Advice on Disabled Duck

[Lorielus]

Hi all,

I fear this might be futile but I want to try everything before the inevitable.

I've adoped a couple more ducks from an person wanting to re-home them. One is the picture of health and the other one was described as "a bit of a limp but gets around ok". This latter duck does not have "a bit of a limp" but is instead heavily disabled - I can't tell if her legs have no function at all or there's simply no strength in them, but she is dragging herself around a little on her belly via a combination of her beak and her wings. In the two days we've had her, she's moved maybe a grand total of about 5 metres. She is eating and drinking and going to the bathroom, but fairly meagre amounts of all three (albiet she's obviously not exactly working up an appetite) - she's not skin & bone but is definitely underweight. She's missing some feathers and those she does have are in bad condition and don't look oiled, so the poor girl is in a sorry state.

Unfortunately, given the difference between the "bit of a limp" description and the reality, I was a bit too shocked to have the wherewithall to ask for a history of how long she's been like this, etc. All I know is she's at least 7 (but could be considerably older).

Given we're in Scotland and heading into winter - this is not a good condition for any duck to be in as the freezing winds and rains are quickly approaching. I'm buiilding a wind break to keep the worst off but short of keeping her inside (she's partially-domesticated but not to the point where inside would cause anything but blind panic) or keeping her closed in the coop they use for overnight I'm not sure what other adaptations I can make.

I am taking her to the specialist vet on Friday, my instinct being the advice will likely be to put her down, but I just wanted to reach out for any suggestions or advice anyone might have from experiences bringing a duck back from the brink, if such a thing has ever been possible.

Many thanks as always!

 

[ruthhope]

How is she on water deep enough to float and swim (ie in a bath tub or similar, not a shallow kiddie pool)? If she can swim, she can have a happy life with a lot of support.

It's possible to build a home made sling wheel chair with white HDPE pipe and angles. The fabric sling takes the weight off her legs, which can extend through holes and touch the ground if she has any movement in them, but her feet should be off the ground if she cannot move them.

Although you say she is not tame enough to bring inside the house, I bring otherwise well ducks with eye infections inside, and they do OK.

She may very well become accustomed enough to you if you spend a lot of time with her in the coming days doing hydrotherapy in deep water and getting her used to a sling wheelchair.

Good luck with her, and the vet. I am sure you will do your best for her abd not ket her suffer.

 

[Lorielus]

How is she on water deep enough to float and swim (ie in a bath tub or similar, not a shallow kiddie pool)? If she can swim, she can have a happy life with a lot of support.

It's possible to build a home made sling wheel chair with white HDPE pipe and angles. The fabric sling takes the weight off her legs, which can extend through holes and touch the ground if she has any movement in them, but her feet should be off the ground if she cannot move them.

Although you say she is not tame enough to bring inside the house, I bring otherwise well ducks with eye infections inside, and they do OK.

She may very well become accustomed enough to you if you spend a lot of time with her in the coming days doing hydrotherapy in deep water and getting her used to a sling wheelchair.

Good luck with her, and the vet. I am sure you will do your best for her abd not ket her suffer.

Thanks a lot, I really appreciate the reply.

I'll maybe test her out in water tomorrow and see if she can swim - can see how she does inside at the same time since I'd like to keep her warm for a bit if she's getting wet (since her feathers don't look oiled).

The sling wheelchair (assuming she has some use of her legs), that's a brilliant idea, I've managed to find a couple of instructional videos on youtube just now.

Is there anything that can be done to help her oil (or articially oil) her feathers that you know of?

Many thanks again, that's really helpful!

 

[Miss Lydia]

What breed is this duck?
Is she able to preen? is her gland blocked? there really isn't anything we can use to help waterproof feathers. But we can help unblock an oil gland with warm compresses.

I had a Muscovy drake that when he reached his 10 birthday was not able to walk. He still had the will to live and enjoyed his days in his own area with his girls. I would take him from the coop every morning and place him in his area along with his females. Then come evening I would carry him back. He could get around on soft ground but he couldn't walk very far at all. I helped him out for 2 yrs he passed away a month before he was 12. I am not saying you should do this just saying sometimes they can still have pleasant lives with a little help from us if possible.

