Duckling with strange leg issues, not spraddle etc

[Miss Lydia]

Sweet

 

[Kimmyh51]

I am from Australia lol I googled TSC and I have noticed this is an American site I will have a look at my local animal supplies place as I am sure they will have similar. Thank you for your advice

I'm just over the ditch in NZ howdy neighbor!

 

[Kimmyh51]

I hope you can find some. Of course there isn’t any guarantee the b complex will help but it’s sure worth trying it’s an inexpensive safe treatment.

I think aussie is a bit like nz in that often if something is injectable, they make it prescription only. there are loads of pretty benign things here that the actual substance is uncontrolled, but the moment someone puts it in a bottle and labels it injectable it becomes prescription only.... if this is a problem in aust, sometimes you can get a local vet to sell you a syringe full. i was told by a vet a few months back that vit b injections here are vet prescription only. they would sell me some without a consult but it cost an extra $10 for a prescription fee.
otherwise, just look for a goodmulti b at the chemist or supermarket (check label for actual amount of each b vit and to make sure there are not any other vitamins, minerals or herbs which might mean an appropriate dose of the b vitamins in the pills has too much of some herb or other non water soluable vitamin, or mineral like zinc..
find the multi vitamin b supplement with the highest amount of b vitamins for your $(dont forget to take nuber of pills/capsules into account if on a budget). you can then crush one or more tablets up with water and orally syringe this into the duck. it should treat any vitamin b deficiencies perfectly well as long as the dose is enough.

on the subject of medicines etc, you will find our friends in the northern hemisphere can get all sorts of useful and at times, life saving, medicines for their birds that we can only get from a vet.

ie for antibiotics like baytril that they seem to be able to buy over the counter almost anywhere in the states, forget it in oz or nz....pretty much every single antibiotic is prescription only here.... even fish tank antibiotics which used to be the workaround for some antibiotics are now vet consult only (how on earth does a vet examine a goldfish and how does the owner transport fish and tank to vet??!)

Its worth learning about the various antibiotics used in avian veterinary practice and asking all family and friends to give you any unused prescriptions (including any that are 'expired - drugs stay perfectly useful for years after their labels expiry date) as they can come in very handy (lifesavingly so for me) to have on hand. any old scripts for doxycycline, augmentin(amoxicillin + clavulanic acid), flucloxacillin, erythromycin will cover most things.

 

[DavisDucks]

hi guys
i had a duckling hatch early last week from a breach position which at first I thought had curled toes. But it now sems like either some sort of leg deformity that I cant find any info on, or a neurological issue, which seems to be getting worse the stronger the duckling gets.

Since hatching the duckling has always held its legs behind it, superman style (think superman flying thru the air).
At first i could stand the duckling up, and place its legs in the correct position and it would atand at way. But day by day its legs seem to resist being placed in a normal position more and more, so that its legs now not only stick out behind it, but seem to almost be developing a backward upwards curve.

I also now cannot move the feet into the normal position for standing (ie feet on ground pointing forward, at a right angle to the lower leg. Its like the legs are almost frozen or spasming so that the duckling if it was standing could only stand on tip toes.
The legs are not splayed out to the sides like in spraddle leg. There is no swelling at the joints or elsewhere or any sign of injury, and i dont think this strange position is caused by a fracture, break, tendon issue, etc. it seems more like the joints are contorting themselves into this unnatural position.
When swimming in water too deep to touch the bottom the duckling is still in the same position,like superman, or a child with a kickboard learning to paddle. Its legs are behind it.
Also it sometimes looks like it is trying to scratch its face with its foot as ducklings sometimes do, but when it moves its face over sideways to be acratched, the leg instead of coming round to the face, goes back, up and to the opposite side. Like the message from the brain to the leg is getting mixed up.
At first i thought it was curled toes and legs being poaitioned badly in the small end of the egg. Then i was sure it was neurological, the brain giving the wrong message to the legs (or measGe getting mixed up between brain and leg/foot). Now it also seems like the lgs themselves are starting to stiffen and contort into this unnatural position.The only time i have ever seen limbs behave like this to be honest, is horror movies where people get possessed and their legs and/or arms start bending in the opposite direction to what they normally do
The duckling is now 5 days old and the legs quite strongly resist me trying to put them into a normal standing position. On days 1-2 after hatch i could easily put the legs in this position.

