Duck has injured leg

[hoompie6]

Hello! I'm hoping someone might have advice for our injured girl. Our 5-month-old runner duck wrapped her leg around a darn string sometime between Saturday night and early Sunday morning. I found her laying on her side with her leg bound. Her foot was frozen!

I brought her inside right away and warmed up her foot. The color was good but as it warmed, the foot did swell up and get a slight purple tinge. Initially she was able to stand (somewhat) on it and flap her wings, but I think she must have been in a state of shock because she has not put much weight on it since. She mainly uses the toes on her bad leg for balance when she stands. When she lays down, she keeps the leg stretched out behind her. Here is a picture.



She is eating/drinking/pooping. She is not eating much of her regular feed, but she devours the kale that I toss in her water bowl. I'm also supplementing her water with Sav-A-Chick electrolytes. I let her swim in the tub on Sunday night - the water was slightly warm - and it seemed to help her.

Today her foot looks better, but her leg looks swollen and her knee (or whatever you call it

) feels very warm to the touch. I've been applying Traumeel to the whole leg and foot every few hours - it has done wonders for my horses in the past.

Is there anything else I can do? Does it sound like a sprain? It makes sense if it is, as she must have struggled when her leg was caught. I am just worried that it is more serious than that, like a fracture or infection of some kind.

Any advice you have would be VERY MUCH appreciated. Thank you!!!!

 

[fintuckyfarms]

What a good duck mama. Sounds like you are doing everything I can think of. If she was putting her weight on it, its probably not broken and if the color is good and the foot is the same temp as the other one there probably not any permanent damage. Just give her time for it to heal and don't baby her too much. If you think she is a lot of pain she can have a baby aspirin for pain every 8 to 12 hours. She is very lucky, I had a chicken that lost her foot to some string. She got a long fine on her stump, didn't slow her down at all.

 

[hoompie6]

Thanks so much for the reply!

Her foot seems to be getting better every day. She is starting to put a little weight on it and almost has the entire foot flat on the ground when she stands. That is good to know about the baby aspirin, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks again!