Mangled Duck Foot

[Laura szarkowicz]

so we found our duck yesterday morning all bloody by the pond. He let us just walk right up to him and pick him up. His foot looks like it has been attacked by a snapping turtle. So far we have soaked his foot in epsom salt, removed the dirty debris, ran some hydrogen peroxide over it and lightly covered it with a small amount of neosporin and wrapped with gauze. Does anyone have any other suggestions on what we should or can do? Vet really isn't an option. He is still drinking, eating and cleaning. And we have him separated from the others and put him in a "hospital pin".

 

[GitaBooks]

Sounds like you did everything there is to do, and now it's time to be patient. Plenty of good quality food, rest, and a clean environment (best if he keeps dry for now). I'm not sure if the torn toe will heal back to the webbing, but as long as all the wounds heal over he should be fine.

 

[Laura szarkowicz]

Thank you! Can/do you recommend antibiotics? Anything we can get from a pet store or tractor supply? I'm thinking the next time he gets his bandages changed to maybe lay everything where it should be.. like the webbing next to the toes? One of the toes is broken and crooked and he won't let us try to straighten/splint it so I'd rather just let that part be.

 

[GitaBooks]

Splints with poultry can be hard as they are so wiggly! I would try one of those special sprays like "blu-kote" on it but oral antibiotics wouldn't be necessary unless it began to get swollen, hot, ect.
Broken toes tend to heal well on their own, I'm not sure if the webbing will or not, but setting it near to each other could help. You might even try sewing/stitching it?

 

[drumstick diva]

Do you have a pond of your own for him, or maybe a kiddie pool? If he goes back where snapping turtles are, he will lose more toes. Please also post on the "duck thread," for their advice - regarding keeping him safe from mean turtles.

 

[Laura szarkowicz]

Yes we do have a pond in the backyard where the other three ducks currently are with the geese. We can't trap turtles here until July.

 

[Laura szarkowicz]

Day three! Yesterday after his epsom salt soak we applied blu-kote for the first time and it was starting to look swollen so we started him on a small amount of antibiotics we had left over. He only stands on it when the other ducks come in the garage to see him and any other time he kind of gimps. I'm a little worked of he'll be able to walk or if it's even healing right.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

I would post this in our Ducks section... https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/ducks.42/

Lots of knowledgeable folks there that know a ton of stuff about Ducks. Good luck with your baby, I hope he makes a full recovery!

 

[GitaBooks]

It does look a little swollen, so the antibiotics are a good idea. Just make sure you give the correct dose for the correct amount of days or the infection could just get worse. make sure it has a chance to breath, sometimes bandaging wounds like that can just make them get worse.
Give it time. Sometimes they reach a low point before they begin to heal. I had a chick that got attacked and it had a bad wound. It would kind of just sit there and sway for a while, but now it is about a month old and running around with it's siblings and mother, completely healed.