My (literal) nightmares finally happened last night - I woke up this morning to a bloodbath in the duck pen.
Only two escaped unharmed; three were injured, two were killed inside, one I found in the creek, and my baby Billie is just missing. God, I hope she just flew off somewhere but deep down I know that's extremely unlikely.
I packed up Tony, Blanche, and Rose and called my vet's office, who informed me that not only were they only open for routine stuff, but the vet I always see that has experience with ducks is out of town. So I took them to the local vet. He checked their mouths, wings, and eyes (apparently if they're still pink around the eyes they haven't lost too much blood), but didn't clean them off or check the wounds really at all. When I asked, he said it looked like they weren't bleeding any more since their feathers were all matted and that their flesh is tender and he didn't want to tug and risk making it worse. I asked if I could put them in a bath and let them clean as much as they want and he said yes, but that I shouldn't try to do it myself. I put them in the tub when we got home and Rose and Tony kind of tried to swim but you could tell it hurt and they never did get their heads and necks under water. I tried to gently pour water on them but they didn't care for it and I didn't want to stress them out any more.
Now granted I don't read a lot of the injured duck threads on here because it breaks my heart so much, but the ones I have read seem to contradict his advice - I should clean them up and spray veterycin on them. He did give me oxytetracycline for them.
Honestly, not knowing how much, if any, experience he has with ducks, I trust the experts on here more - what do you think?
P. S. If anybody needs to see pics, I'll post them, but otherwise I'm not subjecting people to that... I hate seeing ducks hurt.
Only two escaped unharmed; three were injured, two were killed inside, one I found in the creek, and my baby Billie is just missing. God, I hope she just flew off somewhere but deep down I know that's extremely unlikely. I packed up Tony, Blanche, and Rose and called my vet's office, who informed me that not only were they only open for routine stuff, but the vet I always see that has experience with ducks is out of town. So I took them to the local vet. He checked their mouths, wings, and eyes (apparently if they're still pink around the eyes they haven't lost too much blood), but didn't clean them off or check the wounds really at all. When I asked, he said it looked like they weren't bleeding any more since their feathers were all matted and that their flesh is tender and he didn't want to tug and risk making it worse. I asked if I could put them in a bath and let them clean as much as they want and he said yes, but that I shouldn't try to do it myself. I put them in the tub when we got home and Rose and Tony kind of tried to swim but you could tell it hurt and they never did get their heads and necks under water. I tried to gently pour water on them but they didn't care for it and I didn't want to stress them out any more.
Now granted I don't read a lot of the injured duck threads on here because it breaks my heart so much, but the ones I have read seem to contradict his advice - I should clean them up and spray veterycin on them. He did give me oxytetracycline for them.
Honestly, not knowing how much, if any, experience he has with ducks, I trust the experts on here more - what do you think?
P. S. If anybody needs to see pics, I'll post them, but otherwise I'm not subjecting people to that... I hate seeing ducks hurt.
