Floppy Footed Franklin

[Viapaws]

Hi all!

One of our ducks has a floppy foot that is causing him to trip. It doesn't appear to be an issue with the leg, just the paddle. I don't believe it is bumble foot but I'm still new at this. We have steps in/out of the pool and he rarely uses them, preferring to topple the 8 inches over the edge. I have a video and a photo of the foot in question. It developed yesterday so I haven't given it a chance to heal on its own since I don't want it to be beyond repair. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

 

[DiYMama540]

Poor baby! How old is he? I don't see anything on his foot that particularly jumps out at me, in the video when his foot is down, it looks like he's walking on part of his leg. Maybe some sort of sprain? Until a duck expert comes along, I would try to keep him still and quiet.
@HuffleClaw @Miss Lydia @WVduckchick @casportpony

 

[Viapaws]

Thank you! He's about seven weeks old. I put them all to bed early tonight hoping he would rest up, we'll see if it improves overnight. I will also try more water therapy but he's not our extended swimmer.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I cannot put a name to what that is, but it looks like his foot joint is weak and his legs are twisted inwards. I assume he's a Pekin?
Would that be my duck i would immediately start with an intensive Vitamin B treatment, @Miss Lydia has a good picture of an injectable solution from TSC - you can give that orally, no need to poke the duck! - I use ground up Vitamin B complex pills from the pharmacy-stores and mix them with cat-kibbles. The powder sticks to the kibbles and is applied easy (to my ducks, they're crazy for cat-food!)
Being a Pekin, he is sadly susceptible to leg and hip issues (Pekings are bred for meat and are being slaughtered at a few weeks old, so no need for sturdy and reliable legs…). I would also try to get some Calcium-Gluconate and Niacin-powder (not the non-flushing!), i usually have a stash at home from Bulksupplements.com:
https://www.bulksupplements.com/products/calcium-gluconate-powder Dang! Sold out!
Calcium Citrate works well too:
https://www.bulksupplements.com/products/calcium-citrate-powder
And Niacin:
https://www.bulksupplements.com/products/niacin-vitamin-b3-pure-powder

Water therapy will help too, but careful that he doesn't get soaked or drown if he's not "Mark Spitz".

 

[Miss Lydia]

Try to keep him from getting out of the pool by himself for now. This is swim therapy for even floating is a good way to alleviate pressure to his legs and hopefully giving the recommended vitamins that Hillbilly told you about will get Franklin back up on his feet. This is possibly and injury due to niacin deficiency which is very common in Pekins. But if treated asap can help a ton. All ducklings should have adequate amounts of niacin in their diets no chick feed has it. So we supplement. I'd check into an all flock feed for your flock. But still even with feeding all flock like Purina flock raiser there always seems to be one that just needs more. I'll get on my phone for a pic of what TSC has and is excellent for our water fowl babies. Just keep Franklin from over using that leg right now.

 

[Miss Lydia]

TSC has this one

I ordered this one from Amazon since I don’t have a close TSC made by same company works the same. Orally over a tasty treat so he gets full dose 1 ml 2x a day to start.

 

[Viapaws]

View attachment 1904834 TSC has this oneView attachment 1904835I ordered this one from Amazon since I don’t have a close TSC made by same company works the same. Orally over a tasty treat so he gets full dose 1 ml 2x a day to start.

This is super helpful, thank you so much!

 

[Viapaws]

I cannot put a name to what that is, but it looks like his foot joint is weak and his legs are twisted inwards. I assume he's a Pekin?
Would that be my duck i would immediately start with an intensive Vitamin B treatment, @Miss Lydia has a good picture of an injectable solution from TSC - you can give that orally, no need to poke the duck! - I use ground up Vitamin B complex pills from the pharmacy-stores and mix them with cat-kibbles. The powder sticks to the kibbles and is applied easy (to my ducks, they're crazy for cat-food!)
Being a Pekin, he is sadly susceptible to leg and hip issues (Pekings are bred for meat and are being slaughtered at a few weeks old, so no need for sturdy and reliable legs…). I would also try to get some Calcium-Gluconate and Niacin-powder (not the non-flushing!), i usually have a stash at home from Bulksupplements.com:
https://www.bulksupplements.com/products/calcium-gluconate-powder Dang! Sold out!
Calcium Citrate works well too:
https://www.bulksupplements.com/products/calcium-citrate-powder
And Niacin:
https://www.bulksupplements.com/products/niacin-vitamin-b3-pure-powder

Water therapy will help too, but careful that he doesn't get soaked or drown if he's not "Mark Spitz".

Thank you so much! Our pool isn't too deep, I'll probably do water therapy on a smaller, deeper container under close supervision.