Injured leg

[SandySwear]

Good afternoon,

Our 9 week old Mallard has somehow injured his leg. Two days ago (this past Tuesday) he came out of his pen limping terribly, at first barely able to put pressure on his left leg at all, walking a couple steps then laying down. There were no problems at all prior to this, running and swimming strong, etc. (Which leads me to believe it’s an injury, rather than some other issue). There is nothing out of the ordinary upon inspection. I don’t see any swelling, or anything unusual, and nothing on the bottom of his foot. Yesterday and today he is walking on it, but still limping and favoring that leg. Everything else is great (eating, drinking, swimming, flying, and personality is intact). I will try to attach a couple of photos to show how he was holding it while standing and laying down. I’m trying to limit his walking to give it some rest, and have been letting him swim often as I read that helps. Anything else I should be doing or looking out for? If it is a strain or sprain, any idea how long before he’s back to himself? Thank you!!

 

[Ratchnick]

Sounds like you have a handle on it. Could be a month or two before its healed. Make sure he is not getting trampled by the other ducks.

 

[Isaac 0]

Sorry to hear about your duck.

Leg problems are nothing unusual with Ducks, most owners will have to deal with it at some point with one of their birds. If you have examined the leg and didn't see anything unusual, I think it would be safe to say it was a sprain of some sort. Treatment for that would include, keeping the duck in a soft padded area, where it can't reinjure the leg, most ducks also benefit from having access to deep water as to relive the weight off their legs, in addition to that, administering b vitamin may prove useful, as well as occasionally soaking the leg in warm Epsom salt water.

Recovery time will vary with the severity of the injury, the bird itself, and what is done as far as treatment. You have a fairly lightweight breed, I might say one week and a half, could be more, could be less. Sometimes they amaze us.

Something to note is he is going to put more weight on the other foot for a few weeks, therefore he will be especially prone to Bumblefoot. So that is something to consider moving forward.

 

[SandySwear]

Thank you so much for the replies!