help needed with duck...

[Chickenkate17]

Background: Jemima, a Cayuga duck, started acting differently a couple weeks ago. She was walking really funny and I was concerned she was egg bound, took her to the vet, vet said she's not egg bound. Then she starts molting--everything seemed fine. As her feathers grew in the chickens starting pecking at her, so I separated her in a cage inside the run. On Thursday, she was shivering and there was a chill in the air, so I brought her into the basement to be under a heat light. She is not eating, she drinks very little when I offer it to her. Friday and Saturday, she would just be standing there when I went to check on her--would drink a little water if I offered it. This morning I went down to check on her and now she's just laying down like she doesn't have the strength to stand up--she did drink a tiny bit of water when I offered it, but she seems to be getting worse.

I read a ton about molting and weight loss etc...but she seems to be getting worse. Not really any feather growth appears to be going on. I don't want to just keep her alive if she's slowly dying of starvation...is there anyway this is "typical" molting?? My gut tells me no...any suggestions/opinions?

 

[Alaskan]

Background: Jemima, a Cayuga duck, started acting differently a couple weeks ago. She was walking really funny and I was concerned she was egg bound, took her to the vet, vet said she's not egg bound. Then she starts molting--everything seemed fine. As her feathers grew in the chickens starting pecking at her, so I separated her in a cage inside the run. On Thursday, she was shivering and there was a chill in the air, so I brought her into the basement to be under a heat light. She is not eating, she drinks very little when I offer it to her. Friday and Saturday, she would just be standing there when I went to check on her--would drink a little water if I offered it. This morning I went down to check on her and now she's just laying down like she doesn't have the strength to stand up--she did drink a tiny bit of water when I offered it, but she seems to be getting worse.

I read a ton about molting and weight loss etc...but she seems to be getting worse. Not really any feather growth appears to be going on. I don't want to just keep her alive if she's slowly dying of starvation...is there anyway this is "typical" molting?? My gut tells me no...any suggestions/opinions?

You are completely correct, that is NOT molting.

I am not sure what to tell you. Just like humans can get sick for lots of different reasons, there are a great number of different illnesses that ducks can get.

The only thing that I you might be able to try, is a little bit of a 'pep you up' drink. Think something like pedialite, or sugar water, or a tiny bit of peanut butter (mixed with a little water to make it not quite so sticky).

Stuff like this is super traumatic, sorry you are going through this.

 

[Amiga]

Looks like my response to you got lost, perhaps.

This sounds to me like it could be metal toxicity. There is a sticky about this on the Duck Forum, and I would get a vet's help if at all possible.

In any case, making sure the duck gets good nutrition - a good balanced ration, poultry vitamins twice a week - is what I would do. I would also make a food grade activated charcoal slurry and give that at night - see if that brings any improvement.

Lots of fresh water, and keep the duck where it's relatively warm so there is no cold stress adding to the trouble.