + no eggs for a couple weeks will provide that), that she may need surgery and she wouldn't be comfortable with that and she recommended another ducktor

for that, so if this goes south we may check with that vet. To be honest, that means a lot to me. That tells me that she won't be guessing just to look good and if she knows something she probably knows for sure.

Both Casey and Allie made a real impression at the vet. They are our most tame ducks and all our ducks are fairly tame for outdoor ducks. Casey and Allie are probably on the level of the more nervous house ducks. When the vet was listening to Allie's breathing in various places, Allie was just standing on the floor. She let the vet put the stethoscope up against her in various places, and even lift a wing to listen from her back side. No one was holding her or restraining her, she just let it happen while curiously watching every move the vet made. And Casey now knew what was coming, was scared, but when super painful things weren't happening, she just lie on her back calmly, and when it was bad, she squirmed minimally and gave her objection honk a few times. She never bit or freaked out at all (just some leg peddling). I am so proud of my great patients

Disclaimer: Casey is more squirmy about getting her oral medications than having minor surgery on her privates.

She can see it coming. lol

Lets hope it won't come to surgery. Such good girls too. [I hope they got some yummy meal worms when they got home.]

 

[Tevyes Dad]

She can see it coming. lol

Lets hope it won't come to surgery. Such good girls too. [I hope they got some yummy meal worms when they got home.]

My ducks eating meal worms... NEVER!

 

[Miss Lydia]

My ducks eating meal worms... NEVER!

Nope Never!!

Love the avatar!!

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Nope Never!!

Love the avatar!!

More of that pic can be found at https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1016528/what-is-this-duck-thinking/1280#post_17870083

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Just a Christmas update: Casey is seemingly doing well. Her insides are still inside. Her meds will run out in about 2 days, then in another week, I will cut her stitches if they haven't dissolved by then. Up to that point we will still give her her butt cream. Then I will take her into the vet for a check up and consultation.

Ready to be modified by those of you who "know", or the vet here is my "post care plan" just from my gut.

Right now she has fairly runny poops that are super stinky and dark green. (They do flow freely though

) I figure that is from 2 things: 1. Her gut bacteria is trashed because of her antibiotics. 2. Because of #1 and maybe because she wants to avoid eggs herself, I can't get her to eat any food. She is only eating meal worms (for some calories), lettuce (for some vitamins) and the occasional pea. She is also getting vitamins and probiotics in her water (the same stuff I used with the ducklings in the brooder). At this point she seems chipper and healthy so I am not worried about her starving. If we come to that, I am comfortable with the idea of tube feeding her.

I am hoping that within a week of stopping her meds, she starts eating regular food again and gets some poops with substance. If that is the case, then 1 week later, (1 month from her last stitches and vet visit), I will set her up with our modular fence inside so she will have some light and possibly lay an egg. I think I want her laying (or at least potentially laying) without incident before I release her to Kaine. Maybe after a couple weeks of this, I might set the fence up outside (depending on the weather and how much she might have decided to molt) so she can see the rest of the flock through the day and come in at night. Then after a week of that on a weekend, I might let her free and see how she does with the rest of the flock and Kaine.

Please feel free to criticize this plan as I want the best for Casey. My time table is kind of based on gut feeling and I plan to discuss it with the vet when I bring her in for her checkup. Of course anything other than her doing great may change that plan.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks for the update. Hopefully Casey hasn't lost alot of weight since she isn't eating much. She won't even eat her feed if you make it soupy? I know the antibiotics can really make them feel yucky in their gut and it does mess with appetite too, You just want to make sure she isn't losing too much of her body fat. Especially make sure she has put on some weight before she does go back with the flock. I'm sure you'll take all of that into consideration. Sounds like ya'll are really getting the snow and cold there.

Your plan sounds good. Nice thing about a plan is the can be tweaked if necessary.

How about Allie she doing good?

 

[Amiga]

Morning, T.D., M.L., that care plan seems sound to me. I feel you have covered the bases.

Do you have a baby/pet scale? Or might be able to borrow one? I have one that works really well when I need to monitor body weight. I also have found that 9 times out of 10, picking the duck up and feeling her keel and just the heft of the little one can let you know if she's too slender. I check on my broodies after they have been on the nest a week, since their eating is way off.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

I do have a baby scale, but I'm not positive of her start weight. (The vet weighed her when she went in though, and I will compare that with next time she goes in.) She still has a slight cleavage which as I understand represents a slight overweight condition (desirable for the winter), I know what underweight looks like because Entie has a fairly sharp keel all the time (spring, summer, fall). She is just one of those skinny athletic types. She eats more than everybody (except maybe Allie and Tevye), but she puts the run-run-run in runner and zips all over the yard all of the time burning off all her calories (over the winter she has lost her keel, but doesn't really have the cleavage either). She is my lightest runner and consistently weighs in between 3 lbs 10 and 3 lbs 15 oz. (All my other runners are between 4 lbs and 4 lbs 12oz.) But Entie seems extremely healthy and she definitely eats her share - She's the one that gets half of the gold fish out of the pool! Anyway, my point is Casie isn't skinny yet and again her behavior is very alert and active, she was fattened up for the winter, so she has some reserves, also she is eating, but only her favorites and only a little bit. If she doesn't start eating normal once she has been off her meds a day or two, I will bring in the scale and monitor her more closely. Since her water has probiotics in it, I expect her gut to get back to normal fairly quickly once she is off her meds.

