Bad gasping episodes. Non-prescription fungal meds?

[Jenbirdee]

@Fawkes
I hope your sweet duck is ok and the oxine is helping?
I am so excited I just found out about this and how to get it!
I just ordered nystatin powder because
Nystatin fungicidal drug It is active against Candida, Cryptococcus, Histoplasma, Blastomyces, and Aspergillus spp.

I pasted 2 links in the post above this

One of them is more info about nystatin and aspergillus from a google search I did

the other is the link to buy some !!!! no prescription needed Thanks God

 

[Fawkes]

He's still hanging in there I think he might actually be gaining weight, his poop is still good and his favorite pastimes are still mating his girlfriend, my legs, and being a bully to my 4 month old drake lol.

Still trying to figure out exactly how to treat him tho. Hopefully the oxine works. That video really helps - I've bought one of those portable face mask nebuilizers that will arrive tomorrow! I'll use a spray bottle in the meantime.

I have to monitor him 24/7 because of the choking, which makes it all the more hard to get the supplies together and really treat him, and i'm trying to make sure he gets plenty of rest where he's not being disturbed by me or other ducks as after he's had some sleep he seems better.

I had to stop syringing the silver down him after only a day or two because the choking got worse and it got scary putting anything down his throat, especially while i'm still trying to understand what's going on when he has these episodes. I'm still treating one other sick duck with the silver tho.

When he does choke or whatever is happening, its quite distressing, I don't ever know if I'm gonna be able to help him breathe in time. I have several techniques now from trial and error e.g. if hes starting to struggle but it's not an actual episode, then gently pushing his tail down and his chest up while he's standing on the floor. Similar to the stance of an Indian runner, I guess. I dont keep him in that position for more than seconds, it's just a quick correction.

But with a full blown episode I have to immediately grab him, hold him in the air chest up (runner stance) momentarily, hold his wings down or they hit me in the face while he's flailing around, and whether or not I put any (gentle) pressure to his underside with my hands while i'm holding him up (or slightly hug against the side of my body) will depend on how bad he is. Then I lay him in my lap and repeat the process however many times is needed. I can tell based on feeling him take some deep breaths and making rasping noises, both good signs.

Theres also a really weird noise of like trapped liquid or something during an episode, which isnt good, it means I need to keep repeating the process. The deep breaths/rasping appears to dislodge whatever must be blocking his airway, after I"ve done what's sorta like a heimlich maneuver. I'm starting to experiment with massaging his throat too. He's got too much tissue in his throat according to the vet, so maybe when he's sick it gets more swollen, and becomes easy to choke on food/muscus.

Sometimes he'll even start choking when he makes one of those normal muscovy
drake deep throated hiss/growl noises (not the typical excited hissing that drakes do, but one of their less frequent vocalizations, often reserved for making towards other drakes). It makes me think it's his throat that's the problem, but 2 of his buddies are sick with respiratory infections, so it seems likely he is too.

I've never heard of anyone else with a duck with this extra throat tissue and the vets were pretty stumped by it too (they thought it might grow...hopefully it hasn't). So it's like charting unknown territory in a way.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I’m sorry to hear two of his buddies are also sick that means your treating 3 with this one being the worse I hope what your doing gets them all through it. With all your doing it shows how much they mean to you. Thanks for updating.

 

[Awaytome]

If the extra tissue in your duck's throat is inflamed and exacerbating the coughing/choking episodes, maybe you should try the anti-inflammatory you mentioned being able to get and see if that helps.

 

[Fawkes]

If the extra tissue in your duck's throat is inflamed and exacerbating the coughing/choking episodes, maybe you should try the anti-inflammatory you mentioned being able to get and see if that helps.

Yeah, I'm going to call the vets today and have my dad pick up the anti inflammatories (since I'm not able to leave him at all). I just hope I don't cause him to choke, but he's choking on water, food, and apparently nothing anyways and it can't keep on like this, so...I'm hoping it will only help.

I’m sorry to hear two of his buddies are also sick that means your treating 3 with this one being the worse I hope what your doing gets them all through it. With all your doing it shows how much they mean to you. Thanks for updating.

