Help! Drooling duck who was attacked unable to swallow

[Gooseypoo]

I didn't feel any obvious swelling, no, but that must be what's going on, right? She's also scratching her head (the wounds probably hurt/itch).

 

[Miss Lydia]

Itching is typical when healing is going on. Something must be going on there somewhere for her not to be able to swallow. It would be nice if when she tries to drink if you could manage to feel along her neck when she is trying to swallow although she may not cooperate for that? Any chance of a vet? We understand if not. But she has to be able to eat and drink if she’s going to live.

 

[Gooseypoo]

No chance of a vet, I'm afraid. I don't know if she'll drink while my hands are on her neck but I'll give it a try.

I just looked up the tube feeding instruction on this site and I'm going to see if I can get a hold of a syringe and tube to feed her.

 

[casportpony]

To tube you need a urinary catheter, or a piece of aquarium air line, and a 30 or 60 ml syringe. If you have a small animal vet, call them and see if they will sell you a size 18 French red rubber catheter (these are commonly used by veterinarians for various things). Another place to look is a medical supply store, or maybe a pharmacy. If none of those work, go to any place that sells aquarium supplies (Walmart, petco, petsmart, etc) and get some aquarium air line, then go to Tractor Supply and get a 30-60 ml syringe.

if you want to tube food, but Kaytee Exact baby bird food petsmart or petco.

If you end up with aquarium air line you will need to melt the end a little with a lighter because the unmelted edges might be too sharp for her mouth, esophagus , and crop.

If you can get this stuff let me know and I will provide more info, including videos and amounts to tube.

While you are out shopping for supplies, see if you can find a food scale or a bathroom scale.

 

[Gooseypoo]

So I was able to get a 60mm syringe and flexible tube from our local feed store this afternoon and we put about 40mm of homemade electrolyte mixture into her. It went off without a hitch (I used a lighter and scissors to smooth out the end and lubricated it with coconut oil. The electrolyte mix had 2 t sugar, 1 t molasses, 1 t sea salt, 1 t baking soda, 1 t potassium chloride, half a dropper of colloidal silver and 8 drops of trace minerals to a gallon of water). She was nervous and squirmy at first but once her crop was full and we pulled the tube out she relaxed and settled down, seeming to feel better.

When I let her go she immediately pooped water on the floor:
View attachment 1661344

Now, I'm assuming that it was too quick for her to have pooped out any of the liquid we had just pumped into her, so that must have been water she had ingested earlier, right? (plus, the liquid we gave her was tinged brown from the molasses and this stuff was clear) Which means that she has, at least, been able to ingest water. So in an hour and a half, instead of giving her more liquid, we're going to get some food into her. The other ducks will be coming in for the night around that time, so we'll feed her and let her bathe with them in the tub before bed, and then see how she's doing in the morning.

I know weighing is important, but I don't have any way to do that at the moment. So I erred on the side of caution with her liquids and assumed she was on the small side for a Khaki Campbel and calculated her liquid for a 3 pound rather than a 5 pound duck (she is definitely smaller than our Welsh Harlequin drake). I will do the same with her food. So we will plan on getting about 45 cc of mash into her crop this evening.

 

[Miss Lydia]

@casportpony That’s awesome you have gotten it done so well. Look forward in hearing how well she does with her food!!

 

[Gooseypoo]

I forgot to mention: I looked up posts here on BYC from you @casportpony so I would know what to do! We used the method the vet did in the video who kneeled on the floor with another person holding the syringe. I made sure the tube was nice and smooth on the end so as not to hurt her esophagus. Aside from the initial squirming, it was pretty simple.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Your awesome!!

 

[Gooseypoo]

So we gave her some food tonight with the tube. I soaked her pellets in warm water with some brewer's yeast (I had to run it through the blender so it could be sucked up the tube). She squirmed more this time and the tube came out once because the cat decided to make an appearance but we slid it back down and pushed about 40mm of food into her (we didn't want to do too much the first time, just in case).

Again, she calmed right down once the tube came out and seemed to feel better with a full crop. She walked around a bit and then just kind of stood around sleepily (oh, she also pooped again just before we fed her, a lot of water with a bright green chunk in it). After a few minutes the other two ducks were brought in for the night and we put everyone in the tub. She definitely looked better, but wasn't as into bathing. I think the full belly made her sleepy! Tomorrow we will time the feedings to when she is resting in her kennel instead.

Hopefully she will be able to eat on her own soon so she can go back outside with the others!

 

[Jpat]

i wish someone would come over and stuff me full of kraft dinner. Take out the cooking nonsense


Stuff ya then off to bed