My female pekin duck is having seizures

[xobabydee26ox]

I have a 5 month old female Pekin duck. The other day I saw her laying on her back with her legs moving slowly in the air. I have two other pekin ducks, a male and female. And I saw them pecking at her stomach. I turned her over to see if she was injured or bleeding but she wasn't. When I turned her over she was very unbalanced and couldn't hold herself up. I separated her from the other ducks so she can gain her strength. When she looked better she was with the other ducks and then she started having a very horrible seizure and the ducks ran over to her and started pecking her, I don't know why they do that to her. It's been a few days now and she still has seizures but not as bad as before. She looks like she lost weight and looks like a very sick duck, I feel so bad for her I don't know if maybe she ate something bad? I bought activated charcoal and started putting it in her water today to eliminate any toxins she may have in her stomach. Maybe she has an avian disease I don't know I really want to bring her back to perfect health I hate seeing her like this. And today she was separated all day from the other ducks until I put them away at night, but she started following and started to peck my other female. I separated them tonight, but is there anything I can do? There is no avian specialist by me that deals with ducks. Please any ideas this is killing me seeing her like this

 

[duckmamma]

Hi xobabydee,

Catching your post early this morning...it sounds like your duck could have a bacterial infection called an anatipestifer infection (also known as New Duck disease or duck septicemia....could you read this page and see if her symptoms sound like this (does she also have diarrhea?):

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Bacterial/Anatipestifer_Infection.htm

Fortunately, the disease is curable by a number of medicines...one of them is available at pet stores (oxytetracycline) and you can also order it online...you may want to buy a couple packages then back that up with online order. I know a lot of people on BYC have used it for various infections. It's easier to give it in the drinking water, but some people administer it by injection. I'll look up the sources and the dosage and get back to you, if somebody doesn't beat me to it.

Sounds like your duck's now at the bottom of the pecking order since she's sick...good thing to keep her in a special sick room and away from the others until she's well. Also, you don't want her to infect them.

I wouldn't use the activated charcoal with the medication, since it will absorb anything that's in the duck's GI tract.

 

[duckmamma]

It looks like New Duck disease is rare in adult birds, but it does happen. Let me see what else would cause those symptoms. However, if it is New Duck disease, here's what that website lists as meds that can be put in the bird's drinking water:


Antibiotic treatment:

• Sulfamethazine, 0.2-0.25% in feed or in drinking water;
• Enrofloxacin in drinking water at 50ppm the first day followed by 25ppm for four more days (J6.26.w2).
• Tetracyclines 37g per 15litres water for five to seven days.
• Lincomycin 10g per 15 litres water for five to seven days.
• Amoxycillin 5g per 15litres water provided on two days with one day of unmedicated water between.

Whatever disease your duck has, it will need to be treated asap, since it's showing signs of advanced infection already.

 

[duckmamma]

It's possible your duck ate something that was contaminated with aflatoxins (from moldy substances), but that generally wouldn't cause it to end up on its back, paddling its legs. Another possibility is "flipover" disease, but that's more for younger ducks (ducklings to 2 mos old) and is more of a sudden death affliction.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Check the sticky at the top. It sounds like a toxin/poison more than a desease.

 

[xobabydee26ox]

Also what I forgot to mention is that her poop sticks to her bottom and it looks black. Normally when my ducks poop it doesn't stick to their feathers. And this female duck was known for her loud quack, but now she barely quacks at all. One more thing is that she is missing a patch of feathers at the back of her neck. I dont know if this is from her being sick or when she mated with the male duck a few days ago before I isolated her. This morning she looked a little better I saw her try to clean her self. Slowly I hear her quack coming back. If she has the New Duck disease how did she get it and how can I prevent that from happening to my other ducks? I really thought she ate something poisonous like a piece of metal because I just found that my shed has a little burrow under it with nails and pieces of metal. This happening is very bad timing because I have another male duck inside of my house because he suffered from Phallus Prostration and he is inside recovering with sutures.

 

[xobabydee26ox]

I was searching for oxytetracycline online in local pet stores, but I only found tetracycline I dont know if it is the same thing. They have it in petsmart this is the link to the medicine, but I dont know if this is the right one for my duck. It does say its for birds. http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11147085

 

[Miss Lydia]

I was searching for oxytetracycline online in local pet stores, but I only found tetracycline I dont know if it is the same thing. They have it in petsmart this is the link to the medicine, but I dont know if this is the right one for my duck. It does say its for birds. http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11147085

You could use that brand or go to your Feed store and buy it. it would be cheaper at the feed store I'm sure and not fruit flavored.