Duck opening and closing bill and making rasping sounds

[KaleIAm]

I know, it's completely different not being able to go in with them. You can't ask questions like normal or show them stuff. I had to take my duck in for a little scratch on her eye a couple weeks ago and she was in there for 3 hours!! My vet takes emergencies, so they were just saving someone's life - which I want them to do. That's been me and my pet before. But for 3 hours I was sitting in my car stressing about my duck being in a box at the scary vet by herself. Other times when I'm there with her I feed her mealworms and give her water. I know she's ok so I'm not in my car stressing out every minute.

Hopefully the weight loss isn't too much. I'm happy to hear she's still eating.

 

[austroberta]

Pigweed did great on it - I couldn't notice any side effects. And I accidentally overdosed her for the first week. I thought it said twice daily instead of once daily. Oops. Hopefully Solrikka won't have side effects either. At 6 weeks Pig's liver enzymes started to become very slightly elevated, and the since hiccuping had stopped we stopped the meds, too.

She's given me a 4 week supply and then I am to come back for a re-check. It made me nervous to hear about neural problems. I have it in my mind that the liver is much more forgiving than the nervous system, so when she mentioned possible side effects, I gasped.

 

[austroberta]

I know, it's completely different not being able to go in with them. You can't ask questions like normal or show them stuff. I had to take my duck in for a little scratch on her eye a couple weeks ago and she was in there for 3 hours!! My vet takes emergencies, so they were just saving someone's life - which I want them to do. That's been me and my pet before. But for 3 hours I was sitting in my car stressing about my duck being in a box at the scary vet by herself. Other times when I'm there with her I feed her mealworms and give her water. I know she's ok so I'm not in my car stressing out every minute.

Hopefully the weight loss isn't too much. I'm happy to hear she's still eating.

I always take my water and food as well. I did have an appointment, and Solrikka's exam ended at around 11:10, but I didn't get her until 1. On top of that, I decided to give myself plenty of time to get to the vet, since I knew if I was late, I might have to wait a long time for another appointment. As it was, there was 0 traffic and I ended up getting there 15 minutes early. They took forever getting her meds, for some reason, and then took even more time for them to give her to me. The cherry on top was that I hit traffic on the way back since everyone and their brother was out and about celebrating the election results. I was a wreck when I got home as the whole time I was thinking about how poor Solrikka had not eaten or drunk anything that whole time.

I hate not asking questions too. On the phone, there is always 5 things you forget to ask, and probably 5 things the vet forgets to mention.

 

[austroberta]

I'm wondering now if this is an intestinal blockage, which would explain the weight loss. She's acting like she wants to eat, and will grab food, but then drop it. This morning, when I gave her some black soldier fly larvae, she was chomping on it and chomping on it for an inordinate amount of time, like it was gum. Her poops are all over the map. Yesterday, when she was in the house, I saw her poops seemed small (although not spaghetti small). Yesterday, when she was out and about, and eating some treats (lettuce/tomato), her poops seemed fine. She still doesn't see to want her maintenance food, but is eating some cat food. I also see that she does this thing where she puts her bill in her water and does that filtering thing that ducks do (running their bill through the water, but not really eating). She does that a lot. When she was in the house, I was giving her water in a cup with nutri-drench and ACV every time I passed by her and she would actually drink. Outside, I see her doing that filtering ting a bit more. Admittedly, I have stuff to do in the house, so I am not outside watching her all day.
I wish there was a duck empath out there to find out what's going on inside of her.

 

[austroberta]

I'm wondering now if this is an intestinal blockage, which would explain the weight loss. She's acting like she wants to eat, and will grab food, but then drop it. This morning, when I gave her some black soldier fly larvae, she was chomping on it and chomping on it for an inordinate amount of time, like it was gum. Her poops are all over the map. Yesterday, when she was in the house, I saw her poops seemed small (although not spaghetti small). Yesterday, when she was out and about, and eating some treats (lettuce/tomato), her poops seemed fine. She still doesn't see to want her maintenance food, but is eating some cat food. I also see that she does this thing where she puts her bill in her water and does that filtering thing that ducks do (running their bill through the water, but not really eating). She does that a lot. When she was in the house, I was giving her water in a cup with nutri-drench and ACV every time I passed by her and she would actually drink. Outside, I see her doing that filtering ting a bit more. Admittedly, I have stuff to do in the house, so I am not outside watching her all day.
I wish there was a duck empath out there to find out what's going on inside of her.

 

[Isaac 0]

For some reason, I stopped receiving notifications to this thread. So she is still breathing hard? Has it gotten any worse, if yes, could you post another video so we can get an idea of the severity?

As you know, it's hard to really determine what's going on with her, without some of the diagnostic supplies they have at a labratory setting, so making a guess is going to depend solely on her current symptoms, past history, and physical examination. I'll provide a link at the bottom of my post. I would suggest you do a thorough physical examination on her, and hopefully, we can get some clues of what might be her problem. One area that would be in my interest is the abdominal area. If you can feel that, and let us know if it feels bloated, firm, liquidy compared to your other birds that may help.

