Last week when I left for work, my Cayuga duck, Jasmine was chasing Japanese Beetles in the yard. When I came home, she was huddled by her pool, away from her sisters and acting uncharacteristically mellow. When I got her inside and inspected her, I found her left eye to be wet, pussy and shut tight. I started her on antibiotics, cleaned the eye with a boric acid eye wash, and put in drops of colloidal silver. I finally got her into the vet a few days later and was told that her "eye infection" was an ulceration on the surface of her eye. My vet says it's fairly common for ducks to get a bit of feed or debris in their eye, scratch at it because it's irritating, and just keep scratching and worsening the problem from there.
Fortunately, she wasn't scratching too much, and I caught it early enough, the vet said she should recover her sight, at least most of it. The bigger problem is getting her to eat. Because she can't see what's around her, she's too nervous to eat. I have to sit with her and hold her food so she feels safe, and I'm now tube feeding her because she's lost weight. She also misses her sisters so much since she's confined to a kennel, so I have the two Muscovy sisters in the house once a day and get to clean up after family visiting time. And lastly, preventing bumblefoot from setting in is a big job with a confined duck.
Please please if your duck has an eye infection or injury, take him or her to a vet. If I had tried to manage Jasmine's eye problem on my own, she would have lost her sight and possibly her eye. Hope this helps some if you duck lovers out there.
Fortunately, she wasn't scratching too much, and I caught it early enough, the vet said she should recover her sight, at least most of it. The bigger problem is getting her to eat. Because she can't see what's around her, she's too nervous to eat. I have to sit with her and hold her food so she feels safe, and I'm now tube feeding her because she's lost weight. She also misses her sisters so much since she's confined to a kennel, so I have the two Muscovy sisters in the house once a day and get to clean up after family visiting time. And lastly, preventing bumblefoot from setting in is a big job with a confined duck.
Please please if your duck has an eye infection or injury, take him or her to a vet. If I had tried to manage Jasmine's eye problem on my own, she would have lost her sight and possibly her eye. Hope this helps some if you duck lovers out there.
