How to help my stubborn drake heal

[arrowti]

He's been in a pen during the day. My sister let him out while I was at work because the ducks waddled off (it was raining) and he was stressing. I came home and found him lying down alone on a mound of hay (he always sits on soft stuff) with the ducks in the woods. I gave him food and he stuffed himself (thankfully!!) and he drank. The ducks came back and he joined them at the pool.

There's a little more strength in his leg today. It's not shaking so much, and he isn't having such a hard time with tall weeds. I did rip some out yesterday though. He's currently enjoying pool time.

Tonight I'll apply more of the mineral oil lotion on his leg before they go in so he can rest easily.

 

[Miss Lydia]

About all you can do is keep him comfy and make it a bit easier to walk I know you can get meloxacam from the vet for pain and imflamation .

 

[arrowti]

I'll see if I can call around and find a vet willing to prescribe it. There isn't really anyone around who would see a duck but I've heard from a few people that they've managed to get a prescription written just by calling specific offices in the area.

In other news, he keeps getting discharge from his eyes. It's clear and his eyes aren't inflamed but I think it's from him not drinking frequently. Should I add ACV to the water? I have saline drops for both dry eye and from my mom when she used to wear contacts.

He clawed the heck out of my arm when I picked him up earlier to check the heat in his leg (not bad today) with both of his feet, so he at least has that going for him!

 

[Miss Lydia]

You can put 1 tab of ACV to a gal of. Water but he needs to dunk his head does he usually dunk his head or put him in the pool and hopefully he’ll wash his eyes out

 

[arrowti]

When he drinks he is dunking. He's just not drinking frequently.

 

[arrowti]

I got the cream today. I wanted to see if it would work so I applied some just (he'll be going in the coop in about 30 minutes anyway). Catching him is always fun. He can't run so he just flops forward and hurtles forward using his wings. I probably do more harm trying to help him than letting him be...

He's started to molt. He always molts late August into early September and he acts strange before and during each one. I'm surprised I didn't realize it before. He eats less when he molts which I find strange but I'm not quite as paranoid that he's starving. He also gets 'dumber' so to speak and doesn't mate with the females when he molts. And by dumber I mean he forgets how to enter the coop and runs around it three times before I can get him in... I gave him a scoop of food alone and he swallowed a whole mouthful without water before scooping up some more to bring with him.

Anyway. I applied the cream directly to his knee and rubbed it into his leg and he stood right up and began to limp away and tripped over some weeds. He stood back up and kept going.

I'm glad to see it works!

His bill looked dry and his eye was wet but he immediately went and dunked his head after.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Great up date . He sounds like a pretty cool dude. I hope the cream helps get the inflammation under control.

 

[arrowti]

More improvements today. He was limping alright this morning and even got up to drink a second time before I went to work. He's dropping feathers absolutely everywhere. I had to carry him to the pool because he couldn't push through the massive overgrowth there. Time for a good mowing...

The pool is full of feathers. His eye still looked leaky even after his washing. It's still not inflamed. I'm not sure if it's a trick of the feathers or not now, because I'd expect any liquid to have been washed away. It's not foaming or red. No color to it at all.

I think I'll apply cream to both his legs. I'm sure he gets tired of putting all his weight on just one leg. Yesterday he actually ate and drank in the coop before going to lie down. One of the ducks decided to use him as a stepping stool earlier, standing on him while he lay beside the water bucket to drink. He didn't seem to mind. I thought it was rude.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Can you put the pool into an area it’s easier to get to for him?Make it easy for him.

 

[arrowti]

Our long hose got destroyed by the lawnmower earlier this summer (oops!) so it's in a place where it can easily be filled by our outdoor hydrant (we put them in years ago when we raised pigs, now it just fills the duck pool). Unfortunately that place just happens to be in the midst of a weed forest.

Hopefully tomorrow it'll be all cleared up.