 

[Lorielus]

What breed is this duck?
Is she able to preen? is her gland blocked? there really isn't anything we can use to help waterproof feathers. But we can help unblock an oil gland with warm compresses.

I had a Muscovy drake that when he reached his 10 birthday was not able to walk. He still had the will to live and enjoyed his days in his own area with his girls. I would take him from the coop every morning and place him in his area along with his females. Then come evening I would carry him back. He could get around on soft ground but he couldn't walk very far at all. I helped him out for 2 yrs he passed away a month before he was 12. I am not saying you should do this just saying sometimes they can still have pleasant lives with a little help from us if possible.

She's a Cayuga duck. With the caveat that's she's only been with us a couple of days I don't think she can preen as I haven't seen any sign of it so far (that may be down to general weakness). Could I ask - is there a way to tell if the gland is blocked for a layperson like me? I'm about 7 years into pet duck ownership so there's probably still more I don't know than I know!

That sounds encouraging regarding your experience with your Muscovy - I'm more than happy to give her all the care she needs if we can hopefully get her to a healthier state. The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking I should maybe move her and the other duck we got with her into the conservatory (which never get used anyway) and out of the elements, at least until the vet has seen her and we can maybe get some weight gain, etc.

 

[Miss Lydia]

If the gland is working there should be a yellow oily look and feel around the feathers at the gland. On a Cayuga, the yellow may not show up but you can feel it.

That is so sweet of you to take them in at their age. I hope you can get her healthy and maybe even get her up walking with good feed and good care. Like @ruthhope said letting them paddle around in water is really good for their leg muscles she just needs to have supervision while in water.

Putting them in the conservatory would be a good idea.

Let us know what the vet says. Some poultry vitamins would be good too or some Vitamin B Complex here we can get in liquid for livestock and it is very good for leg health in waterfowl. 1ml over a tasty treat daily.

 

[Lorielus]

She certainly seems to have plenty of appetite, but only when I put food and water right under her nose (easier said than done since she isn't used to me yet) - she doesn't seem to want to actively move toward the food/water herself which is worrying from the point of view of thinking she must be in enough pain/discomfort when moving to overcome her desire to eat/drink.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Ask the vet for some Metacam that will help with inflammation and pain.

You don't want the pain completely masked or she could make it worse but just enough to help her move around some and be able to eat and drink without help.

Having a good appetite will sure help get some much-needed nutrients into her and some weight on her.

 

[Lorielus]

Ask the vet for some Metacam that will help with inflammation and pain.

You don't want the pain completely masked or she could make it worse but just enough to help her move around some and be able to eat and drink without help.

Having a good appetite will sure help get some much-needed nutrients into her and some weight on her.

Absolutely, that's always what they've gone to for other birds I've taken to them with good impact.

I suspect they'll want to keep her overnight for tests which I think would be good anyway - some professional monitoring rather than my layperson's eye!

Could I ask pleasse with your Muscovy, how could you tell he was comfortable rather than distressed with his immobility? Are there body language signals, or is it a matter of him looking in good condition in terms of his preening, etc. and eating/drinking/alertness kind of thing?

Thanks again and sorry to keep pestering you!

 

[Miss Lydia]

No way are you pestering. Being able to help someone is what we do if we can.

Ernie just always seemed to enjoy having a place of his own with his girls he would struggle to walk if he had to go very far but in his area he had feed and water close enough to where he only had a few feet to go. Never seemed to be in pain but he did get a baby aspirin daily I wish I had known about Cosequin /MSM when he was alive. I have his son on it because he injured his leg last year fighting with my gander and had limped ever since he is 11 yrs old so I am thinking arthritis has set in but since he's been on the Cosequin/MSM he hasn't limped after he was on it for a month. Another member told me her vet rec for her duck who was having leg issues. Ernie was able to preen but I had to put him into the pool for his bath and take him out. We had a pretty close relationship and I believe he knew I was helping him.