It does not look at all like any pictures or videos i have seen of spraddle leg, splayed leg, niacin deficiency legs (which I have seen before). Its definately not anything like a slipped tendon, Ive seen that also, and the tendon is in the right position.
While it kind seems neurological, the duckling does not have any other neuro symptoms, ie no seizures, no seeming lack of control of movement, no balance issues beyond its legs being stuck up behing it. Its not throwing its head way back like ive seen a duckling with neuro symptoms do before.

Its really bizarre and i cannot find anything on the web, or in text books or anywhere quite like it

Does anyone have any idea what might be going on, or how I can find more info?

Duckling is on a diet with plenty of niacin, riboflavin, and all other vitamins and minerala that deficiencies of could possibly cause any symptoms like this, and I am baffled.
It seems the stronger the duckling gets as it grows, the more pronounced this leg thing is...
The duckling cannot walk or sit, and can only sort of swim, and often its leg goes up and towards the othe side and almost flips the duckling onto its back. If left in a pool unsupervised it would most likely drown reasonably quickly because it isnt able to gain enough traction/speed to keep afloat.

I can try and post some videos if anyone thinks they have any idea...

Ill try and upload something to utube but i live in a rural area and the only internet i have is via my 3g mobile phone which has only 1 bar coverage here, so uploading anything larger than a few hundred kb is a time consuming failure ridden process.
If i can get anything to upload ill post a link here. I do have a video about the hatch which has the duckling at the end, but it doesnt show anything more than the general position of the legs., ill dig out the url and post in a comment.

If anyone has some experience with something lke this and thinks they can help, and would ke me to try and get a video of the duckling from a specific angle etc, please post and I will try and video then upload something.

Hi. I've noticed your post, the only 1 like it. My sweet duckling, Joy, sounds like the same exact issues yours had. We have made her a walker, in fact to try to teach her to walk. As of now, it's getting harder & harder to bend her legs, against her resistance without fear of hurting her. With swimming for us, tho, o Lyon half her body would float at a time, so she was doing the figure 8 over and over, with flipping on her back as well. I knew it could drown her if I didnt get her out. She took in way too much water. Her toes curl upwards as well. And everytime we try to help her walk, sit, anything, her 1st reaction is always to shoot straight up on her feet, toes actually, straight upward like a person
I also could not find ANYTHING as far as research or someone else who experienced this. I have given her Bcomplex, Niacin, VitaminE, etc..... to try and help with this issue. We also experienced 4 seizures, scary as heck, but today makes 2nd day seizure-free!! I literally have to care for her 24/7. I'm very attatched to her, as she is me, and trying everything I can to give her quality of life, and hoping to fix something, anything, if possible. I brought her to the vet, but he had nothing positive to say. I just wanted to touch base with you and hear your thoughts.....since its been about a year since your post. Anything new, good, bad, anything that helped..... at all?? Thanks so much!

 

[DavisDucks]

Thank you for your reply, I will make up some splints and little shoes. Do you have any advice to keep the little ones legs from extending straight out behind it? I have been doing some leg movements with it but as soon as it put it down it goes back to the superman position. I will up load a video when i can. Thank you again.

Hi, I wrote a long post to the 1st person that posted on the thread. I didnt see yours, or anything after (I guess I jumped the gun). I wrote it in reply to KimmyH51, its Post#1. I know this is an odd request, but would you mind reading it, and if you feel like it, message me back please?? (I cant see a way to just forward it to you like on a cell phone) Thanks so much.