HELP — Acute Duck Sickness (Lethargic, Sleepy, Separating from flock, shivering)

[Galaxyfalcon]

The vet unfortunately isn't in until Tuesday and I just don't know if I want to risk her not eating anything substantial for nearly a full week is my fear. I saw her eat 2 or 3 peas and nibble 1 or 2 pieces of scratch today and nuzzle a lot of other food, so I think she's hungry-ish? We may attempt a small dose tube feed as a trial run just to make sure she has a single reasonable meal in her later today.

And thank you! Yes she is beautiful. I'd love to have more buffs someday.

Her boyfriend Cassie climbed the back steps and came in the back door today and said hi to her which she liked, but now she is complaining because she wants to head outside and join the fun. Sorry Herman, you're inside until the vet says otherwise...

 

[Miss Lydia]

Sounding promising. And maybe a small tube feed would even get her hungry enough to start on her own. I was so happy when my Runner started eating again.

 

[Galaxyfalcon]

So some success: we just tube fed her a little. She struggles SO much, she's not a good patient like in those videos. Definitely a two person job. She waggles her head so much and moved her tongue around so much but we were patient and got it in.

I used some silicone fish tank tubing from pet smart and used a lighter to slightly melt the edges so that they were smooth with no sharp edges. I made a mix using the exacta baby bird food formula, some purina duck pellets, and some meal worms with warm water. I think it turned out a bit too liquid but it was a good first run.

Only fed her 30mL to start with. Checked to make sure she was breathing before we began. She was squirming so much I didn't get a chance to "see" the tube go down her crop.

She then promptly chortled, and made an escape dash into the kitchen where she pooped. I'm hoping she starts eating on her own again but at least now I know we can do it without killing her. Her boyfriend Cassie came up the steps again today while we were cleaning the pen after feeding and she got really excited to see her boyfriend.

 

[Miss Lydia]

What a nice report. If you wrap her in a towel and have someone hold her it might go better. But good for you to try and get it done. Big sigh after I bet. She's so precious.

 

[Galaxyfalcon]

She's been eating some today which is really encouraging. Not a lot, but enough we didn't feel the need to try to tube feed her again for now. She took a liking to the oyster shells and duck pellets near her water and started doing her normal back-and-forth from the pellets to the water and ate it as a kind of mush. Between last night and today we saw her eat a little at least four or five times, so that's really encouraging.

She's also feeling good enough to complain when we leave her room. Both her and Juniper are acting like spoiled little ducklings who demand to have you there otherwise they're just so upset. We also got to do bathtime which was nice.

It's a huge relief she's doing better. Much better than the first day we brought her inside, I thought we would lose her. Still not sure what the prognosis on the metal is but we're going to do a follow up visit tomorrow to see what the situation is looking like.

Temps are dropping to about 5-10F here so these two are living spoiled in the balmy 68F duck hospital.

 

[Miss Lydia]

That’s so sweet. And so awesome to hear she’s eating some and complaining too. That’s has to mean she’s going to make it. Please update once y’all get home.

 

[Miss Lydia]

How did the vet visit go?

 

[Galaxyfalcon]

Thanks for asking. It went okay—the vet wants to give her a little break from the antibiotics before starting another course. Based on how much better Herman is doing she's not sure the metal was the cause of the sickness, it's possible the metal bits were something she had eaten a long time ago. Apparently they had moved through her entire digestive tract without causing too much trouble. This isn't a good picture of the x-ray but you can see two little bars down near her cloaca. Advice is against a surgery and iffy on chelation therapy to try to chemically draw out the metal.

She lost a little weight but not much, the vet advised to keep an eye on her and if she doesn't eat for more that 24 hour to try and tube feed again. She can go outside and join the rest of the flock during the day to socialize and come back inside at night for a little R&R.

So right now it's a bit of a mystery, vet isn't convinced it was the metal after a second exam and is thinking it that may have been there for a while but it's hard to say, but she's definitely on he mend. Possibly a bacterial infection (she has a little bumble sore on one foot) and the antibiotics may have helped.

We're going to do one more follow up visit with her and see if anything changes but hopefully we're in the clear. I'm a little worried about the metal honestly but I don't know what options we have at this point. I'm suspicious she may have eaten it a long time ago but I don't know for sure. My main concern is complications with egg laying etc.

Overall prognosis is good from the vet, doctors orders are another course of antibiotics starting next week after one last follow up and then just a little tender loving care.

edit: has anyone done chelation therapy on a duck before here who can comment on it?

 

[Miss Lydia]

I was always under the impression if they ate metal they wouldn't recover if it wasn't taken care of.
Someone posted a while back that peanut butter was used to remove meatal but i have no idea where that was now. Or why that would even work.
I bet she is very happy to be back outside during the day.
I sure do hope she is now out of the woods.

 

[Galaxyfalcon]

I was always under the impression if they ate metal they wouldn't recover if it wasn't taken care of.
Someone posted a while back that peanut butter was used to remove meatal but i have no idea where that was now. Or why that would even work.
I bet she is very happy to be back outside during the day.
I sure do hope she is now out of the woods.

I'll see how she's doing at the next follow-up appointment but if she starts having any issues I think we're going to pull the trigger on the Chelation therapy and see if that would remove it. The vet doesn't seem too concerned with it for now, and is recommending against a surgery currently (thinks it might do more harm than good). My concern is that it could cause a number of issues in the future. Really not sure what the right choice is.

Herman seems to be doing good outside with her friends. We're getting dumped on with snow and super cold weather, so the ducks are locked into the duck run and the girls are separated from the boys just to make sure there are only friendly interactions with her since she's still on the mend. Looks like she's eating a bit but we'll still want to keep an eye on her.

I'll probably do a couple more updates up to the (hopefully) final visit next week, but I'm hoping we've made it through for now.

edit: the objects have passed through the entire digestive tract and even out of the gizzard, which is part of why I think the vet is a little less worried. I wonder if we should still be concerned about chronic lead/zinc/metal poisoning though?