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exot...ltry/physical-examination-of-backyard-poultry

 

[austroberta]

For some reason, I stopped receiving notifications to this thread. So she is still breathing hard? Has it gotten any worse, if yes, could you post another video so we can get an idea of the severity?

As you know, it's hard to really determine what's going on with her, without some of the diagnostic supplies they have at a labratory setting, so making a guess is going to depend solely on her current symptoms, past history, and physical examination. I'll provide a link at the bottom of my post. I would suggest you do a thorough physical examination on her, and hopefully, we can get some clues of what might be her problem. One area that would be in my interest is the abdominal area. If you can feel that, and let us know if it feels bloated, firm, liquidy compared to your other birds that may help.

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exot...ltry/physical-examination-of-backyard-poultry

Thanks, Isaac! The flock is taking their mid-morning nap, so I'll have to see if I can examine her when she wakes up.

She is still doing the tail bobbing/whole body breathing, but stopped doing the mouth breathing completely the morning after my original post. Her tail bobbing/body breathing does not seem worse, but she is still doing it. She's still active, but a bit out of it. Her eating is a mixed bag. She is eating her tomatoes and will nibble at her lettuce. She also seems to enjoy cat food. Perhaps it's the molting that's she going through. Peas are a hit or miss. Sometimes she'll eat them with the flock, other times no. The one poop I saw come out of her outside looked pretty good (like she got a mouthful of whatever greens/tomatoes/peas she was eating).

 

[KaleIAm]

I'm wondering now if this is an intestinal blockage, which would explain the weight loss. She's acting like she wants to eat, and will grab food, but then drop it. This morning, when I gave her some black soldier fly larvae, she was chomping on it and chomping on it for an inordinate amount of time, like it was gum. Her poops are all over the map. Yesterday, when she was in the house, I saw her poops seemed small (although not spaghetti small). Yesterday, when she was out and about, and eating some treats (lettuce/tomato), her poops seemed fine. She still doesn't see to want her maintenance food, but is eating some cat food. I also see that she does this thing where she puts her bill in her water and does that filtering thing that ducks do (running their bill through the water, but not really eating). She does that a lot. When she was in the house, I was giving her water in a cup with nutri-drench and ACV every time I passed by her and she would actually drink. Outside, I see her doing that filtering ting a bit more. Admittedly, I have stuff to do in the house, so I am not outside watching her all day.
I wish there was a duck empath out there to find out what's going on inside of her.

It's so stressful when they aren't eating well, I understand. Personally, since you have already invested in a vet, I would call them and ask if any of the medications (or supplements?) she is on would cause anorexia.

Did your vet tell you Solrikka could be obstructed? My vet suspected Pigweed of having a partial obstruction once, and did a barium swallow test on her. I'm not saying I think you should have Solrikka have this test, just that there are tests for it. Since the clinic just saw Solrikka maybe they could give you advice about her appetite?

 

[austroberta]

Thanks, Isaac! The flock is taking their mid-morning nap, so I'll have to see if I can examine her when she wakes up.

She is still doing the tail bobbing/whole body breathing, but stopped doing the mouth breathing completely the morning after my original post. Her tail bobbing/body breathing does not seem worse, but she is still doing it. She's still active, but a bit out of it. Her eating is a mixed bag. She is eating her tomatoes and will nibble at her lettuce. She also seems to enjoy cat food. Perhaps it's the molting that's she going through. Peas are a hit or miss. Sometimes she'll eat them with the flock, other times no. The one poop I saw come out of her outside looked pretty good (like she got a mouthful of whatever greens/tomatoes/peas she was eating).

Here are 2 not so great videos (she thought I was chasing her with meds, so it was difficult to get a proper video), but you can somewhat see how she is breathing. Now that I am looking at her, I think the deep breathing has diminished somewhat, maybe? She's still doing the tail bobbing/deep breathing, but it seemed more pronounced before. Perhaps the anti-biotics are kicking in?

I felt her stomach and it feels doughy. I can also feel her bones quite succinctly, which really concerns me. She was always a well fleshed duck, so she has definitely lost weight.

My husband gave everyone tomatoes, and she ate with gusto. I did notice that her flock mates are chasing her out. I'm going to put her in the duck run, with her welshie sister, even though her welshie sister will hate it.

 

[austroberta]

It's so stressful when they aren't eating well, I understand. Personally, since you have already invested in a vet, I would call them and ask if any of the medications (or supplements?) she is on would cause anorexia.

Did your vet tell you Solrikka could be obstructed? My vet suspected Pigweed of having a partial obstruction once, and did a barium swallow test on her. I'm not saying I think you should have Solrikka have this test, just that there are tests for it. Since the clinic just saw Solrikka maybe they could give you advice about her appetite?

I did call my vet this morning, but have not gotten a call back. The original vet who saw her is not in today, but the attendant said another exotic pet vet will try and call. The original vet did mention that there could be something going on which is causing her to lose weight, but didn't say exactly what that might be.

I'll try to see if I can get the test you mentioned, but it might be difficult. Getting an exotic pet appointment these days is liking finding hen's teeth (or duck teeth, for that matter.) I called another vet and they said 'no appointments until the 25th. Yikes!