Allie is doing fine. She has always had that louder breathing since she was a duckling, we just decided that with all the visits we were making to the vet, we might as well have a professional check her out. She doesn't show any distress, it is just that you can hear her breathing sometimes. I have tons of allergies myself so my sinuses are usually inflamed to some degree or another, but it is irritation, not infection and I usually breathe fairly loud. I love going to the dentist, because whatever they do to sterilize the air must kill all the dust mites or something because as soon as I go in the waiting room, my sinuses open up and I breathe great. I'm guessing Allie has something like that (I doubt the dentist would let me bring her in the waiting room to see if her breathing clears up though

)

We had another good snow and it caused a little snow to build up under the kick plate of the feeder so it wouldn't open all the way. (This had happened before so I knew to check once the snow had stopped.) The next day Allie came up to me making a ruckus. I was tending their water and she would peck my leg and squawk at me, peck, peck, squawk until I dug the snow out from under the feeder plate. If the Pekin is complaining, it has to do with food

 

[Miss Lydia]

I do have a baby scale, but I'm not positive of her start weight. (The vet weighed her when she went in though, and I will compare that with next time she goes in.) She still has a slight cleavage which as I understand represents a slight overweight condition (desirable for the winter), I know what underweight looks like because Entie has a fairly sharp keel all the time (spring, summer, fall). She is just one of those skinny athletic types. She eats more than everybody (except maybe Allie and Tevye), but she puts the run-run-run in runner and zips all over the yard all of the time burning off all her calories (over the winter she has lost her keel, but doesn't really have the cleavage either). She is my lightest runner and consistently weighs in between 3 lbs 10 and 3 lbs 15 oz. (All my other runners are between 4 lbs and 4 lbs 12oz.) But Entie seems extremely healthy and she definitely eats her share - She's the one that gets half of the gold fish out of the pool! Anyway, my point is Casie isn't skinny yet and again her behavior is very alert and active, she was fattened up for the winter, so she has some reserves, also she is eating, but only her favorites and only a little bit. If she doesn't start eating normal once she has been off her meds a day or two, I will bring in the scale and monitor her more closely. Since her water has probiotics in it, I expect her gut to get back to normal fairly quickly once she is off her meds.

Allie is doing fine. She has always had that louder breathing since she was a duckling, we just decided that with all the visits we were making to the vet, we might as well have a professional check her out. She doesn't show any distress, it is just that you can hear her breathing sometimes. I have tons of allergies myself so my sinuses are usually inflamed to some degree or another, but it is irritation, not infection and I usually breathe fairly loud. I love going to the dentist, because whatever they do to sterilize the air must kill all the dust mites or something because as soon as I go in the waiting room, my sinuses open up and I breathe great. I'm guessing Allie has something like that (I doubt the dentist would let me bring her in the waiting room to see if her breathing clears up though

)

We had another good snow and it caused a little snow to build up under the kick plate of the feeder so it wouldn't open all the way. (This had happened before so I knew to check once the snow had stopped.) The next day Allie came up to me making a ruckus. I was tending their water and she would peck my leg and squawk at me, peck, peck, squawk until I dug the snow out from under the feeder plate. If the Pekin is complaining, it has to do with food

LOL that is funny. At least she got your attention.

I'd ask about bring Allie by the dentist office once I had brought my mini Dachshund with me into town when I had a dentist apt and it was warmer than normal so I asked if they would mind me bringing her in in her carrier they not only let me bring her in I got to hold her while they cleaned my teeth . So you never know

We have no doubts at all that Casey and all the rest of your babies are going to get the best care their is to have.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Casey got her last dose of the anti-inflammatory today, her antibiotic should be gone tonight or tomorrow. She has been eating slightly more meal worms. We let her out to eat and drink 2-4 times per day in addition to her medicine times and she gets a bath at least every other day. She was eating 1-10 worms per session, now she is probably eating 1-2 tablespoons of worms so maybe a 1/4 cup / day. She might eat half a leaf of lettuce too. She still seems happy and alert (as long as it isn't med time). She also still has cleavage as of this morning vs a keel so she's not wasting away yet.

Yvonne is having a very hard time with the syringe and to be fair, it really isn't easy. I am sure the vet is using what they have, but they are 3ml syringes and the barrel is only 2-1/2" long, so by the time you are past the trachea in the "safe zone", you are in serious danger of dropping the whole syringe into the duck (the finger holds on the side of the barrel and the plunger would probably keep that from actually happening, but I've got it down pretty good now and that part is still kind of scary.) I would prefer a barrel that was 3" to 3-1/2" so I could hold it more securely. It is about 3/8" in diameter and that fits easily down Casey's throat so I would be happier with either a larger capacity (5ml same diameter) or thinner and longer.

I think tomorrow, I might stop by Murdoch's and get a 30ml syringe or so and some tubing and mix up some mash and tube feed her just for the experience while she is used to putting up with the experience. If it goes well, maybe Yvonne can try that and if she likes that better, we should be able to in the future load a 30ml syringe with approx 5ml of mush, then the meds (measured with the little syringes), then fill it the rest of the way with mush, put the tube on, insert the plunger and send it all down into the duck. That way no matter what we should get 100% of the dosage in the duck with only one struggle period and they'll get a little added food.