Yeah I love my ducks like other people love their dogs I have several ducks with health problems right now so it's almost impossible.

like tonight I was gone for about 1 minute giving someone their meds, and he started choking in that 1 minute. I almost lost him that time. Not because I didn't see it in time, just because my techniques to get him able to breathe weren't working for whatever reason. Previously, he had been good almost all day, then evening rolls around and it's a series of choking episodes.

I thought things were tough last month when I had to have another duck's wing amputated due to a tumor and then she wasnt eating well for a few weeks. Now I would happily go back to last month...

 

[Jenbirdee]

Yeah, I'm going to call the vets today and have my dad pick up the anti inflammatories (since I'm not able to leave him at all). I just hope I don't cause him to choke, but he's choking on water, food, and apparently nothing anyways and it can't keep on like this, so...I'm hoping it will only help.



Yeah I love my ducks like other people love their dogs I have several ducks with health problems right now so it's almost impossible.

like tonight I was gone for about 1 minute giving someone their meds, and he started choking in that 1 minute. I almost lost him that time. Not because I didn't see it in time, just because my techniques to get him able to breathe weren't working for whatever reason. Previously, he had been good almost all day, then evening rolls around and it's a series of choking episodes.

I thought things were tough last month when I had to have another duck's wing amputated due to a tumor and then she wasnt eating well for a few weeks. Now I would happily go back to last month...

hang in there
if you can get the antifungal med and give it
the 2 things work together
oxine ah in nebulizer
antifungal med in his food
Im waiting for mine to come in the mail
It is rough going
I also love my ducks as pets

 

[Miss Lydia]

Mine are also pets it's hard for many people to understand but to me they are no different that my dogs they are loved and cared for the same way.

 

[Jenbirdee]

@Fawkes are you doing 30 minutes every 8 hours with the oxine ah now? how’s that working out? i had a hard time getting up in the middle of the night for that but i made myself do it. then it was hard to go back to sleep so I’d walk around tired all day. I hope you’re able to get enough rest for yourself.

 

[Fawkes]

No I haven't done the oxine with him yet, between his weird triggers and having a hard time taking care of other pets without him choking while I'm gone... anything I do with him has to be during one of his good periods, but then during his good periods I hate to wake him up when he seems so much better when he's had a few hours sleep, or I'm using the good times to take care of other pets.

And I'm worried of anything irritating his throat and causing it to close up or something. Last week before this got so bad, I had given him vinegar in his water, then hours later is when he got very severe and required around the clock monitoring. Might be totally unrelated, tho..

I'm sleeping with him with me, but even that's risky because when he starts choking it needs to be caught right away, not when he's already uncontrollably flapping around. So I'm having to stay up a lot, it's all just very exhausting.

Good news is, I don't think it's my imagination, he definitely feels and looks better weight wise in the last days. It's amazing he even wants to eat and drink, he's got to realize it causes choking. So I do think he can get over this if I can first treat his throat with the anti-inflammatory and then go from there. I think if his throat was normal, it wouldn't be great that he had an apparent infection, but he wouldn't be in immediate danger either.

He seems so normal right now, I have a hard time believing he choked so bad last night. He actually threw up some bad smelling, slimy liquid in the middle of the morning and (maybe coincidence) he's not choked since. I've never known him to throw up before. I heard him making slurping/dabbling noises when he wasn't near the water bowl, so I look and he's dribbling liquid, with a small puddle beneath him. At least it came up instead of choking on it.

 

[Fawkes]

I did mean to ask how quickly you think oxine takes affect? I have one duck who isn't eating much and I'm hoping it can be a quick cure for her. She got a respiratory infection last winter/spring, quit eating, but was fine after a course of SMZ. It's clearly this infection rearing it's head again.

i'm currently giving her silver via syringe once a day, it's supposed to be twice per day actually but I haven't managed it yet because Percy (the choker) seems to choke every time I try to leave to medicate another duck.

She also will tolerate a face mask or a spray bottle, etc, with Oxine without getting too upset or choking. With Percy, who knows.