Need antibiotic advice - vet mystified about lump on toe

[CoriM]

My duck developed a sudden lump on her middle toe joint about a month ago - no puncture wound or bumblefoot infection. I was able to get her to the vet a week after discovering the lump. We did an x-ray and a blood draw. White blood counts were only on the high side of normal, and x-ray showed a lot of inflammation but nothing else. For two weeks she was on Clavamox and Celecoxib and I didn't see any real change, other than that she was no longer favoring the foot and running around as normal. She was then off antibiotics for a week and then a week ago we started Trimeth Sulfa. Her foot appears unchanged - maybe a tiny bit bigger than it was the first round of antibiotics. I will keep her on this new one for a few more days, but the vet said if there's no improvement I should go off it after 10-14 days. I'm wondering whether I should try another antibiotic, or not. I'm concerned about exposing her little system to so many antibiotics! I have Baytril and Doxy as options. I have a re-check appointment at the vet for end of this coming week, but I don't know if there's any point in going as he has no idea what the problem is and everytime I go it ends up being a few hundred dollars. Attaching the x-ray and a photo of her foot.

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[ruthhope]

My duck developed a sudden lump on her middle toe joint about a month ago - no puncture wound or bumblefoot infection. I was able to get her to the vet a week after discovering the lump. We did an x-ray and a blood draw. White blood counts were only on the high side of normal, and x-ray showed a lot of inflammation but nothing else. For two weeks she was on Clavamox and Celecoxib and I didn't see any real change, other than that she was no longer favoring the foot and running around as normal. She was then off antibiotics for a week and then a week ago we started Trimeth Sulfa. Her foot appears unchanged - maybe a tiny bit bigger than it was the first round of antibiotics. I will keep her on this new one for a few more days, but the vet said if there's no improvement I should go off it after 10-14 days. I'm wondering whether I should try another antibiotic, or not. I'm concerned about exposing her little system to so many antibiotics! I have Baytril and Doxy as options. I have a re-check appointment at the vet for end of this coming week, but I don't know if there's any point in going as he has no idea what the problem is and everytime I go it ends up being a few hundred dollars. Attaching the x-ray and a photo of her foot.

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The Xray indicates a lot of diffuse soft tissue swelling. The joint itself doesn't appear to be infected although a lateral view would be needed to be certain.

I would not give any further antibiotics as antibiotics can mess up your duck's gut and lead to candida /yeast infections

The white cell count didn't indicate infection and there is no improvement with the antibiotics used.

I have no idea what is causing the swelling -- it may be painful because it is strething the overlying tissue rather than because of injury or infection.

Is there a vet who could give a scond opinion? I would have thought that the history, examination and that Xray should be enough to get a diagnosis.

I read in this forum that there are "on line vets". Perhaps Google that and get a consultation on line

 

[ruthhope]

https://vetster.com/

 

[CoriM]

I don't know - we have two avian/exotic vets near my home, but neither of them are very successful in dealing with duck stuff - it all seems experimental. I've already spent over $400 on this, so I'm hesitant to see another one or even go in for the re-check. Thanks for the advice on antibiotics - that's kind of what I was thinking and just wanting to hear confirmation. I did find a thread on BYC about a chicken with a similar mysterious lump on her foot and in that case the vet was cutting into it and draining it and all the effort, plus the antibiotics did nothing, but months later it went away. I'm hoping that's the case for this girl.