DuckyDoodles
No Idea What The Duck I’m Doing ;)
This is not an emergency post, so please help others with their posts if they’re having emergencies.
This is just (an admittedly stupid long) post to see what others think it might’ve been that caused the death of one of my Pekins. Obviously we can’t do anducky autopsy via internet description but I know the people here on BYC are knowledgeable and experienced and would like to pick their brain.
That said... I battled an-as-yet-to-be-determined/identified-death-battle with one of my Pekins. It lasted from onset of 1/15 through date of death on 2/6.
Lucy was one of 2 Pekin ducks that I acquired on 12/18. She never laid an egg from date of acceptance to her death; I just chalked it up to her unknown age/stress of changes/winter off-season.
She had, what my novice knowledge inferred, wet feather. She would never be fully dry on her bottom half if I gave them a small pool to play in. So, within the first 1.5 weeks of having her, I started the whole gentle bath with good gentle hairdryer treatment of sorts. Did that 2-3 times over the following week and it seemed to be helping.
1/15 rolls around and all was well with the three Pekin. Evening time rolls around, I look on them and Lucy was sortve plopped out/sprawled a bit. I immediately went to her and she didn’t budge when I lifted her wings, lifted her legs and she wasn’t raising her head. Her breathing appeared normal. I immediately brought her in and ran about an 1-2 inch deep room temp bath. I sat there and held her head to ensure it wouldn’t plop down and she drown. During the bath she started having a bit more life returning to her and she was starting to hold her head a little (I still held it for her though) and she would sip the water here and there. I was looking her over real well to make sure no wounds. There were none. Then I checked her rear and saw what I thought was the presence of prolapsed vent. I’d remembered the steps on what to do so I immediately separated her into a small cage with soft towels and electrolyte water. No food. I cleaned it with witch hazel, vetericyn spray and applied preparation H and honey on the first night.
Noticing the puckerage was still there the next morning, I switched to sugar instead. I kept food from her for about 48 hours and introduced milder foods, some kale, etc. still pumped electrolytes. Kept her covered from lights (just in case she decided THAT was the time to lay).
After about 5 days of in-home care, she was standing again, moving around and mostly herself again. The outside tissues were inside and she wasn’t acting lethargic or anything. She still had noticeable residual paralysis though. Wobbly, sudden stops would have her eating the dirt face and crop first, etc.
I started thinking “I don’t recall THIS being a symptom of just prolapse.” So I took to the googles and BYC. Learned about botulism and dangit if the symptoms weren’t spot-on-the-nose for botulism.
About this time, I’m seeing that she’s doing much, much better. Likely 90+ percent back to normal maybe? But I noticed her hind end would never perk back up like the other two Pekins. Hers just sortve always sloped down and was perpetually messy. I’d look back there and it just looked dirty to me, no sign of anything amiss. But that drooping butt plagued me for a week.
I decided I was done with this dirty butt thing and I was going to give her another bath. I put her in the bath and she didn’t do anything duck-like. No splashing, no drinking, no preening, nothing. I kinda swooshed water over her back towards the rear as best as she’d let me. I found it odd so I figured maybe she’s uncomfortable with all of this, I’ll go ahead and get her out. But because of her history with the presumed wet feather, and the fact that it has been record breaking sub zero temps, I wanted to make sure every ounce of wetness was gone. Was getting her on counter, hubs holding her, and I didn’t even get to turn on the blower when a volcanic eruption happened from her butt. We’re talking she might’ve shat as much liquid poo as an adult male human at that point. And the smell was downright horrific. I immediately put her bath in the tub water while I figured out how I was going to get this mess off of my feet, his legs, his feet, the counter, the floor, the tub basin and the wall (told you it erupted!) she started splashing and playing and feeling fantastic, apparently, after that massive horrific bowel movement. I do manage to get her out and dried off and blow dried at some point (likely many many cigarettes later, for my sanity) and put her out with the others. I sat and thought. I obsessed and read a billion posts on the poopthread here by casportpony. I couldn’t figure it out. She’d survived that prolapse... that might’ve actually been botulism... and then she has this funky droopy tail thing but she’s 100% turned around and paralysis is gone. And now this!? I began putting probiotics in their water. Eased up on veggies in case they were causing the diarrhea.
It’s all too close to be coincidental to me. So on Sunday, I pick her back up and get my tools of healing and look back there and find it all sorts of red, swollen, borderline potentially getting another prolapse, and it just looked sad. Like I looked at it and it just made me sad. So I cleaned it with witch hazel, vetericyn spray and put bluekote on it. Made sure she was dry, and put her back outside with the others.
