Duck Cough

[houseduck]

Hello

I have a indoor pekin duck that wears a diaper. He is four months old, weighs 5.7 lbs and eats Mazuri pellets.

Ever since he was two months old he has had a bit of a cough. He normally coughs at night and it is only about 1-4 times. Some nights he does not cough at all. He is quite active and loves to swim, flap his wings and play. He eats about 1-2 cups of food a day and usually stands on one foot during the day. (I have a webcam in his room to watch him while I am at work).

The past couple of days I see he sits a little more but then he gets up 15 mins later and is back on one foot.

He has a great avian vet who saw him two months ago and gave him a dewormer just in case but said he did not see anything and he looked very healthy.

Any ideas? Is something wrong or am I just overly worried?

Thank you

 

[Amiga]

Welcome to the Duck Forum!

My a few of my runners had a little cough when they were that age. It was kind of a squeeky cough, and I worried about worms, but saw no other evidence of them. I've worked to keep them healthy, and they seem to have grown out of it.

Interesting to note that it started when they were about 10 weeks old, when they were in the house. Do you suppose they could just be allergic to something in the house? I rarely hear a cough anymore, though they do sometimes cough.

 

[ShuckyDuckyQuackQuack]

He might just be getting his quack and ...

 

[AdamD77]

My runners, young and adult, sometimes cough a bit when they scoff food too quickly or get something a bit stuck in their throat. It's usually sorted out by a nice drink of water, or some more food to push it down!

 

[houseduck]

Do ducks have allergies? His cough does sound more like a hack/clearing his throat. But yes, sometimes he just takes a drink and there is nothing more.

I suppose I just worry since when I google duck cough there are so many sites that say worms worms worms!!

 

[Amiga]

My experience is that my ducks cough sometimes, and so far, no worms (a few have been to the vet, no signs of worms).

By the way, it occurs to me your duck is an indoor duck. Does it go outside and forage? That's where it might pick up worms. But it's not for sure, just increases the likelihood. If you duck hasn't gone outside to eat worms and slugs and snails yet, I don't see how it would be exposed.

 

[houseduck]

Thank you Amiga.

He has been outside many times he has eaten grass but as far as I have seen has not gone for many bugs. He ate a cricket once off a pet store floor (he escaped he feeder cricket bin but not my duck).

He was de-wormed even though the vet saw nothing but he did it as a precaution.

He otherwise seems like a happy guy and loves to snuggle.