Any advice for gasping for air in ducks!

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CayugaDuckMomOfTwo

CayugaDuckMomOfTwo

Songster
Nov 3, 2021
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I have a 9 mo old Cayuga that is being seen by a vet (exotic not poultry vet). I've had her on Metacam, and Baytril for over a week, and he now gave her Itraconazol for potential Aspergillosis (she's had one dose). I gave her some dewormer (fenbendazole) a couple weeks ago when she developed an occasional cough. So far, she has only gotten worse. She started open mouth breathing this past Saturday, and luckily she made it through the weekend so I could bring her back in Monday morning. They did radiographs and it only showed some inflammation, and ruled out pneumonia. He said her lungs don't sound bad. We don't think it's Avian flu since her sister is completely normal still. I'm waiting to hear back on bloodwork, but in the meantime I thought I'd reach out for any advice someone might have from going through a similar experience. She's still gasping for air with every inhalation. She stopped eating this morning as well. It's breaking my heart to see her this way. She keeps fighting, so I have been too. I want to give the fungicide more time to see if it helps before I make the hard decision to put her down. Could it still be gapeworm even though she got some dewormer a couple of weeks ago? My vet is trying to help, but I'm worried his expertise is limited when it comes to ducks. I can't find a single poultry vet close by house.
Thanks for any help yall can give.
The video is from Sunday. The open mouth breathing is more pronounced to gasping now.
 
CayugaDuckMomOfTwo said:
And I'm not sure if she is since I have two ducks. It makes it difficult to know
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Did the vet check for eggs when she was x-rayed? And I'm wondering about aspergillosis. I wonder if it would hurt at this point to continue the antifungal and try some calcium.

Actually, she probably isn't egg bound. I reread your post, and it has been going on too long. I am not a vet or anything, but it seems like aspergillosis.
 
Aunt Angus said:
Did the vet check for eggs when she was x-rayed? And I'm wondering about aspergillosis. I wonder if it would hurt at this point to continue the antifungal and try some calcium.

Actually, she probably isn't egg bound. I reread your post, and it has been going on too long. I am not a vet or anything, but it seems like aspergillosis.
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I don't think he radiographed that far down. Until she stopped eating, she was good about eating her Oyster shell and was eating her layer feed.
I did read another post where similar symptoms went on 4 months and her duck was just egg bound. Shouldn't I be able to feel it back there though?
 
CayugaDuckMomOfTwo said:
I don't think he radiographed that far down. Until she stopped eating, she was good about eating her Oyster shell and was eating her layer feed.
I did read another post where similar symptoms went on 4 months and her duck was just egg bound. Shouldn't I be able to feel it back there though?
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I couldn't. I ended up giving her calcium gluconate (it's a liquid for cattle) - 0.2 mL per pound. I ended up giving that to her 5x in a 24-hour period. If she's going downhill. might be worth a shot??? Or maybe call the vet and ask???
 
Aunt Angus said:
I couldn't. I ended up giving her calcium gluconate (it's a liquid for cattle) - 0.2 mL per pound. I ended up giving that to her 5x in a 24-hour period. If she's going downhill. might be worth a shot??? Or maybe call the vet and ask???
Click to expand...
Thank you for your help. I'm hoping he calls me back soon! I'm thinking a radiograph would give me an answer. I'll bring her back in if that's the case.
 
Just got off the phone with the vet. She's not egg bound (they took her lung radiograph far enough down to see), no gapeworms due to bloodwork results. She has several abnormalities in her bloodwork (liver, kidney, pancreas, and RBC). I was told to continue with meds, but she's very ill with some type of infection. If she doesn't improve at all soon I'm going to have to put her down. My heart is shattered! And I don't don't know what to do about her sister, Frankie if Grace doesn't make it.
 

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