Hey Everyone,
Long time lurker, new member and poster.
I have a duck that I found two days ago limping. The limp was severe and at times she was holding the leg completely up and sticking her wing out for balance. I immediately brought her in and inspected her legs. Her right leg was hot to the touch and swollen pretty much everywhere making it difficult to tell where the problem was. I couldn't feel any breaks. I put her in a small dog crate and brought her out only for water and food. She is drinking well, but not eating much. I put an electrolyte mix in her water as well as some probiotics. I also started her on a seven day course of 500 mg/day Amoxicillin due to heat and swelling in the leg + lack of appetite + shaking that had developed later in the day (could have been from pain or fear, but I figured why chance it!).
Day 2: Inspected leg again and found that it was not as hot and the swelling had gone down everywhere but around the knee. I still couldn't feel any breaks in the knee area. She is now putting some weight on the foot and the limping is significantly better, although she still doesn't WANT to walk much. She is willing to eat very small amounts of food and is drinking and otherwise acting normally. She was swimming around her bath enthusiastically.
Day 3: She was doing really well but seemed depressed so I took the crate out by her friends hoping this would inspire her to eat. This was a large mistake because in her excitement she kept standing up to peek out the crate and quack at her friends. I feel like we are now back to Day 1 in progress in terms of leg functioning. When I checked her knee tonight the swelling and heat is about the same as it was yesterday. When I put her in the bath to swim she basically let the injured leg hang limp. From here going forward she will be staying in the house and just have to be lonely, but I'm wondering if I should somehow be wrapping the leg. I didn't initially because I couldn't tell where the injury was and when I figured it out I wasn't sure the best direction to wrap it if at all, or if rest is sufficient. I assume wrapping it would help it heal faster, but would I wrap it out straight?
Any advice about anything I'm doing here is appreciated, but particularly should I wrap the knee joint? If so straight under her or?
Also, just a note: We live very rural and do not have any vets that take birds here.
Long time lurker, new member and poster.
I have a duck that I found two days ago limping. The limp was severe and at times she was holding the leg completely up and sticking her wing out for balance. I immediately brought her in and inspected her legs. Her right leg was hot to the touch and swollen pretty much everywhere making it difficult to tell where the problem was. I couldn't feel any breaks. I put her in a small dog crate and brought her out only for water and food. She is drinking well, but not eating much. I put an electrolyte mix in her water as well as some probiotics. I also started her on a seven day course of 500 mg/day Amoxicillin due to heat and swelling in the leg + lack of appetite + shaking that had developed later in the day (could have been from pain or fear, but I figured why chance it!).
Day 2: Inspected leg again and found that it was not as hot and the swelling had gone down everywhere but around the knee. I still couldn't feel any breaks in the knee area. She is now putting some weight on the foot and the limping is significantly better, although she still doesn't WANT to walk much. She is willing to eat very small amounts of food and is drinking and otherwise acting normally. She was swimming around her bath enthusiastically.
Day 3: She was doing really well but seemed depressed so I took the crate out by her friends hoping this would inspire her to eat. This was a large mistake because in her excitement she kept standing up to peek out the crate and quack at her friends. I feel like we are now back to Day 1 in progress in terms of leg functioning. When I checked her knee tonight the swelling and heat is about the same as it was yesterday. When I put her in the bath to swim she basically let the injured leg hang limp. From here going forward she will be staying in the house and just have to be lonely, but I'm wondering if I should somehow be wrapping the leg. I didn't initially because I couldn't tell where the injury was and when I figured it out I wasn't sure the best direction to wrap it if at all, or if rest is sufficient. I assume wrapping it would help it heal faster, but would I wrap it out straight?
Any advice about anything I'm doing here is appreciated, but particularly should I wrap the knee joint? If so straight under her or?
Also, just a note: We live very rural and do not have any vets that take birds here.
!
