Intestinal blockage & what is this hanging out of my drake's butt?

[Fawkes]

Arya, my muscovy drake, had what I think was intestinal blockage around midnight last Saturday (I think there were actually subtle signs of intestinal blockage for at least a day or two before that though but I didn't realize until later). On Saturday he was pushing his butt down, his stomach(?) was making loud gurgling noises, he had excessive thirst and loud explosive sounding poops but only a lot of water and a teeny bit of fecal matter was coming out of him. The poop also had a weird, kind of infection like smell to it. When he pooped he was in pain and sometimes mouth breathed for a minute and a thing that looked kinda like greyish colored spaghetti would come out when he pooped and then go back in after a few minutes or so.

I took away his food, put sav-a-chick electrolyte/vitamins in his water, fed him coconut oil and gave him warm baths. This really helped and he returned pretty much to normal. I started giving him some duck pellets but being careful he doesn't eat too much because I'm not sure if he still has some blockage (I feed him frequently but don't let him eat a lot at a time). His poops are still loud and they're big splatters, but they mostly consist of duck pellets (instead of mostly water) and are the right color. I've seen ducks have poops like this when they haven't eaten enough so maybe that's the reason why. But sometimes his tail slightly bobs after he poops and sometimes the spaghetti thing comes out.

What is it? Part of his intestines? A worm? Could he be blocked up with worms? I've googled a ton but haven't found much info on intestinal blockage and haven't seen anyone describe the spaghetti thing he has.

Is there anything else I can do? He's refusing to eat coconut oil now so I guess I'll put it in his water and see if that helps. I think I've read about epsom salt being used to flush the system out? I've not sure how much to put though so I'm hesitant....don't want to poison him with salt. Especially since he seems pretty much back to normal except for the spaghetti thing.

 

[sourland]

I believe what you are seeing is his penis.

 

[Fawkes]

I thought of that, but I see my drake's penises a lot and this doesn't look like it. It doesn't look like a corkscrew and it's really skinny and not the right color.

 

[Amiga]

Might you take a photo and upload it? This sounds different.

 

[Amykins]

I think he needs to go a vet, hun. Like, real real bad. :/

 

[Fawkes]

Ok I'll get a picture of it next time it comes out.

Yeah I would've brought him to the vet when it first happened but it was the middle of the morning, and then the things that I did worked (and I figured the vet would've just advised me to do the oil, warm baths etc anyways)...except that this spaghetti thing still sometimes comes out when he poops. I thought maybe I was missing something obvious, like it was just a worm and he just needed to be wormed. Hopefully whatever it is isn't harmful. He acting normal so that's somewhat reassuring...

 

[Amykins]

He needs to see the vet. Period. If he's got a parasite, it's not gonna go away by itself.

 

[Fawkes]

I didn't say it was going to go away on its own, I was just looking for some advice. I thought other people might have experienced the same thing and know exactly what the problem was. And if it is worms I know that people get wormers from the feed store, unless it's a type that can only be prescribed by a vet.

 

[WVduckchick]

How long is this thing? And can you tell if it looks "alive"... I mean like really a worm or something, or could it have eaten something like a shoestring or piece of cordage? Or even a root that he maybe couldn't totally break down intestinally? And just having trouble passing it totally, or maybe its hooked on something inside still. ??? Just tossing out thoughts.

 

[Fawkes]

I've been afraid of jinxing it so hadn't wanted to say anything, but Arya is totally fine now *knock on wood*! I haven't seen the spaghetti thing for 3 days and he's back to being extremely aggressive with me (I hand raised him and when he became sexually mature he got aggressive)

It's funny, I never thought I'd be so relieved to be attacked! lol.

I still don't know what the thing hanging out of him was. I'm extremely careful about keeping things duck proofed but I suppose it's possible he got hold of something he shouldn't like a string, or maybe ate a root. It was about 2 or 3 inches long. I think it looked similar to these roundworms https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...found-in-the-manure-box-update-yes-roundworms but it's really hard to tell. I don't think it could have been the cause of his problem though, because surely one worm (I didn't find anymore in poop) couldn't have caused a blockage (and he definitely had all the symptoms of intestinal blockage), and even if it did, he was eating and pooping fine for days before the thing disappeared for good

I don't know, it's all very weird..

I guess it'd be a good idea to worm him just in case?? Can anyone recommend a brand - I don't know much about duck wormers.