Duck with a broken leg

[shannoncat]

My duck broke his leg about 5 weeks ago. The break was high up in the leg near the hip so we couldn't splint it. We had his leg bound to his body for 3 weeks and the bone has callused over but he still can't use his foot. He limps on his leg but has no control over his foot and walks on it sometimes. I'm not sure what to do. Personality wise he's the same as ever but I'm not sure if he's in pain or how much. We called the vet and she said the bone didn't heal properly and we should probably put him down, but we could wait and see.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Actually I would say that making a bird suffer a broken bone with no help for pain... just because you can't see the pain is pretty cold. (if you knew how bad it was... meaning going forward)

I had a dislocated elbow that was excruciating even with meds and a splint. And it still hurts 1.5 years later... And I'm no wuss!

Personally I agree with the vet... but think it would have been more humane to put the bird down 5 weeks ago. They are prey animals and will do EVERYTHING they can to avoid being seen as "a sitting duck" which includes HIDING any pain or weakness to the best of their ability. We can't rewind time and we do the best we can with the information we have at the time. So try not to feel too bad about what that poor duck MUST have gone through. Maybe next time consider another course of action... Sorry you face this. It's a tough decision.

Also... I hope you are enjoying BYC and get lot's of community support. We are mostly all here to help and learn from each other.

 

[shannoncat]

Actually I would say that making a bird suffer a broken bone with no help for pain... just because you can't see the pain is pretty cold. (if you knew how bad it was... meaning going forward)

I had a dislocated elbow that was excruciating even with meds and a splint. And it still hurts 1.5 years later... And I'm no wuss!

Personally I agree with the vet... but think it would have been more humane to put the bird down 5 weeks ago. They are prey animals and will do EVERYTHING they can to avoid being seen as "a sitting duck" which includes HIDING any pain or weakness to the best of their ability. We can't rewind time and we do the best we can with the information we have at the time. So try not to feel too bad about what that poor duck MUST have gone through. Maybe next time consider another course of action... Sorry you face this. It's a tough decision.

Also... I hope you are enjoying BYC and get lot's of community support. We are mostly all here to help and learn from each other.

I've seen a lot of posts here with people having success with healing ducks legs so I wanted to at least give him a chance.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I've seen a lot of posts here with people having success with healing ducks legs so I wanted to at least give him a chance.

I like to give everyone a chance if can too.

And use euthanasia only if it seems they won't be able to sustain their own life in a comfortable fashion like being able to make it to food and water, not sitting in their own waste, and not in constant agonizing (even hidden) pain. I'm sure a lot would choose to go through 6 weeks or so of pain and still live happily ever after! But if the pain persist, there does come a point when maybe it isn't considered a quality life anymore. Please note that my elbow mentioned is only uncomfortable now. And discomfort is very different from pain.

How old is your poor guy? Did you have other help earlier on with suggestions for bed rest or pain management or anything like that?

So right now... I think you are trying to decide IF he is in too much pain? Are you able to post a video for us to see? Is he currently with a tribe? Hoping he's actually doing well!

 

[shannoncat]

I like to give everyone a chance if can too.

And use euthanasia only if it seems they won't be able to sustain their own life in a comfortable fashion like being able to make it to food and water, not sitting in their own waste, and not in constant agonizing (even hidden) pain. I'm sure a lot would choose to go through 6 weeks or so of pain and still live happily ever after! But if the pain persist, there does come a point when maybe it isn't considered a quality life anymore. Please note that my elbow mentioned is only uncomfortable now. And discomfort is very different from pain.

How old is your poor guy? Did you have other help earlier on with suggestions for bed rest or pain management or anything like that?

So right now... I think you are trying to decide IF he is in too much pain? Are you able to post a video for us to see? Is he currently with a tribe? Hoping he's actually doing well!

We've had him in a small cage inside our duck pen since it happened so he's been resting it the entire time, we just take him out in the evenings to clean him up and change the bedding. When he's out he's able to move around and get to his food and he's visibly been improving since its occurred. He likes getting out because he's able to use a bigger water bucket and really stick his head down in it and splash around. He's about four years old now. We only have one other duck, another drake, and they're extremely bonded. Our other guy doesn't leave his side at all.

We're going to try letting him out of the cage this weekend and see how he can really get around. Our duck pond is finally no longer frozen so he'll enjoy getting in that.

Can't post a video because I'm in a different town for school, but I'll be back home on the weekend.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Sounds like you are doing the best you can!

I hope your outing goes well for him. You might come up with a way to contain him a little in case he gets too excited. Or maybe the other drake? I don't know how ducks show excitement to be back together. I'm sure he will still be sore, and that is actually the bodies way of helping us prevent further injury. And so maybe keep it too short periods to start since we don't realize we've overused something sometimes unlit later that night when it start to ache more.

And I'm not positive (about ducks)... but I do think aspirin can be used for pain. You might look into seeing if there is anything you can safely give him when he goes to bed that evening. I would NOT try to ease his pain before his adventure... that way you can get a true assessment and it will help to keep him from injuring himself worse verses if he's feeling no pain.

After my splint came off it did take some physical therapy to get more mobility back in the arm, from having the muscle in the same position for so long without any use. So I would expect it to still take a while. The pond might be great (low impact) physical therapy??! And oh the mental therapy after being on bed rest!

Too bad most humans don't have the same kind of commitment to their friends as your drakes do!

 

[shannoncat]

Thanks for the advice.
He's still with the other drake all the time, since we just have his little cage placed inside the place the other drake is. They're around each other all the time and my other drake will not leave his side at all! There's lots of room in the pen but he stays right next to his buddy.
I think the water will be a great low-impact way for him to be active.
Oh yeah, I forgot to say before but we had pain medication from the vet that we gave him for the first week.