Duckling Leg Injury DIAGNOSIS: Slipped Tendons

[3bird]

Today the Pinball Duck's crested duckling suddenly died here - the curse of the crest…

But that immediately reminded me to ask how Rosie is doing? - I so hope she is doing much, much better!

I'm so sorry.

Rosie is doing okay. The bandage came off and she had her first post surgery swim yesterday.

 

[3bird]

We are looking into wheelchairs right now, and we've gotten a quote on the Walkin' Pets Feathered Friends Wheechair. It's not inexpensive, but the aluminum frame is so much lighter than the DIY one we made. Here is the link.

We have two concerns: 1) Will she outgrow it? and 2) the wheels look small for our 19th century farmhouse with nary a level, smooth floor; no golf green manicured lawns; and no paved driveway.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Well, i had an eye on that duckling from the first day it hatched. It always had difficulties to get up after falling on its back, it got stuck and soaked in the water-bowl and sometimes it could not jump over obstacles that its siblings would easily jump over.
I call it the »curse of the crest«. I know some duck breeders in the area who cull every crested duckling right after it hatched. The crest is unfortunately a birth defect and can cause adverse neurological effects at any point in the duck's life.
But i loved every crested duck that showed up here, they all have (and had) great characters and are unusually friendly and trusting. Pompom Duck is the only duck aside from Blanca who eats from my hand and Mr. Leroy Brown Drake always comes running to me to alert me when something is wrong. Even if the wrong thing is a lack of cat-food…

Ella and Rosie: I see so great progress with Rosie's left leg, she was able to bring it forward on her own. Is her right leg really so bad that she will need a wheelchair? If so, i am sure many duck-lovers here would be willing to contribute to her…

 

[3bird]

It's been a while since we've posted a Rosie update. We got the Walkin' Pets Feathered Friends wheelchair, and after having it around her for a few days, we popped her in it for the first time time today.

Rosie is progressing with daily PT and swimming, and she is surprisingly (to us) pretty relaxed when in her wheelchair. We've been adjusting it so that her foot can get under her and just touch the ground, but the foot joint remains quite tight and oriented by default in the backwards position (bottom of foot facing up, as it was splinted). We are working on moving that foot joint, and we would appreciate any advice on how aggressive (or not) we should be. She seems comfortable when we can point it straight down and her weight can hold it there like in the picture, but we have not succeeded in having it go flat with the bottom of the foot on the ground.

Our other concern is her eating. Do you have any recommendations? She remains on the Mazuri waterfowl starter, and we also offer her mealworms, peas and other treats, but she is not gaining weight. Her favorite thing to eat is dandelion greens, and she will gobble those up more than any other food, although she does have bursts of eating her Mazuri starter when floating in water. Any tricks we should try?

 

[Miss Lydia]

What did the surgeon rec as far as PT? I wish I could help but I honestly don’t know how to proceed. As for eating if she’ll eat the treats maybe you need to cut them down a little at a time until she only has her feed? Just a suggestion.

 

[3bird]

What did the surgeon rec as far as PT? I wish I could help but I honestly don’t know how to proceed. As for eating if she’ll eat the treats maybe you need to cut them down a little at a time until she only has her feed? Just a suggestion.

Thanks! She is not terribly interested in the treats. She gets most excited for greens. It's hard to measure how much grain she is actually eating, but it's not enough. She does seem to like snails, and those seem to be good calories, so we may try more foraging type food today.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Since she probably isn't able to get her own grit from the ground I'd offer grit too.

Can she bend her foot in a normal position at all? How about in water?

 

[3bird]

Since she probably isn't able to get her own grit from the ground I'd offer grit too.

Can she bend her foot in a normal position at all? How about in water?

It's VERY tight....but we're working on it.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I learnt it the hard way: Tomatoes and Peppers turn ducks into everything devouring black holes! Whenever i have a duck who does not eat enough, i feed her some tomato or some pepper. The hot peppers work even better than the tomatoes (ducks do not experience that hot taste at all…)
Last year we got a banana-box full of tomatoes and hot peppers from a market-vendor, everything very ripe and at the verge of turning bad. The ducks loved it and devoured everything - together with a full bag of pellets in just four days! I filled up their feeder with 40lbs of pellets on Sunday and on Thursday morning there were over 30 extremely grumpy ducks storming out of their house demanding food now! Usually one 40lbs bag of pellets lasted 10 days.
I would try to feed Rosie some Tomato-slices, some diced Pepper or fresh cucumber. My ducknagers would kill for cucumbers…
Has Ella managed to get any closer to the grown-up's? - It is pretty much normal for drakes to be a bit aggressive against even their own daughters. At the moment Rusty is charging after Pinball's ducknagers. Fortunately Pinball Duck has the heart of a dragon when it comes to her babies…

 

[3bird]

Rosie died last night.

We're not sure what actually happened. The first vet we saw (when our vet was on vacation) said that she suspected something more serious (genetic abnormality) could be going on that would manifest itself later. We are not going to do a necropsy.

We feel very lucky to have had a chance to get to know little Rosie and to help her experience this great big world even if it was just for a short time. In the last few days, she was increasingly growing frustrated at her lack of mobility, and she was impatient in her wheelchair. Even swimming did not bring her the joy it used to. We had started crating her at night because she would otherwise flail about in her brooder until she exhausted herself. We knew she wasn't eating enough regardless of what we tried. We found that she was most relaxed swaddled and carried around, which is how she spent a lot of yesterday. She was very sweet with us. Her sister Ella Pickle remained very loyal. As much as Pickle liked to roam around the farm when we were out, she would frequently go back and check on Rosie. When we were not outside, she was glued to Rosie's side. As sad as we are, we know the transition will be most challenging for her.

As always, thank you all for your help and encouragement. Rosie felt the love and so did we. Thank you.