Dew claws came off?

[LadyHawk_2006]

I've been trying to get my indoor duck used to her harness so she can go outside with us now that it's getting warmer and get sunshine and forage. She was less than enthused about trying on her very fashionable vest today and was kicking her feet a lot. I didn't think anything of it until I got it on her and noticed a spot of blood on the waterproof pad that I put in front of her cage. I freaked out at first, thinking she'd broken a blood feather, because she recently molted all of her wing feathers, and the new ones are all coming in now. Happily, it was not a blood feather, but one of my daughters noticed one of her dew claws was missing, and the toe was bleeding I felt horrible, but at least I knew it wouldn't be immediately life threatening as long as I watch it and keep it clean. What's weird is that I don't even know what she caught it on. So we went outside, but she is still scared of outside, so we stayed out for about 10-20 minutes, and then went inside so she could get her bath. After her bath, she likes to sit on our laps and preen, and when we sat down with her, I noticed blood on the towel, and saw that her other dew claw had come off and it was just sitting there on the towel. She doesn't seem bothered at all, and she walks, eats, preens, swims, and talks just fine.

Is this a normal thing? Is it maybe a sign that she had been malnourished before we got her? We rescued her at the beginning of Feb when we found her dirty, hurt, and scared after being dumped in a local park. All of her feathers have been molting, and it makes me wonder if she was just not properly cared for before we took her in, and her body is just getting rid of all the unhealthy stuff and growing new? She gets a mix of Purina duck pellets, and Purina layer pellets, and we feed her lots of fruits and veggies, and she just discovered dandelion greens today

 

[Miss Lydia]

How old is she? I had one knock off her dew claw an there was lots of blood but she pulled through fine I think I dabbed some triple antibiotic ointment on it was all . She may have caught both on the harness and the other one just wasn’t ready to fall off until her bath was over. Nothing to worry about.

 

[LadyHawk_2006]

I have no idea how old she is, since we rescued her from a local park. She definitely seems full grown, but other than that, I don't know. I'm guessing she could be young, because I'm assuming someone got her as a cute duckling, then realized they weren't ready for an adult duck in their city apartment and just dumped her once she wasn't cute and fuzzy anymore. She can also be a little bitey

 

[Miss Lydia]

Just wondering since you are feeding layer too. She awfully blessed to have been rescued by you.

 

[Isaac 0]

Cute duck! Her toenails don't look too overgrown, so she must have just got it caught on something.

 

[LadyHawk_2006]

Just wondering since you are feeding layer too. She awfully blessed to have been rescued by you.

I started feeding layer just in case she is still laying age I also wasn't sure if maybe there would be extra nutrients in it that would help her new feathers come in better. She quickly regrew and is covered in new and pinfeathers, so I guess it didn't hurt one way or another

 

[LadyHawk_2006]

Cute duck! Her toenails don't look too overgrown, so she must have just got it caught on something.

I still feel horrible that it happened, because I wasn't expecting it since I didn't see her catch either one on anything. But I thought about dogs, and I know that they are always catching and ripping off dewclaws, so I had something to compare it to at least. And I know that as long as the cuticle was not damaged, it should grow back, it just makes my skin crawl!

 

[DiYMama540]

I've had a couple birds rip off nails for one reason or another and it takes a while, but eventually grows back. Compared to what she's already been through in her life...a nail coming off is no biggie!
Keep up the good work duck mama!!

Also... would love to see more pics of the princess! Before and after perhaps??

 

[LadyHawk_2006]

I've had a couple birds rip off nails for one reason or another and it takes a while, but eventually grows back. Compared to what she's already been through in her life...a nail coming off is no biggie!
Keep up the good work duck mama!!

Also... would love to see more pics of the princess! Before and after perhaps??

That makes me feel better to know it's at least not too unusual. I figured it was possible because it's a dew claw, and they always seem to cause problems in lots of animals that have them.

If you go to my profile and look at my first post about her, I put lots of pix in there, but here's one of the bathing beauty from a couple weeks ago She still has a little hole in her bill from a wound she had when we picked her up from the park, but it's healed. Sometimes she likes to paddle around leisurely, and sometimes she goes nuts, splashing and diving

 

[LadyHawk_2006]

Unrelated, when we took her outside today, she started eating dirt. Anyone know what that's all about? It wasn't grit, just yard dirt. It's only the second time that we've taken her outside, because the first time was only a few days after we took her in, so she wasn't used to us or the harness, so she was not comfortable at all. Now that she's adopted us back, and it's getting warmer, I wanted to try again so she can come with us on car rides and stuff