Injury question

[katharinad]

Here is one for the experts. I have a 6 week old duck with a wing tip injury. It panicked for some reason and jumped out of the kiddie pool landing on its wing. The wing tip is now bend outwards and hanging down, which looks like angel wing. There is nothing broken and it actually can put it back into position by itself, only it will slip down and bend back outwards after a while. It had it wrapped yesterday all day, but decided to let it sleep without being wrapped up. I figured that way it can stretch the wings and get some circulation going. This morning it actually looked better and I wrapped it back up for the day while it is active. So now my question. Is it a good idea to wrap it for half a day or should I have it wrapped night an day for the next 3 days. What do you guys think?

 

[Amiga]

Although I am not an expert, I would like to offer a thought. As well as support, I think the injury needs good circulation. So what you are doing sounds right - wrapped for a while, off for a while.

 

[katharinad]

Thanks, that was my kind of thinking. So it is more like a sling for the day to prevent further damage and to keep it still. At night he is resting in the duck house and cannot run much around. I kind of feel sorry for the duck since it is hot and no swimming is allowed with the bandage. I also keep one of the siblings (random picking in the morning) with him so he is not lonely in the daytime. They are both kind of cranky, so I think I will keep a girl with him tomorrow. He will be ok in a few days I think. Comes worse it will always be a drooping wing tip. They are non-flying ducks so it is more a cosmetic issue.

 

[sianara]

I am not a vet but several years back when I first got my ducks one of them did the exact same thing but actually broke the wing pretty bad. I rarely take my animals to the vet but I had asked a nurse friend who also had animals to take a look at her. We could tell she was in pain because she would let my daughter hold her and her wing was hot. Apparently, heat in animal injuries means pain... So at his advice, I took her to the vet and she wrapped it nice and tight. A week later brought her back to the vet to be checked. It was healing but needed another week or two (don't remember how many weeks but it was more than one) of being wrapped up. Thankfully it healed. My vet at the time initially thought the wing might have to be removed if the wrapping didn't work. That duck is now 7 years old. You can tell which wing was broke because when she spreads them out the injured one doesn't rise up as high as the uninjured one even though I don't think anyone else would notice

. Good luck with your duck.