Duck attacked by dog a couple days ago, thought she was doing better but now her wing is twitching.

[Jessi32]

First time caller, long time listener. A couple days ago (Sunday afternoon), one of my Indian runner ducks was attacked by a dog. The injuries didn't look very bad at all, more akin to having some feathers pulled out roughly rather than a bite. I've been washing the wounds with salt water and then putting on some poultry wound spray that I picked up at tractor supply and getting her to drink an electrolyte mix. She's doing a lot better now from what I can tell (she's more active, eating more, and more herself. She's also been spending more time with the other ducks. She still spending a fair amount of time in the coop, but I expect that's pretty normal). However, she started doing an odd wing twitch thing today, or at least it's more pronounced today. The wound on that Wing looks like it's healing up nicely and there's no pus and it doesn't smell bad and her heart rate seems just fine. She didn't have any broken bones. Is the wing twitch indicative of her just being uncomfortable or of something more serious?

 

[picklestheduck]

First time caller, long time listener. A couple days ago (Sunday afternoon), one of my Indian runner ducks was attacked by a dog. The injuries didn't look very bad at all, more akin to having some feathers pulled out roughly rather than a bite. I've been washing the wounds with salt water and then putting on some poultry wound spray that I picked up at tractor supply and getting her to drink an electrolyte mix. She's doing a lot better now from what I can tell (she's more active, eating more, and more herself. She's also been spending more time with the other ducks. She still spending a fair amount of time in the coop, but I expect that's pretty normal). However, she started doing an odd wing twitch thing today, or at least it's more pronounced today. The wound on that Wing looks like it's healing up nicely and there's no pus and it doesn't smell bad and her heart rate seems just fine. She didn't have any broken bones. Is the wing twitch indicative of her just being uncomfortable or of something more serious?

@Quatie
@Miss Lydia
@Aunt Angus
Any thoughts? My duck does the wing twitch too but she wasn’t attacked. She has bumblefoot

 

[Quatie]

Wing twitching could be a few things. It could be she is overheated and trying to cool off. Does her beak or anything else feel overly warm? If she has a fever, that would explain it. Dogs mouths are very dirty and could potentially have caused an internal infection. Seems a bit less likely, since you don't see any other signs of infection, but I wouldn't completely rule it out.

It is also possible there was something else damaged on her wing. Maybe her muscle or nerves were injured and have caused twitching. Maybe even pain causing the twitch, depending on what happened. Their wings can be a bit delicate.

There may be other reasons for the wing twitching. It could be a behavioral thing. Maybe a nervous twitch. But that is really more a guess. If you have a video of the twitching, that would be helpful to see.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I see my Runners do wing twitching quite often so hopefully, it's nothing to worry about but a video would be a good way for us to see what she is doing.
If her wounds look good no drainage or smell, swelling ect. and she is acting normal eating drinking interacting with the other ducks those are all good signs.
Just make sure you have found all the bite wounds. Clipping feather back from the wound helps with treating and making sure when the wounds close feathers can't get stuck inside.

 

[Jessi32]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/DHYrwtvVYz5ZPqJz8 here is a link to the video. That's a good idea, I'll check her over again to make sure I didn't miss anything. @Miss Lydia how do you clip a feather? I've never done it before.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Just take a pair of scissors and clip the feathers back away from the wounds.
How bad is the wound on her wing? once you clip the feathers maybe get a good picture. She looks good. Hopefully it's just she is having a bit of pain maybe. My Runners do this wing twitching too so it may be just her and a little uncomfortable.
Beautiful ducks.

 

[Jessi32]

This is the wound on the wing that's been twitching.

 

[Jessi32]

This is the wound on her other wing. She'll twitch this wing as well, but not nearly as much as the other. She doesn't feel too warm, but she's not stretching her wing from the first picture all the way either.

 

[Jessi32]

They both were because I took the opportunity while she was sitting still to wash them with salt water and spray them with the wound spray.

 

[Jessi32]

*They're both wet