My duck is puking and acting drunk. PLEASE HELP!

[jessnd12414]

Hi everyone, I have a 9 week old Indian runner that is acting very sick. she is throwing up has diarrhea and is acting like she is drunk.

Im not very experienced, these are my first 3 ducks. iv had them for 6 weeks and they have all been perfectly healthy until not.

The other two ducks are fine.

When I let her and her 2 siblings (also indian runners from the same hatch) out this morning, around 9am she was fine Quacking like normal and being her happy little duck self.

(About a week back she lost her voice, I let it go for a couple day and it came back little by little, im not sure if that has anything to do with it.)

when I came home from the store( about 5pm) and went to check on them she was in the shallow part of the pond moving very slow with her head down kind of sideways in the water. I took her out of the water and brought her up to the house to separate her from the other two. she is throwing up and drooling a lot, I cant get her to drink or eat anything and she just sits there with her eyes closed moving her head around like she cant control herself she is breathing fine and is keeping warm.

im not sure what to do or what is wrong im hoping someone here can help!

 

[Amiga]

Sounds like she got into something toxic - perhaps ate something dead, which would be botulism

If she is not eating, it will be tough to give her anything to help.

On the other hand, if she's vomiting, she's getting it out.

@casportpony @Amykins I think may know some techniques for dealing with this.

My thoughts are - if she is throwing up, trying to get anything down her throat is apt to make her choke - not good.

But if you can, I would get some food grade activated charcoal - make a slurry (recipe below) and see if you can encourage her to drink some - charcoal absorbs toxins.

As always, a good duck vet is best - but it's weekend…..

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/700526/flushes-for-aiding-in-toxin-removal#post_9508213

Please look around the area before you let them out again - find what it could have been.

Are there any amphibians (frogs, salamanders) in your area that are toxic?

 

[jessnd12414]

Thank you for your advice! I gave her apple cider vinager water and lots of love and when I went to check up on her this morning she was fine! Like nothing ever happened. I put her back in her coop because she would not stop quacking lol she was very happy to be back with her friends and they were very happy to see her too!

 

[Amiga]

Yay! Sounds like she got rid of the nasty stuff.

Please do look around - I don't think you want a repeat. And if it's something you can identify and remove from their space, that's the thing to do.