Duck with swollen joints

[kperki]

I took in two peking ducks, make and female so I am not sure how they were fed when younger. The female had an altercation with a goose and she was limping after that. I treated her with a variety of antibiotics incase she had a joint infection as well as pain meds. I took her to a bird vet who x-rayed her and nothing broken. The vet was not really helpful. I went home with more antibiotics and pain meds for 5 days. I decided to do a longer course of antibiotics incase secondary infection and also was giving her some carprofen. I was also syringing her niacin in her mouth. I saw a little improvement. Both of her legs were really swollen and just seemed a little like they would make noises. I decided it was hard getting all the niacin down her and so I started giving sub q 1ml niacin injections. She also goes swimming a few times a day. I have started seeing improvements in her and she can take a few steps. Her food is Mazuri water fowl maintenance. I read on here about nutritional yeast. I also read somewhere they excrete any excess niacin. I want to know does anyone have experience with a similar situation and anything else that helped? I tried making a splint and she seemed to have more issues with it. Can i keep giving her the niacin injections? Anything else I can try. I really want her to get better. The male is kept separate but they swim together and he stays right beside her on the outside of the pens they have. I will post pic of Bonnie and hopefully I can post videos too. Thank you

 

[Jenbirdee]

wow she’s been through so much . you can use durvet liquid b complex and just put one ml in a small dish of mealworms or other treat she will eat it up. much less stressful than injections.
Also now that she’s had so many antibiotics it would be preferable to give her some probiotics.
you can let her soak in a small tub of lukewarm water with epsom salts. try not to let her drink any.
i also have pekins and one older one has trouble walking and a swollen joint. One thing I found helpful is after her soaking time I take Epson salt poultice, and rub that on her joint, then apply a little more and wrap it in a gauze pad and some Vet wrap bandage I leave that on for 24 hours.
The nutritional yeast is a delicious flaked powder like food item that humans can eat, but it is so good for the ducks to put 1 tablespoon onto every one cup of their feed, especially for a pekin ducks who are known for leg problems.
i hope she is improving.

 

[Jenbirdee]

the items i mentioned

 

[kperki]

wow she’s been through so much . you can use durvet liquid b complex and just put one ml in a small dish of mealworms or other treat she will eat it up. much less stressful than injections.
Also now that she’s had so many antibiotics it would be preferable to give her some probiotics.
you can let her soak in a small tub of lukewarm water with epsom salts. try not to let her drink any.
i also have pekins and one older one has trouble walking and a swollen joint. One thing I found helpful is after her soaking time I take Epson salt poultice, and rub that on her joint, then apply a little more and wrap it in a gauze pad and some Vet wrap bandage I leave that on for 24 hours.
The nutritional yeast is a delicious flaked powder like food item that humans can eat, but it is so good for the ducks to put 1 tablespoon onto every one cup of their feed, especially for a pekin ducks who are known for leg problems.
i hope she is improving.

Thank you so much for the links and info. I had ordered brewers yeast and I read the sticky on ducks and it said to get nutritional yeast so I have that coming. That is the B vitamins that I have, I will try her on the liquid now and hopefully with some treats she will have it. I hate to have to give her the shots but I knew that was what was saving her. It will be great if she will drink it up and also eat the yeast. I’m not sure if mine was flakes it might be powder. Hopefully it’s ok. I will also try the poultice. Do you think it would defeat the purpose if I have her doing her swim therapy in the day will it all come off? I was thinking of also trying a castor oil poultice on her as I did it on my bad knee and it was a huge help over night. Thank you so much for help, I really appreciate it. People kept telling me to euthanize her but I felt I had to keep trying. I love her so much and just want her to feel good

 

[Jenbirdee]

this is the nutritional use that I get you are right it’s more like a powder. It’s very fine flakes. I didn’t have to worry about my Pekin girl getting in the pool with the other ducks while she was wearing her poultice, because she didn’t ever get in the pool by herself anyway. I just have to bring her inside and let her have time in my bathtub. When she’s outside with all the ducks instead of swimming with them, she gives herself a splash bath lol but anyway to answer your question no, I don’t think it would defeat the purpose. It’s helpful for her to have swimming time to strengthen her legs.

 

[Jenbirdee]

OK, I tried five times to paste the link here to an article by the majestic waterfowl sanctuary about arthritis and joint care in ducks and I can’t get it to work correctly so I took a picture of it here it is … i’m thinking of trying this too

 

[kperki]

Thank you! That is the yeast I ordered. I was wondering about adequan. That is so good to know! I have 2 bottles left from my dog that recently passed. I will try those on her. I think I even have cosequin too! I can tell the swimming really helps her. I think she is the only duck that prefers not to be in the water. She starts really making a fuss when I take her to the pool. She loves now when I hold her with my hands under her wings and she flaps like crazy and thinks she’s flying and I take her all around the yard like that and also will lower her next to the male and he runs along side her so she thinks they are on an adventure together! Thanks again for sharing all this info! I hope yours does well and keeps having fun in the tub! She is lucky to have you!

 

[kperki]

I found the Majestics webpage. Nice readings! I ordered the same made CosaminDS they use. Hopefully it will help her! Thanks again!

 

[Jenbirdee]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/support-group-for-abused-duck-keepers.1569092/post-26982967

 

[Jenbirdee]

the thread above by miss lydia mentions cosequin with msm . i really miss miss lydia she is the best kindest knowledgeable duck person i ever met and the above is one of her posts.( she’s offline until her internet is fixed - it went down during that milton hurricane that destroyed towns and killed peoples in north carolina. )