Duck lost sight this am - died tonight!

[21RescueDucks]

Sadly, my 6 year old male runner died suddenly tonight. He appeared to have a temporary loss of vision about 1 1/2 weeks ago. No apparent injuries to eyes, no discharge, etc. I was lost as to why and treated with saline solution and meds for eyes. The next day, he was back to normal. This am he had no vision again, standing, but not moving around much, I assume because he couldn't see. I did the drops again, placed water and food near him. This evening around 5 pm, he was sitting near the water (I didn't see him drink) and was not wanting to get up. I brought him in the house in a dog carrier, offered water (refused) and give him 1 ml of Nutridrench and small amount of water. Started some slight neck twisting later in evening, and died at 9:30 pm.

He is one of 21 rescued ducks which I have had for almost 2 years, kept in a clean duck run with supervised access to large pond (no outside birds). No injuries noted, ate and played in small pool yesterday, normal weight for a runner, none of the others are showing any similar issues. I have had problems lately with the females being egg bound and laying soft eggs, which seems resolved thru use of different oyster shell and a change in feed. I use a good quality pellet along with a 5 grain scratch, supplemented with treats (dried meal worms, lettuce, grapes, peas, tomatoes), and supervised free roaming only for a couple hours daily.

I'm can't find anything that ties in with the vision lost (over a week ago and again this morning) and sudden turn for the worst so quickly. The health of the others is now a priority as I don't know what I'm up against. Hoping for some direction please. My community thinks of ducks as farm animals, not pets, so there isn't much support from local vets.

I'm heart-broken over the lost of this little duck as he would follow me around the yard to see what I was doing. Appreciate any input provided.

 

[SmiYa0126]

@BelovedBirds @Miss Lydia any advice?

 

[BelovedBirds]

Sadly, my 6 year old male runner died suddenly tonight. He appeared to have a temporary loss of vision about 1 1/2 weeks ago. No apparent injuries to eyes, no discharge, etc. I was lost as to why and treated with saline solution and meds for eyes. The next day, he was back to normal. This am he had no vision again, standing, but not moving around much, I assume because he couldn't see. I did the drops again, placed water and food near him. This evening around 5 pm, he was sitting near the water (I didn't see him drink) and was not wanting to get up. I brought him in the house in a dog carrier, offered water (refused) and give him 1 ml of Nutridrench and small amount of water. Started some slight neck twisting later in evening, and died at 9:30 pm.

He is one of 21 rescued ducks which I have had for almost 2 years, kept in a clean duck run with supervised access to large pond (no outside birds). No injuries noted, ate and played in small pool yesterday, normal weight for a runner, none of the others are showing any similar issues. I have had problems lately with the females being egg bound and laying soft eggs, which seems resolved thru use of different oyster shell and a change in feed. I use a good quality pellet along with a 5 grain scratch, supplemented with treats (dried meal worms, lettuce, grapes, peas, tomatoes), and supervised free roaming only for a couple hours daily.

I'm can't find anything that ties in with the vision lost (over a week ago and again this morning) and sudden turn for the worst so quickly. The health of the others is now a priority as I don't know what I'm up against. Hoping for some direction please. My community thinks of ducks as farm animals, not pets, so there isn't much support from local vets.

I'm heart-broken over the lost of this little duck as he would follow me around the yard to see what I was doing. Appreciate any input provided.

I'm so sorry for your loss, that sounds heartbreaking
What led you to believe he lost eye sight?
Standing still and not wanting to move sounds more like he was lethargic/uncomfortable.
What meds did you give him, and what dose? What is the feed, is it for laying birds, and do you offer oyster shells separate to feed? Is the feed in date, no old feed or stagnant water he could've gotten into?
Was he passing waste before his passing?

It's impossible to say for sure what caused this without a necropsy being done, but perhaps we can narrow down the causes

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am very sorry for your loss. Ducks are so good at hiding their ailments until
a lot of the time it's too late to help.

 

[21RescueDucks]

I'm so sorry for your loss, that sounds heartbreaking
What led you to believe he lost eye sight?
Standing still and not wanting to move sounds more like he was lethargic/uncomfortable.
What meds did you give him, and what dose? What is the feed, is it for laying birds, and do you offer oyster shells separate to feed? Is the feed in date, no old feed or stagnant water he could've gotten into?
Was he passing waste before his passing?

It's impossible to say for sure what caused this without a necropsy being done, but perhaps we can narrow down the causes

Thank you for responding. I'm hoping for some input so I can learn what to look for or do if something like this happens again.

My thoughts for loss of vision, rather than just not wanting to move, came from me approaching him without any reaction and waving my hand right by his eyes. He was not the friendly type, and I think would move away or show some reaction to me being that close. In the AM, he was standing and moving some, but bumping into water and feed containers.

