Duckling won't stand, walks poorly

[Jera]

@casportpony They said she had a bacterial infection in her joints. They said put her in deep water (pond). They gave us Metacam (10 mL) an to give her .10 of it daily until it's gone. Also Baytril 20, and one pill a day for 10 days. They said to let her swim all day and to give her breaks throughout the day to sit in the grass. Should see improvements within 2 weeks.

 

[casportpony]

@casportpony They said she had a bacterial infection in her joints. They said put her in deep water (pond). They gave us Metacam (10 mL) an to give her .10 of it daily until it's gone. Also Baytril 20, and one pill a day for 10 days. They said to let her swim all day and to give her breaks throughout the day to sit in the grass. Should see improvements within 2 weeks.

Glad you were able to take her to a vet. Did they say what might have cause the joint infection?

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Thought I'd let all of you know that I am going through something similar with one of mine... Found mine a few days ago and he could not stand, though his lameness seemed to be more localized to his left side. I have horses, so I always worry that maybe it's an injury.

-Kathy

 

[Amiga]

Kathy, I hope you can figure it out and get the little fixed up soon.

 

[casportpony]

Kathy, I hope you can figure it out and get the little fixed up soon.

Thanks, he's a litter better, but I'm not sure what was ailing him

-Kathy

 

[Duck Hill]

Update: It's now been 48 hours for Cinnamon (the duck at the start of this thread). She is both better and worse. Today she has eaten on her own and has maintained her weight without additional feeding. She seems a bit worse neurologically. She pushes with her back legs when she wants to stand up and falls over backwards. Poop is normal and looks and smells the same as everyone else - often runny but sometimes as in the picture. I have received the suggestion to try a system flush (40:1 water to molasses dilution) in case she got into something at the pond two days ago. I am also cutting back on the niacin - I think she does have a deficiency, but maybe I am now giving her too much and that isn't good either.

I don't know if it's an "eye dropper" or "medicine dropper" but it has a bulb on top and contains 5 ml. I slide it past the back of the tongue going from the right corner of the mouth leftward (when facing the duck) and down. When I have the duck in the right position I can give 5 to 10 droppers or 25-50 ml at a time. This seems to fill her crop (without overfilling). But I only had to do it one day. Now she's interested in food again. Yay! Not sure how a tube system would work. I get the tube part and would be comfortable putting it in, but I don't get how the food will be put in the tube and sent down the tube.

Casportpony - Can you give me more details about how the food gets into the tube??

Amiga - Thank you for your support. I had to put the chicken down this morning and I miss her.

 

[Duck Hill]

Amiga - I am intrigued by the infection idea. However, at this time I see no sign of it in Cinnamon. I will give her another day or so and finish the system flush and lower (but appropriate) level of niacin. If she gets worse or no better, I will try some antibiotics.

 

[casportpony]

You would need to buy some Kaytee Baby Bird Food from Petsmart or Petco, a tube and a large syringe. Food gets mixed with water, placed in syringe, tube placed on syringe, tube placed in crop, syringe emptied into crop. I can give my large ducks 120-180ml of food/fluids in less than 1 minute this way. Of course a duckling is much smaller, so it would get less.

-Kathy

 

[Jera]

@casportpony No they did not tell me the cause.

 

[casportpony]

Update: It's now been 48 hours for Cinnamon (the duck at the start of this thread). She is both better and worse. Today she has eaten on her own and has maintained her weight without additional feeding. She seems a bit worse neurologically. She pushes with her back legs when she wants to stand up and falls over backwards. Poop is normal and looks and smells the same as everyone else - often runny but sometimes as in the picture. I have received the suggestion to try a system flush (40:1 water to molasses dilution) in case she got into something at the pond two days ago. I am also cutting back on the niacin - I think she does have a deficiency, but maybe I am now giving her too much and that isn't good either.

I don't know if it's an "eye dropper" or "medicine dropper" but it has a bulb on top and contains 5 ml. I slide it past the back of the tongue going from the right corner of the mouth leftward (when facing the duck) and down. When I have the duck in the right position I can give 5 to 10 droppers or 25-50 ml at a time. This seems to fill her crop (without overfilling). But I only had to do it one day. Now she's interested in food again. Yay! Not sure how a tube system would work. I get the tube part and would be comfortable putting it in, but I don't get how the food will be put in the tube and sent down the tube.

Casportpony - Can you give me more details about how the food gets into the tube??

Amiga - Thank you for your support. I had to put the chicken down this morning and I miss her.

Here are some videos:

These are using a crop needle, not a plastic tube.




This one uses a tube like I use​

-Kathy