Anyone Know How to Make Sick Duck Eat?!

[casportpony]

Is a vet an option? I'm gonna be direct... If she is so sick that you think tubing will kill her then she is very close to death now. She's gone from 8 pounds to 4 pounds? Most people say that you you tube when they lose 5% of their body weight, so we're past that.

Sadly, it might be too late, once they get this thin they are very hard to save. If she were mine I would tube fluids ASAP.

 

[The Chicken-Boy]

Again, I think taking her to a vet (45 min. away) would do her in. She is incredibly thin. I don't know exactly what her weight was before this.... But she definitely lost 50% of her weight. Do you think tubing fluids would help even if she is still drinking? I could have done a ton more if i wasn't away. I thought she was going to die last night and am very surprised she hasn't yet, she was so bad when we got home.

 

[The Chicken-Boy]

I think tubing would have been an option last week... but not at this point. Do you think coccidiosis could be a cause? I had a chicken with coccidiosis once and she acted kind of like this, but I don't know if ducks are different.

 

[casportpony]

Yeah, sometimes the trip to the vet will kill them, but sometimes not. A vet really is the best option.

You said she can barely hold her head up now, so I doubt she's been drinking enough. She needs to drink no less that 100 ml of fluids per day, more if she has diarrhea.

 

[casportpony]

I think tubing would have been an option last week... but not at this point. Do you think coccidiosis could be a cause? I had a chicken with coccidiosis once and she acted kind of like this, but I don't know if ducks are different.

Could be coccidiosis, or it could be a bacterial infection, viral infection, heavy metal toxicity, hardware disease, or cancer.

 

[The Chicken-Boy]

I really don't know how much she is drinking because I've been out of town. She was holding her head fine until about an hour and a half ago.

 

[The Chicken-Boy]

Also, about three weeks ago she was laying eggs with very soft shells (even though she was getting enough calcium). She has since stopped laying.

 

[The Chicken-Boy]

I've had chickens that have acted quite like this that we have taken to the vet and have been diagnosed with cancer.

 

[casportpony]

Euthanasia is another option.

 

[The Chicken-Boy]

I wouldn't be surprised if she had some kind of internal problem.... 2/3 of the eggs that she was incubated with died right before hatch... and two of the survivors had external defects (twisted foot, bent tail).