Mr Kody went to the vet and they heard the cough and I also had video of the clicking sound and a good one of a harder cough. He seems to mainly make it when you touch him and he doesn't wanna be touched or if I walk out to the porch where he is for part of the day and he's startled. Sometimes he does it anyway but it's definitely been more frequent.
She doesn't think it's toxicity/botulism causing the lameness, etc because there are no significant neurological signs. I showed her the video of his head ticking last night but it's so minor she said it's hard to tell if it's neurological or that he's just irritated with something. I believe she also mentioned if it were toxicity it would have progressed much faster and he would be way worse than he is right now.
She thinks it's a possibility of pneumonia and prescribed antibiotics for that because of the coughing. I asked about a radiograph to check his lungs and air sacs for fluid and she said that the symptoms are so minor right now and no discharge from the nose that it probably wouldn't show up.
She also prescribed a second antibiotic for another organism. The scripts are Doxycycline and Clavamox.
She checked for fungus in the mouth which she said would be white in color and didn't see any.
I contacted them and asked if they'd like me to bring a stool sample and they said yes. They agreed it would be a good idea to test for parasites as a precaution and I should hear back Monday with results.
I asked how long it would be before I should be seeing results with the antibiotics and they said within 24-48hrs and let me know symptoms to look for as far as difficulty breathing.
I'm sure there's something I'm forgetting to mention, there was so much information. I texted them with more questions and to confirm on certain things to make sure I understood correctly.
I hadn't thought to try holding the ducks tongue down. I reached out to the vet about the calcium supplement and she said being a tiny amount and a gel like substance it's unlikely to cause any issues during the administering process. I gave him some recovery formula tonight with one of the large syringes with the extended tip and just made sure I could feel the syringe all the way to the right of his mouth from the outside and injected a little at a time making sure he was swallowing and giving him a sec before giving more. I had him wrapped in a towel on the lawn and straddled him between my legs. He was really good. A little came out his nose (as did the antibiotic when the vet I brought another of my drakes to gave him his first dose at the clinic... I blew it out his nose and into my face cause I was standing next to him lol). When all done I gave him a worm (worms and slugs being the main thing he'll willingly eat a bunch of right now... like he's starving) and unwrapped him. There was no coughing during the process. After I brought him to his night time enclosure.
