I'm wondering if he didn't have a "touch" of botulism. Botulism is especially common in waterfowl, as they are always mucking about in mud and decaying guck on the ground (my ducks' water bucket is just atrocious within hours of giving it to them). With a full blown case of botulism, survivability is poor. However, with a mild case, the bird may well survive, but it takes many days, if not weeks for the bird to show drastic improvement. Signs of botulism (acute poisoning): paralysis or weakness in the legs, progressing up to the wings, then to the neck. A bird that is big trouble will not be able to swallow, due to paralysed muscles in the neck, and they can even start to drool. They will lose appetite completely, as well.
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/19/botulism Paralysis comes on quickly - usually within 6-10 hours of eating whatever it is that contained C. botulinum bacteria. Not every bird gets the same symptoms and some may not have an acute case of poisoning (and thus, lesser symptoms).
Although it's too late to treat him with a charcoal flush now (needs to be done immediately upon seeing the first symptoms) I'll post instructions on how to give one in case you ever see these symptoms again. I'm not 100% positive by any means that this is what your duck has, but it's worth it to know what to do if you ever need to do a charcoal flush.
Flushing toxins using activated charcoal:
Go to your pet supply store and pick up activated charcoal (for fish tanks). Crush up into a very fine powder, about 3 tablespoons. Mix this with half a cup or so of water- enough that the charcoal is mostly suspended but not so much that you've diluted it too much. Now, while you're at the pet supply store, pick up some airline hosing too (again, for fish tanks). You'll also need a catheter tip syringe, 35 cc. Measure the distance from the duck or chicken's bill to the crop (in a duck's case, the length of the neck or about 10-12 inches). Cut the hose to this length and make sure the end isn't sharp. Fit the other end onto the syringe (you may have to heat the end of the tube to fit it onto the catheter tip syringe). Suck up a full syringe full of the charcoal mixture, making sure that you suck all the liquid out of the tube before you stick it down their throat. Open the bird's mouth- at the back of the tongue, there's an opening, called the glottis. This is the opening to their windpipe and NOTHING should ever go down this opening. As long as you avoid this hole, you'll be fine. Wet the tube, then slide the tube down the throat (someone is holding the bird now). If you hit resistance, stop- if you are far enough down the throat, administer the fluids slowly. If not and you still have a lot of the tube sticking out, then pull back and gently slide it down again. Sometimes it's just the position of the neck that causes problems. Administer the 35 cc or however much the bird can take. Do it slowly enough that you can monitor if any fluids are coming back up the throat. If this happens, pull the tube out (pinching the tube so no further fluid comes out) and drain the birds throat and mouth, then lift the head up to allow the bird to breathe. This doesn't happen very often, especially if you are careful. To increase effectiveness of the charcoal, repeat this procedure every 6 hours for 24 hours.
Laura
