Duck puncture wound

[ginny_e]

Apologize if this has been posted already. I have a male runner duck that we noticed wouldn't get up today, he usually runs away from us. I picked him up and noticed blood and a wound, looks like a puncture wound. He isn't really using his leg and the wound is on his backside above where the leg meets the body. It's very fresh, so I flushed it with saline and sprayed vetrimycin on it. I also put him in a dog crate in the basement so he would rest and be in a cleaner environment and so he wouldn't get fly strike. I estimate his age to be 5-7 yes old, we are his second or third home.

Any tips?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Apologize if this has been posted already. I have a male runner duck that we noticed wouldn't get up today, he usually runs away from us. I picked him up and noticed blood and a wound, looks like a puncture wound. He isn't really using his leg and the wound is on his backside above where the leg meets the body. It's very fresh, so I flushed it with saline and sprayed vetrimycin on it. I also put him in a dog crate in the basement so he would rest and be in a cleaner environment and so he wouldn't get fly strike. I estimate his age to be 5-7 yes old, we are his second or third home.

Any tips?

Do you have a picture of the wound or know about how deep it is? For now just keep doing exactly what you are doing. Giving him a vitamin supplement and some electrolytes would also be a good idea. Thankfully a clean puncture wound usually seals up fairly quickly and there is a good chance he is not using his leg due to the swelling. Depending on how deep and dirty it was you also might want to start an antibiotic. I don't typically use antibiotics for puncture wounds unless they are fairly deep and dirty. If you don't see progress from the wound starting to close up and he isn't trying to start using his leg over the next week, I would recommend a vet in case there was damage to a tendon or bone.

 

[ginny_e]

Thanks! It is hard to tell how deep, but appears clean and small in diameter. I'll try and trim the feathers and take a photo when I clean it next. We think it may have been our dog. They've had a disagreement for years, and I think the duck provoked him once too much. Generally our dog has a soft mouth, so I am hoping it was a quick bite.

I had felt along his leg and didn't feel a break, nor did the duck comment about me prodding his leg.

 

[ginny_e]

First photo is of his wing. I hadn't noticed it as much before. He had been holding his wing weird before, and it looked like his flight feathers were either ripped out or fell out. I suspect ripped because of the blood. The other two are of the puncture on his back, it is really small but I flushed all the wounds and sprayed with the vetericyn. I did noticed he ate and drank water and pooped. He seemed to move around a little more too, so hopefully after the shock maybe he will improve quickly.

 

[ruthhope]

Its important to understand what attacked him so that you can take action to prevent future wounds.

Where is he during the day? What predators can get to him? Do you have a dog?

 

[Canadian Wind]

If this was indeed your dog, you need to take measures that this never happens again, with any of your animals. I understand you love your dog, but he's already attacked one of your ducks. He should be under constant supervision and not allowed to be alone around your livestock.

That being said, flushing the wounds and adding the vetericyn should help. But dog saliva has a lot of bacteria so you'll need to do this every day, twice a day, until the wounds close up. That is one lucky duck.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I had this happen with my dog and gander. He popped her in the butt one too many times and she turned around and grabbed him by the neck, thankfully I was right there and stopped it from getting worse[I never leave my dogs with my birds without supervision]
My dog hadn't shown any aggression til then so I ended up training my geese to be respectful of my dogs and once they kept their distance and didn't bully the dogs everything was much better when they got to be all together.

 

[ginny_e]

The wound seems healed at least superficially. He doesn't
put weight on one leg, but that seems to be improving a little day by day. I put him in the basement in a dog crate at night,then with the female ducks in a pen with their kiddie pool during the day. He swam yesterday, and was standing on his leg more today. I think being with the other ducks boosts his morale.