Duck with slipped tendon on leg

[emma right]

We have a mixed Khaki Campbell breed and he's now 8 weeks old. Six weeks ago when he was only 2 weeks old he started to look like he had splayed his right leg so after watching many videos on the internet and researching how to fix this I applied a splint on his leg and tried to get them taped together. But even though the leg seemed to have moved to be under his body when he sat he never did apply pressure on it when he's walking.
I felt the only way to help was to call a vet but, a few of the vets we called were closed due to Covid 19 or they had weeks of backlog and could not see him. Meanwhile, I was hoping he would get better. Also, I called UC Davis (about 3 hours away) and they were going to charge $300 just to see him. That was four weeks ago.
Finally, I managed to get him seen by an avian vet today and sadly she said that what he had was not a splayed leg but that his tendon had slipped beneath/behind his hock. Even an operation that would cost thousands may not fix his problem since we had waited too long and he had grown too big for the operation to be successful. I'm writing here to see what advice some of you may have for us. Should we euthanize him? He's such a special good-natured duck and it seems such a waste to do this to him. It just feels wrong. He swims happily and seems to hobble along with his three sisters, but is this enough for him? Is he in pain?
I checked online for vets who may have done this and it does seem like this kind of operation has little success rate.
What do you all think? Any ideas/ tips/ suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[emma right]

I thought I'd paste a video link here of Jumper to see if anyone has suggestions on what we should do with him/ for him.

 

[Isaac 0]

So sorry to hear about your duckling.

The video is unavailable since you have it listed as private, could you undo that?

 

[emma right]

So sorry to hear about your duckling.

The video is unavailable since you have it listed as private, could you undo that?

Thanks for letting me know. I keep forgetting I should have it listed as "unlisted" as opposed to "private" on YouTube.

 

[mcduckie]

We have a mixed Khaki Campbell breed and he's now 8 weeks old. Six weeks ago when he was only 2 weeks old he started to look like he had splayed his right leg so after watching many videos on the internet and researching how to fix this I applied a splint on his leg and tried to get them taped together. But even though the leg seemed to have moved to be under his body when he sat he never did apply pressure on it when he's walking. I felt the only way to help was to call a vet but, a few of the vets we called were closed due to Covid 19 or they had weeks of backlog and could not see him. Meanwhile, I was hoping he would get better. Also, I called UC Davis (about 3 hours away) and they were going to charge $300 just to see him. That was four weeks ago. Finally, I managed to get him seen by an avian vet today and sadly she said that what he had was not a splayed leg but that his tendon had slipped beneath/behind his hock. Even an operation that would cost thousands may not fix his problem since we had waited too long and he had grown too big for the operation to be successful. I'm writing here to see what advice some of you may have for us. Should we euthanize him? He's such a special good-natured duck and it seems such a waste to do this to him. It just feels wrong. He swims happily and seems to hobble along with his three sisters, but is this enough for him? Is he in pain? I checked online for vets who may have done this and it does seem like this kind of operation has little success rate. What do you all think? Any ideas/ tips/ suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

We have a mixed Khaki Campbell breed and he's now 8 weeks old. Six weeks ago when he was only 2 weeks old he started to look like he had splayed his right leg so after watching many videos on the internet and researching how to fix this I applied a splint on his leg and tried to get them taped together. But even though the leg seemed to have moved to be under his body when he sat he never did apply pressure on it when he's walking. I felt the only way to help was to call a vet but, a few of the vets we called were closed due to Covid 19 or they had weeks of backlog and could not see him. Meanwhile, I was hoping he would get better. Also, I called UC Davis (about 3 hours away) and they were going to charge $300 just to see him. That was four weeks ago. Finally, I managed to get him seen by an avian vet today and sadly she said that what he had was not a splayed leg but that his tendon had slipped beneath/behind his hock. Even an operation that would cost thousands may not fix his problem since we had waited too long and he had grown too big for the operation to be successful. I'm writing here to see what advice some of you may have for us. Should we euthanize him? He's such a special good-natured duck and it seems such a waste to do this to him. It just feels wrong. He swims happily and seems to hobble along with his three sisters, but is this enough for him? Is he in pain? I checked online for vets who may have done this and it does seem like this kind of operation has little success rate. What do you all think? Any ideas/ tips/ suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[mcduckie]

This is my girl Effie. She has two slipped tendons as you can see in the image and she is now 4 years old! She’s managed to enjoy a somewhat normal life. It’s just her and her brother. She spends more time sitting than he does and she is quite clumsy but she has checkups with my vet every 6 months. We found out when she was about a month old and were devastated. But my vet assured me she’s not in pain. She doesn’t know that she’s disabled as she’s never lived any differently. She loves swimming as it takes the weight off her legs and she’s generally a very happy duck.

 

[Isaac 0]

What a sweetie!

 

[emma right]

This is my girl Effie. She has two slipped tendons as you can see in the image and she is now 4 years old! She’s managed to enjoy a somewhat normal life. It’s just her and her brother. She spends more time sitting than he does and she is quite clumsy but she has checkups with my vet every 6 months. We found out when she was about a month old and were devastated. But my vet assured me she’s not in pain. She doesn’t know that she’s disabled as she’s never lived any differently. She loves swimming as it takes the weight off her legs and she’s generally a very happy duck.

Effie does look like a happy duck. I see her foot is flattened out which is good. I did notice that when I placed Jumper (the slipped tendon duck) in the deeper pool he enjoys himself tremendously--he does flips in the water and preens himself a lot. When he's on the ground he tends to sit a lot--the sitting duck. Also, his foot on the damaged leg is scrunched up--not normal.
I'm thinking of getting him to swim at least twice a day so he'll be happier.

 

[mcduckie]

Effie does look like a happy duck. I see her foot is flattened out which is good. I did notice that when I placed Jumper (the slipped tendon duck) in the deeper pool he enjoys himself tremendously--he does flips in the water and preens himself a lot. When he's on the ground he tends to sit a lot--the sitting duck. Also, his foot on the damaged leg is scrunched up--not normal.
I'm thinking of getting him to swim at least twice a day so he'll be happier.

Just because he sits lots and hobbles around doesn’t mean he’s miserable. He doesn’t know any differently. Because ducks don’t show pain obviously, the clues I tend to look for to tell if Effie is off is if she stops or reduces her eating, has no interest in playing or swimming or stops quacking. She’s quite a loud girl so that’s always a giveaway. I have some liquid pain management medicine to give her if needed but it hasn’t been in a while. Even so I think giving Regular pain management up until a certain point is fine! Once it gets to the point where he isn’t himself anymore I wouldn’t keep going but Until then let him enjoy his slightly awkward life. He might surprise you

 

[emma right]

Just because he sits lots and hobbles around doesn’t mean he’s miserable. He doesn’t know any differently. Because ducks don’t show pain obviously, the clues I tend to look for to tell if Effie is off is if she stops or reduces her eating, has no interest in playing or swimming or stops quacking. She’s quite a loud girl so that’s always a giveaway. I have some liquid pain management medicine to give her if needed but it hasn’t been in a while. Even so I think giving Regular pain management up until a certain point is fine! Once it gets to the point where he isn’t himself anymore I wouldn’t keep going but Until then let him enjoy his slightly awkward life. He might surprise you ❤

Thanks for the suggestion of pain management. The vet did not mention it so I will be sure to ask her. I did notice that his leg seems to be getting worse--he's using his beak to hobble--a new development. Sadly...It almost feels like maybe he's gotten too heavy for his one leg.