Adult Duck With Splayed Legs, Potential Further Issue With Hock Joint

I am very leary of any surgeries that require birds to go under anesthesia as I have very poor outcomes. I had a goose that broke it's leg and the surgery was a success, but she died a few hours later never coming out of the anesthesia. Spent a 1000 dollars and the goose didn't make it. I also had a duck that was egg bound who I also tried to save and that duck also died post surgery but likely that was due to egg yoke peritonitis as they had to break the egg inside to remove it given it was stuck to her ovary. The duck did not ever wake up following the anesthesia. Also, spent over a 1000 dollars on the duck that didn't make it. So, I would really think this surgery though as you may spend alot of money and the duck may not make it.

I'm sorry to hear about your birds. Thank you for sharing your experience, i shall take that into strong consideration. Do you know whether the anesthesia used was an injectable one or a gas one? I ask as one of the other replies mentions having higher confidence in gas ones over injectables.
 
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Injectable anesthesia is the only medication that has made me feel uncomfortable in avian surgery. There is a reverser, but it can take 15 minutes to see results and it doesn't reverse completely. For this reason the exotic vets I know use gas anesthesia when possible. The two types I know of, isoflurane and sevoflurane, are usually safe. The main difference I have experienced is response time in the patient. My own ducks have had surgery under isoflurane multiple times with no issues.

That being said there is always a risk whenever any animal, including people, have surgery. Birds are less likely to have a positive outcome with some surgeries, in particular reproductive procedures. If an animal is already ill surgery may be too much for their body. In general I have found that birds do very well with gas anesthesia.

Personally, if you are using a qualified exotic vet with gas anesthesia, I would be more concerned with post operative infection.

Thank you for the information. I shall contact the vet to clarify which anesthesia he would use for the procedure. He's an experienced exotics vet, although i don't think he has done this specific procedure on a duck before, however he seemed familiar with the procedure itself.

If we go for the procedure it will be in just under two weeks from now, so by then she'll have finished her course of antibiotics about a week prior so should have regained her strength from that; she's also been on probiotics during the course and will continue for a couples of weeks afterwards, to keep her in the best shape possible.

The vet's primary concern was also her recovery, risk of infection being of key note. However i would hope that as long as we provide her with the correct living conditions that risk should be minimized. Any tips on post surgery care for ducks are welcomed from anyone reading this.
 
Thank you for the information. I shall contact the vet to clarify which anesthesia he would use for the procedure. He's an experienced exotics vet, although i don't think he has done this specific procedure on a duck before, however he seemed familiar with the procedure itself.

If we go for the procedure it will be in just under two weeks from now, so by then she'll have finished her course of antibiotics about a week prior so should have regained her strength from that; she's also been on probiotics during the course and will continue for a couples of weeks afterwards, to keep her in the best shape possible.

The vet's primary concern was also her recovery, risk of infection being of key note. However i would hope that as long as we provide her with the correct living conditions that risk should be minimized. Any tips on post surgery care for ducks are welcomed from anyone reading this.
Sometimes vets use a combination of injectable and gas anesthesia, especially with cats and dogs, to smooth the transition. My strong preference was to use only gas. Once you inject a medication it is in the body. Gas anesthesia is very controllable, especially sevoflurane. Gas anesthesia is mixed with oxygen and the medical team can breathe for the patient.

Sevoflurane is significantly more expensive than isoflurane. If my veterinarian offered both I would pay more for sevo. I was surprised a few years ago when I had surgery to smell the familiar scent of sevo as I was drifting off.

My understanding is that a lot of the post operative risk of infection with ducks comes from their messy and poopy nature. It can also be challenging to keep bandages on them.

My advice would be to get all post operative instructions in advance. Set up all areas and get all the supplies needed for her recovery in advance. I would keep my ducks as quiet and still as possible. Follow your vets instructions even if they don't make sense to you, your vet has a good reason.
 
@Isaac 0 I have updated the video settings so they should now work properly.

I did a fair bit of research when she first arrived and my layman's conclusion was that Splayed Legs was the most likely culprit, I'll do some more in depth research on the others you mentioned in case i overlooked any of them at the time.

My research had come to the same conclusion as you mentioned, given her age it seems unlikely such a condition can be fully resolved, and attempts at correcting Splayed legs at that age leads to more problems than solutions. My understanding is that even a surgical option is unlikely to be successful at this stage. I have resigned to the idea that most likely this is an issue she will have in some form from now on. So barring any vet recommendations, the best course of action is to make adaptations to provide the best for her needs, many of which we have already done.

Since arriving she has been on the same Layers feed as the other ducks, with the addition of a supplement that includes the B vitamins recommended. She spends the majority of the time in the duck house, which has a rubber non slip floor and thick layer of bedding to keep her clean, dry, comfortable and warm. The other surfaces she has access to are a soft astro turf in their all weather pen, and grass in the good weather pen. She is prohibited from hard surfaces barring rare exceptions such as out of necessity to take the pictures and videos above. Being so muddy is also an outlier due to specific unavoidable circumstances on the day the pictures/ videos were taken. She gets at least one or two long swims a day in the deep pond we have for them. I have some Epsom Salts on hand so can give that a try.

Thank You for your contributions. Hopefully we can get her to a vet soon.
@Isaac 0 An update on Jessy the duck. Fortunately our vet returned a couple of weeks earlier than planned, so we managed to get her an appointment the Friday before last. He said that she had some infection in the joints and that would need to be cleared up before any further treatments could be attempted, and booked her an X-Ray for a few days later, the X-Ray showed no damage to bone structure which was a relief. She has been on antibiotics and painkillers since the initial appointment; as a result the swelling in the legs is much reduced. Her left leg (the "good" one) is looking almost normal now, the only abnormalities remaining being in bone shape and leg position as a result of her duckling development. We've just took her back for a follow up appointment and the vet said that it appears the tendon on the right leg (the bad one) is not in the right place and will need surgery to correct for her to gain full use of the leg again. However he has cautioned that the surgery carries the usual risk of all surgeries that she may not make it, also that it still may not result in her gaining full use of the leg, he was also concerned that recovery may be an issue due to her trying to use the leg too much. We've figured out a setup that should prevent her from using it too much whilst recovering, should we decide to go that route.

So now just trying to decide how the risks of surgery and potentially problematic recovery compare to the potential future issues of leaving the leg as is. I've seen detailed explanations of the surgery, it seems pretty simple (as far as surgeries go anyway). My main concern is if it results in the leg being unable to bend enough for her to sit etc. I'll post any further updates. But if anyone reading has experience with Perosis corrective surgery on a duck, please share your experiences.
What ended up happening with your pekin duck? I'm in a similar situation with my Muscovy female Ella
 

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