Since he had what I thought was temporary loss of vision a couple of weeks ago (for one day only), I did the same treatment again. I just washed his eyes with a saline solution and used some anti-inflammatory eye drops in the morning. The feed is Nutrena All Flock, supplemented with a 5 grain scratch, dried meal worms, leaf lettuce, grapes, tomatoes, peas, etc as treats. The girls have free access to oyster shells all the time, the boys only when I swap around their pens. Feed is fresh, no stagnant water (they have a wading pool changed daily and a huge pond with flowing water). In hind sight, I should have brought him into the house in the am, but I waited until about 5:30 PM when I noticed he was just sitting. Between then and 9:30 pm, when he passed, I only saw a small dropping from him (looked normal). I don't think he ate or drank that day, although I tried to give him some water via a syringe. He did have neck bending going on in the evening and loss of legs under him, but I wasn't sure if that was related to an illness or part of the fading process.

So far, the others look OK, but I'm worried. Did he get hurt, eat metal, have a virus or bacterial issue? Would like to narrow it down as you suggested. The loss of vision first is hard to research. I did inquire with a university about a necropsy, but it was $600 and not doable.

Thank you for reading and trying to help. I'm open to suggestions and thoughts!

 

[BelovedBirds]

Thank you for responding. I'm hoping for some input so I can learn what to look for or do if something like this happens again.

My thoughts for loss of vision, rather than just not wanting to move, came from me approaching him without any reaction and waving my hand right by his eyes. He was not the friendly type, and I think would move away or show some reaction to me being that close. In the AM, he was standing and moving some, but bumping into water and feed containers.

Since he had what I thought was temporary loss of vision a couple of weeks ago (for one day only), I did the same treatment again. I just washed his eyes with a saline solution and used some anti-inflammatory eye drops in the morning. The feed is Nutrena All Flock, supplemented with a 5 grain scratch, dried meal worms, leaf lettuce, grapes, tomatoes, peas, etc as treats. The girls have free access to oyster shells all the time, the boys only when I swap around their pens. Feed is fresh, no stagnant water (they have a wading pool changed daily and a huge pond with flowing water). In hind sight, I should have brought him into the house in the am, but I waited until about 5:30 PM when I noticed he was just sitting. Between then and 9:30 pm, when he passed, I only saw a small dropping from him (looked normal). I don't think he ate or drank that day, although I tried to give him some water via a syringe. He did have neck bending going on in the evening and loss of legs under him, but I wasn't sure if that was related to an illness or part of the fading process.

So far, the others look OK, but I'm worried. Did he get hurt, eat metal, have a virus or bacterial issue? Would like to narrow it down as you suggested. The loss of vision first is hard to research. I did inquire with a university about a necropsy, but it was $600 and not doable.

Thank you for reading and trying to help. I'm open to suggestions and thoughts!

I've heard of them twisting their necks before they die, I believe that is caused by decreased oxygen to the brain, it seems to be a fairly normal thing before the bird passes away.
I'm no expert, so I'm just making observations here, but I'd guess he experienced faded or blurry vision, combined with not feeling well that could make even the most timid birds indifferent to humans.

Conditions relating to the heart and arteries can cause decreased blood flow and cause temporary vision loss, its possible he had some kind of heart condition which flared up before coming back a second time and taking his life. Again this is just a theory, I'm no expert and there's no way to know for sure.

I'm not sure there was anything you could do for him but be there for him on his final day, and I would guess that the flock will be okay, this doesn't sound like a contagious illness to me. I don't believe you did anything wrong, and I don't think you could've prevented this.

Regardless, I'd keep an eye on the other ducks for the forseeable to be on the safe side. Watch out for nare/eye discharge, diarrhea, lethargy.
Again, I'm so sorry for your loss, wishing the best for your flock

 

[21RescueDucks]

I've heard of them twisting their necks before they die, I believe that is caused by decreased oxygen to the brain, it seems to be a fairly normal thing before the bird passes away.
I'm no expert, so I'm just making observations here, but I'd guess he experienced faded or blurry vision, combined with not feeling well that could make even the most timid birds indifferent to humans.

Conditions relating to the heart and arteries can cause decreased blood flow and cause temporary vision loss, its possible he had some kind of heart condition which flared up before coming back a second time and taking his life. Again this is just a theory, I'm no expert and there's no way to know for sure.

I'm not sure there was anything you could do for him but be there for him on his final day, and I would guess that the flock will be okay, this doesn't sound like a contagious illness to me. I don't believe you did anything wrong, and I don't think you could've prevented this.

Regardless, I'd keep an eye on the other ducks for the forseeable to be on the safe side. Watch out for nare/eye discharge, diarrhea, lethargy.
Again, I'm so sorry for your loss, wishing the best for your flock

Thank you for your input. I'm thinking also that it could have been some sort of condition rather than virus, injury, etc. Always 2nd guessing when there isn't something obvious to treat and feeling guilty. I often think I don't have the heart for rescue work of any kind as the loss hits me to hard. The last time I tried a vet for a favorite female duck, it was over $600 in testing and revealed nothing conclusive. I'm overly watching the others now for any sign of illness! So appreciate the time you took to respond!