Help! Cat scratched duck's eye. :(

[Crayonsmom]

My duck Penelope is living indoors, at least for the cold weather. She has always gotten along with the cats just fine. One of them ignores her, the other actually really likes her, and the third cat has always been... weird and antisocial and spontaneously mean. Lately Penelope and her cat friend have been hanging out by the radiator - cat on the radiator and Penelope on the floor. Today I was in the living room watching TV and I heard a loud quack from the other room and those little slappy feet running away. I checked on her and didn't notice anything wrong until I went to change her diaper a few minutes later. Her right eye had a bloody tear coming from it and she wouldn't open it and I just know that the wrong cat was on the radiator and she got scratched. (I always gave that cat the benefit of the doubt when nobody else would, but he is not on my nice list ATM.)

I put Penelope in the tub to rinse her eye and she is drinking and eating her favorite mealworms. She hardly ever opens the eye but when she does it looks much more normal than I was worried. Since it is Sunday I can't get her to a vet and I'm very worried about her eye. Does anybody know of something I can put on it to prevent infection or help it heal? We do have some human eye antibiotic creme, but I know that ducks can be very sensitive to certain antibiotics, especially ones that are made for humans. Is this just something that I have to keep an eye on (haha, no pun intended) and hope for the best?

Thank you so much for any input!

 

[donnavee]

Last year one of my little call ducks got a peck in the eye from one of the chickens. She kept it closed and it was very watery so I isolated her with a duck friend and put regular over the counter eye drops in it daily. She didn't like that part at all,. In about 2 weeks, she was fully recovered. I'm not sure if the eye drops helped, but they made me feel better. If she shows signs of infection you will probably need some antibiotic eye drops, otherwise it will probably heal on it's own.,

Good luck.

 

[Crayonsmom]

Thank you so much for the reply. That makes me feel better. I did find some water soluble antibiotics for animal use that we had in the cupboard. Does anybody know if Duramycin-10 is ok to give ducks? (and are her eggs safe to eat if she is consuming antibiotics/if not, how long after can they be eaten?) There is no sign of infection yet and she seems to be eating and drinking fine. She has just been more mellow and quieter since yesterday. That seems kind of understandable to me.

ETA: I just checked what the eye drops I have are and they are Tobramycin Dexamethasone. If anyone knows if I can put those in her eye I would love to know!

 

[Crayonsmom]

So, I was a little unsure about using the eye drops I have because I found out they are a steroid, but Penelope was extra well behaved for me to put them in her eye. Her eye looked pretty creepy... cloudy and with some stringy thing that I'm certain isn't normal... and the eye seemed to be below even the lowest point of the eyelid. I don't know if that's some sort of way for an injured eye to stay protected or what. Anyway, barely an hour later, Penelope has her "large cat" appetite back, she is making more noise and starting to look for scraps around the floor, and her eye is open fairly often. It isn't open all the way but I think she can see out of it. She seems so much happier and I'm not sure if it was the drops or just a coincidence, but I'm glad things are looking better so far!