Duckling Acts Drunk Flops on Back

[astronomer]

Perhaps Anatipestifer Disease?

Signs

Weakness.
Neck tucked in.
Head/neck tremor.
Ataxia.
Disinclined to walk.
Incoordination.
Dyspnoea.
Ocular and/or nasal discharge.
Hyperexcitability
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/4/anatipestifer-disease-new-duck-syndrome-duck-septicaemia

 

[astronomer]

Anatipestifer Disease?

Signs:

Weakness.
Neck tucked in.
Head/neck tremor.
Ataxia.
Disinclined to walk.
Incoordination.
Dyspnoea.
Ocular and/or nasal discharge.
Hyperexcitability

Sounds pretty spot on. Perhaps some cephalexin as well.

 

[Duckrazy]

Can you give Keflex to waterfowl?

 

[astronomer]

Oh yes. It's used for bumblefoot often. At least I've seen mention of it quite often for treating bumblefoot.

 

[Duckrazy]

Oh OK. My wife left me because of excessive vet bills....I've read that Ducks are quite resilient in health ordeals...

 

[astronomer]

I brought her to work with me so I can keep an eye on her.

 

[astronomer]

Update. I've been feeding her every hour or so. Giving her Pedialyte, brewers yeast, and Cephalexin. I can't say she's improving, but she's not getting any worse. She was really bad this morning though. Maybe lack of food/water overnight? She seems interested in food/water for the most part, but can't get to it when she gets stuck on her back.

 

[chooks4life]

Update. I've been feeding her every hour or so. Giving her Pedialyte, brewers yeast, and Cephalexin. I can't say she's improving, but she's not getting any worse. She was really bad this morning though. Maybe lack of food/water overnight? She seems interested in food/water for the most part, but can't get to it when she gets stuck on her back.

Not sure where in the symptoms something sufficient to cause getting stuck on one's back was described. That's a fairly large sort of 'incoordination'. The sort one might call a seizure, depending on how she goes about ending up like that.

If you haven't looked for diseases or toxicities that include this sort of extreme physical malfunction or disruption of normal movement, might be a good idea. It sounds like some kind of spasm is happening.

I notice among the preventatives for AD this is listed...
Quote:
So, something like garlic etc in the feed could prevent that Anatipestifer Disease then, as they contain natural sulfur compounds. Good stuff to know, I guess. One day I'd like to keep ducks.

Best wishes with yours. Hope she makes a full recovery.

 

[astronomer]

I happened across Riemerella anatipestifer Infection after googling the symptoms. Came across this gem, but forgot to post it.

"This bacterial disease of ducks is also known as Pasteurella anatipestifer infection, infectious serositis and New Duck disease. Anatipestifer infection causes high mortality, weight loss and condemnation. In the acute form, listlessness, eye discharge and diarrhea are commonly seen. Ducks show incoordination, shaking of the head and twisted neck. Birds are commonly found on their backs, paddling their legs. Typical lesions found in dead birds are infected air sacs, membranes covering the heart and liver, and meningitis. Preventive management and vaccination are effective means of control. Penicillin, enrofloxacin and sulfadimethoxine-ormetoprim (0.04-0.08% in feed) are effective in reducing mortality."

Except for the eye discharge, it's pretty much spot on. No external lesions to see, so I'm not sure how she got it. We do have a 3 acre pond that she swims in from time to time, and it is visited by wild mallards.

Source: http://www.duckhealth.com/duckhlth.html

To be clear, Sulfonamides are chemically unrelated to sulfates and sulfites, so garlic wouldn't be effective here.

A good scientific paper on the treatment of RA is: http://www.agrpaper.com/studies-on-...tifer-infections-and-its-control-in-baise.htm

Where it states that "most of the isolates (ie: RA causing bacteria) were highly sensitive to Cephalexin,Cefradine and Amoxicillin"

Also

"Cephalexin and norfloxacin were used in the treatments on three diagnosed cases with mixed infections of RA with E.coli,the cure rate were 92.86%（715/770）,93.26%（443/475） and 94.58%（908/960） respectively,with an average of 93.57%."

I don't have any norfloxacin, but I'll make due.

Hopefully I'll have a good update soon. She's staying upright a little better today. We've been feeding her every hour with Cephalexin every 6 hours. Dosage is probably a little on the high side, but I can't ever tell how much she actually swallows vs spits out, so I'm sure we're fine.
I believe the dosage is ~30-50mg/kg for ducks orally 4 times daily.

Great resource for dosage is: http://avianmedicine.net/content/uploads/2013/03/09_therapeutic_agents.pdf

 

[Miss Lydia]

I happened across Riemerella anatipestifer Infection after googling the symptoms. Came across this gem, but forgot to post it.

"This bacterial disease of ducks is also known as Pasteurella anatipestifer infection, infectious serositis and New Duck disease. Anatipestifer infection causes high mortality, weight loss and condemnation. In the acute form, listlessness, eye discharge and diarrhea are commonly seen. Ducks show incoordination, shaking of the head and twisted neck. Birds are commonly found on their backs, paddling their legs. Typical lesions found in dead birds are infected air sacs, membranes covering the heart and liver, and meningitis. Preventive management and vaccination are effective means of control. Penicillin, enrofloxacin and sulfadimethoxine-ormetoprim (0.04-0.08% in feed) are effective in reducing mortality."

Except for the eye discharge, it's pretty much spot on. No external lesions to see, so I'm not sure how she got it. We do have a 3 acre pond that she swims in from time to time, and it is visited by wild mallards.

Source: http://www.duckhealth.com/duckhlth.html

To be clear, Sulfonamides are chemically unrelated to sulfates and sulfites, so garlic wouldn't be effective here.

A good scientific paper on the treatment of RA is: http://www.agrpaper.com/studies-on-...tifer-infections-and-its-control-in-baise.htm

Where it states that "most of the isolates (ie: RA causing bacteria) were highly sensitive to Cephalexin,Cefradine and Amoxicillin"

Also

"Cephalexin and norfloxacin were used in the treatments on three diagnosed cases with mixed infections of RA with E.coli,the cure rate were 92.86%（715/770）,93.26%（443/475） and 94.58%（908/960） respectively,with an average of 93.57%."

I don't have any norfloxacin, but I'll make due.

Hopefully I'll have a good update soon. She's staying upright a little better today. We've been feeding her every hour with Cephalexin every 6 hours. Dosage is probably a little on the high side, but I can't ever tell how much she actually swallows vs spits out, so I'm sure we're fine.
I believe the dosage is ~30-50mg/kg for ducks orally 4 times daily.

Great resource for dosage is: http://avianmedicine.net/content/uploads/2013/03/09_therapeutic_agents.pdf

To keep her from going over onto her back take a towel and make it into a donut shape put the duckling down into the hole not her head just her body, the towel will give her support while you are treating her. and puppy pee pads work great to help with poo while treating I hope she gets better soon.