And my duck drama continues...

[Neuroscigirl]

As I'm battling with my 1 year old Pekin duck to treat her bumblefoot, my 1 month old duckling is looking worse by the day. Here's the short version of her history:

1. I got her from the feed store when she has splayed legs.
2. I splinted her legs and at 1 week old she seemed weak but perfectly fine.
3. She never seemed to have great balance and would occasionally fall over.
4. We are a month old now and she seems unwilling to walk more than a few steps (her right leg seems a little larger than her left and she doesn't want to stand all the way up on it). She also consistently loses her balance and struggles to get up. However, she swims well and seems very happy in the pool.

I feel terrible for her and at the same time I don't have hundreds of dollars to spend on vet bills *ahem thanks to my dog for needing 6k TPLO surgery a few weeks ago*.

I'm putting nutri drench in her water and brewer's yeast on her crumbles.

Help! It has gotten so much worse in the past few days. I have zero idea what to do here. Am I being cruel by keeping her around when her quality of life is declining? Is there more I can do? I can't describe how horrendously sad I feel about this duckling.

 

[Jpat]

I hope you get some help. That duckling is sooo awesome with that crazy hair-do!

Everyone will say you might need Vitamin B Complex. Liquid stuff from walmart

 

[Neuroscigirl]

I hope you get some help. That duckling is sooo awesome with that crazy hair-do!

Everyone will say you might need Vitamin B Complex. Liquid stuff from walmart

thanks for the input! I can get that!

 

[Jpat]

So you havent used it? its in any pharmacy near the multivitamins. 10$ is normal, some swear it works miracles, But everyone uses it

Oh and i dont play games with it. i give it to them in the mouth with the dropper. AND mix it in the water

 

[Neuroscigirl]

I haven't. I've used nutri-drench but I don't believe that has Vitamin B in it so I will add Vitamin B as well. Thank you!

 

[Jpat]

The b is good but i guess its the niacin in it that realy helps. I dont know if anything your already using already has niacin in it tho. Hopefully someone smart jumps in

 

[Lil Drake40]

Your little one has neurological troubles from being created which means under that fluff of feathers is no skull just a fatty layer a lot of duckling with large crests really suffer from it. I’d defiantly get the liquid BComplex asap it may help some. But most likely she’ll always have this problem. She can still live a good life if your willing to make her your special needs duck.

 

[Lil Drake40]

She probably isn’t in pain. But she needs protected being out running around with out supervision she could be picked off by a predator or injured

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

For niacin, if you are looking at the vitamins, you want b3. The b complex at tsc which says injectable is the best to use. You would use 1 mL. You don't have to inject it, but squirt it in the duckling's mouth.
@CayugaJana has experience using this with her ducks.
If you can't find it, the stuff jpat posted is good too. Just more costly ounce for ounce.
It might not change anything since your duck is crested and tend to have neurological issues as mentioned, but you really don't have anything to lose. Get the duckling started on it sooner than later though.

 

[Neuroscigirl]

She probably isn’t in pain. But she needs protected being out running around with out supervision she could be picked off by a predator or injured

that makes me feel a lot better. I am perfectly willing to keep her as my special needs duck. She has a duckling friend who also looks after her and surprised me today by running off the adult ducks who got too near her little special ed friend. Not to worry, they are separated most of the time but today was their first supervised experience being loose together.