Duckling Having Seizures

[AmandaVirus]

Misty had another seizure this morning. It's so weird how they're so far apart from the other episodes she had, she's been growing great and mostly feathered now, and hasn't been in the backyard in weeks. She was in the front yard for a good while yesterday, so I guess she still could have ate something bad, even though she was right next to me most of the time, and I didn't see her try to eat anything bad. I hate not knowing whats causing them and what to do about it, it's very stressful.

 

[AmandaVirus]

It might be worth mentioning that I let my house rabbit out in the yard a few days ago and she got sick as well, she wasn't eating much and looked lethargic. She's all better now, but it's a bit of a coincident. We don't spray anything in the yard, or use any sort of bug killer/pesticides. She's 6 years old and has gone outside every few days during the warmer months since she was young, and this is the first time she has gotten sick. I don't want to be too strict and never let them out again, but I'm not sure what else to do.

 

[TracyLovesDucks]

I understand you don't use pesticides. But do you use any kind of plant food--even organic? I think one of my babies got into our organic plant food... she didn't have seizures but she did become very sick.

Is that tree still releasing seeds? I don't know anything about this type of tree, but if the seeds are small, it would be very hard to pick them all up out of the yard. Also, could it be that other parts of the tree are toxic (leaves, bark, etc)?

Does the duck eat the rabbit poop?

I'm not sure what's going on, I'm just trying to think of a few ideas. Hopefully you're able to figure out exactly what's causing all the trouble. Good luck!

 

[TracyLovesDucks]

Oh and I don't mean to cause trouble, but are any of your neighbors treating their yards with chemical substances? If it's powerful enough stuff that they are using it may be affecting your area. Also, I have a neighbor who was about to spray our weeds while we were away at work (luckily she thought better and didn't, but requested we do something about them instead... how considerate

). Might you have a neighbor that is just trying to help, but may be creating a toxic environment for your duckling and rabbit?

 

[AmandaVirus]

She had another seizure this morning. They only happen in the early morning and then quit by daytime. She's only had the one yesterday and the one this morning, so far.

We don't use any plant food, but we actually do use one pesticide now that I think of it, but we put it on food plants (we eat what we spray it on) and it's only made with garlic oil, so it can't be an issue. She wasn't near it anyway.

The tree is still releasing seeds; they are big, about 3 inches long. I'm not sure about the leaves, but according to a parrot website, the wood is not safe to use for perches and such. There are no seeds in the front yard (where she and the rabbit were), but they are all over the backyard, she hasn't came into contact with them. She wasn't outside at all yesterday.

Our neighbor on one side has a jungle for a yard (the one with the tree), so I don't think he would bother. The other neighbors did just spray what I assume was a pesticide of some type, as I overheard them talking about ants. We were worried about our chickens because they were spraying close to their run on the neighbors shed. But that was also in the backyard, and not at all close to where either of them were.

She does occasionally eat the rabbit droppings, typically just picks them up and drops them, though. Don't know how that would make her sick, both my dogs think they're tasty

I just thought about something else I saw her eat yesterday, it was a piece of fire log (the sticky, non wood kind) those things crumble and get little pieces everywhere. I'm not sure what they're made with, it can't be good though...

This is frustrating! Thanks for the help, though! I don't think I'm going to let her outside for awhile, jeez maybe not even out of my bedroom!