Last call for Penny the Pekin with mystery skin ailment

[CoriM]

My duck Penny has been dealing with this strange skin disease for over a month now. I've posted a few times, and I appreciate everyone's responses and suggestions. So far nothing (including vetricyn, 2 types of antibiotics, anti-fungal) has made a difference and it seems to be getting worse. She's lost feathers on a large patch of her skin. The photo doesn't reveal the extent of the raw skin - it's about 4 times this large, under the feathers, and on both sides. She continues to have a robust appetite and behave pretty much normally, although I see her twitching her wings sometimes as though she's uncomfortable. Today after they swam I looked again at my other pekin Puddles, who is our family favorite, and she definitely has the same thing going under her feathers, though not near as bad. I feel like she's about to start down the path Penny's on. We're pretty sad about this. I think I may try to take her to the vet for a skin scraping, depending on the cost. I also think I'm going to put Penny down tomorrow, on the chance that she's spreading it to the other ducks, and especially since she now has such large patches of exposed skin. I feel terrible about this, and I also feel terrible that my other duck might be getting sick. These two ducks MAY be jumbo pekins, and I'm wondering if anyone with a jumbo may have experienced this? My third pekin is quite a bit smaller and I see no signs of this on her skin. I'm including a photo, if anyone has seen or experienced this before, I would love to hear from you.

 

[Mandrogora]

I have had some isssues with my pekin losing feathers in the same area. Her skin was red and irritated but not raw. I treated the coop and all the birds for mites after seeing what I thought were red mites in the coop this summer. Her skin looked better within days of treatment and her feathers started filling in not too long after.

 

[BarredRockMom]

If you decide to give her the last call, well, that'll be too bad & a sad day for all. It's not an easy decision to come to & I know that you don't take it lightly.

I'd maybe try to get a skin scrape & culture done if that's a feasible option. You're not going to be sure about treatment (& more importantly for future birds, prevention) if you don't.

Did the Colloidal Silver ointment/cream not do anything? That's a pretty broad spectrum anti-viral. Have you tried Colloidal Silver liquid & giving it mixed in smaller amount of food (to guarantee it's ingested)? You can put the liquid right on the skin, too.

"Nature's Path" brand, 'Silver Wings Colloidal Silver 500ppm" (parts per million) is my recommendation. Available on-line directly from company (because no, all "colloidal silver" products are not the same. This is what the cheaper 'advertised as' Colloidal Silver junk WISHES it was...but isn't.)

 

[KaleIAm]

I've left a message with the vet, so hopefully will get more info today about the cost of skin scraping, etc. She looks better this morning, although I saw one little spot of blood. It seems so up and down, one day she's bleeding and I'm thinking it's awful, then the next day it seems dried up and I have hope. If it was something like mites and I could easily treat it, I would be ecstatic. I just haven't seen any signs. My husband and I looked this morning with flashlight and magnifying glass and didn't see anything. It's hard to see under the feathers of course.

My vet saw the mites immediately. It seems like yours would have, too. Though, what would be the harm of treating her for mites if euthanasia is the other option?

It seems possible, though unlikely, that Penny has an allergy to mite saliva. I'm totally making this up- I don't know if this happens with birds. I do know it happens in cats with fleas. If it were true she would have a much bigger reaction to mite bites.

 

[CoriM]

@KaleIAm The doctor set up the prescription with two refills, in case we need to go an extra couple of weeks with Penny, but also in case I need it it for Puddles, which was great. The other amazing thing is that he took a lot of time trying to figure out how to make the medication affordable. To get it out of their clinic it was going to be over $200 for a 30 day supply. He called it into QFC, where they have a special rate for animal prescriptions, and it was only $43 for the same amount. Who knew that the regular grocery store could give meds to animals?!

 

[CoriM]

No, I didn't treat for parasites because the signs just didn't seem to fit, and I was unsure what to try. I may try the vet again, and get a skin scraping and ask about worms or parasites. I just spent half an hour observing her and she's breathing kind of heavy - not out of her mouth, but with her whole body contracting and expanding, if that makes sense. I saw her body from a distance yesterday going up and down while she was sleeping. Now I'm not sure if this is normal or not. Arghh, thanks for trying to help everyone. I will call the vet tomorrow and hopefully be able to have a conversation.

 

[CoriM]

Thanks for those ideas duck loving friends! I will let you know when I hear back from the vet. I read that there are two main types of mites that affect ducks - the chicken mite, which is red, and the northern fowl mite, which is black. Does anyone know whether the treatment would be the same, or would it be different depending on what type it would be. I read that the NFM shows evidence near the vent, and did not find that this morning when I looked. Looked through their bedding and didn't see anything either. Interestingly, she came out this morning with egg yolk all over her belly and I felt in the nesting box and the ground was all sticky there, with a small piece of soft shell egg just outside the box. There was also a complete soft shell egg laid yesterday afternoon in the run.The other ducks laid their eggs outside the box this morning.

 

[CoriM]

Thank you all for your support. I haven't heard from the vet I called this morning, but I just made an appointment with a different one - an avian expert, and will get a skin scrape. Unfortunately I can't get her in until the 20th, but I'm on a waitlist for cancellations. I will order the permethrin and give that a try too.

 

[ShannonR]

Pigeon people often provide a bath with borax to get rid of lice and mites that may be on the birds. I also found a page suggesting to use borax to remove mange mites from dogs. I would try giving her a nice warm bath with some borax mixed in, it shouldn't hurt her and may kill the mites.

That's a good idea! Haven't heard of the borax treatment before, but it is used to get rid of household insects so it stands to reason. In my mind anyway.

 

[CoriM]

Hi BYC friends! I want to give you an update after my vet appointment for Penny. First, I was so encouraged by my experience at this vet. The doctor spent over an hour with us, and seemed much more knowledgable than my first vet. He said she has a really bad bacterial infection. He does not suspect parasites at all. He looked at some samples under the microscope and we sent away a culture so we'll know for sure just what type of bacteria and what type of antibiotic will be best. We've started her on a 30 day antibiotic as we don't want to wait a week for the culture to come back, since things were getting worse. I will use bleach to disinfect her pools and water/food dishes. It's just kind of a wait and see I guess to see if she can conquer it, but I left feeling encouraged. Thank you all for your kind thoughts, prayers, ideas, and checking in!! The support meant so much, and I will let you know how things develop in the coming weeks!