The next morning, near noon, I’m checking on her and she’s got clear identifiable labored breathing and is just plopping her head on the ground. She DID move around when I approached and still had enough fight in her when I picked her up. But... something told me this was the end. The breathing was not good. Period.
I also knew that I had exhausted everything I knew to do. I’d given the hole prolapsed vent treatment, I’d given the botulism care, I was keeping her from getting chilled, I was trying to make sure she wasn’t caked in loose poo or yuck. But I’d officially done all that I knew to do.
As it got closer to sunset, I went back out there and got her. I’d been off and on crying all day but I’m an emotional person and so I wanted her and I to have some time. I picked her up and she and I went outside to the unusually beautiful 50+ degree weather. She wasn’t happy about it, but I just held her. And I talked to her and I cried and I nuzzled my face into her soft little feathers on her neck. She volcanically erupted from the rear again. It filled my boot, both legs, my coat, the chair, the deck and my arms. I cried some more and pleaded that she’d make it but I told her I’d let her be with her mates now. I put her back with them. She was still alive around midnight, labored breathing, plopped over but I noticed that, for the first time, the other two were staying by her. She was always the smallest of the three, seemingly the younger of the three and was frequently reminded of her place in the pecking order. But this time, they were with her.
She passed away sometime between midnight and 5am. The other two girls were still right there beside her. It was freezing temps out so I’m certain she was a little more stiff than typical but she still had a few ounces of warmth. So she either passed just a couple hours prior, or the girls were keeping her warm.
We got her cremated and she sits next to my other pets who’ve been cremated (god those are pathetic stories themselves) and I still just don’t know what it was that killed her.
Was she egg bound? Was the botulism real? Why did she have a tiny prolapse at same time of botulism symptoms? Was the diarrhea just causing it? Why didn’t she have the diarrhea at onset? What was wrong that she never perked her tail back up?
These are but a few questions I still have. Obviously I can’t fix it now but I’m curious if anyone else had anything similar or maybe an idea?
And I’m sorry this was stupid long but I figured the 2-3 weeks of everything would help, if anyone were to have any idea. I have pics of different things if it’d help (none are gross beyond the initial ‘prolapse’) but I didn’t want to add any extra stuff to an already embarrassingly long post.
As always <3
This is just (an admittedly stupid long) post to see what others think it might’ve been that caused the death of one of my Pekins. Obviously we can’t do anducky autopsy via internet description but I know the people here on BYC are knowledgeable and experienced and would like to pick their brain.
That said... I battled an-as-yet-to-be-determined/identified-death-battle with one of my Pekins. It lasted from onset of 1/15 through date of death on 2/6.
Lucy was one of 2 Pekin ducks that I acquired on 12/18. She never laid an egg from date of acceptance to her death; I just chalked it up to her unknown age/stress of changes/winter off-season.
She had, what my novice knowledge inferred, wet feather. She would never be fully dry on her bottom half if I gave them a small pool to play in. So, within the first 1.5 weeks of having her, I started the whole gentle bath with good gentle hairdryer treatment of sorts. Did that 2-3 times over the following week and it seemed to be helping.
1/15 rolls around and all was well with the three Pekin. Evening time rolls around, I look on them and Lucy was sortve plopped out/sprawled a bit. I immediately went to her and she didn’t budge when I lifted her wings, lifted her legs and she wasn’t raising her head. Her breathing appeared normal. I immediately brought her in and ran about an 1-2 inch deep room temp bath. I sat there and held her head to ensure it wouldn’t plop down and she drown. During the bath she started having a bit more life returning to her and she was starting to hold her head a little (I still held it for her though) and she would sip the water here and there. I was looking her over real well to make sure no wounds. There were none. Then I checked her rear and saw what I thought was the presence of prolapsed vent. I’d remembered the steps on what to do so I immediately separated her into a small cage with soft towels and electrolyte water. No food. I cleaned it with witch hazel, vetericyn spray and applied preparation H and honey on the first night.
Noticing the puckerage was still there the next morning, I switched to sugar instead. I kept food from her for about 48 hours and introduced milder foods, some kale, etc. still pumped electrolytes. Kept her covered from lights (just in case she decided THAT was the time to lay).
After about 5 days of in-home care, she was standing again, moving around and mostly herself again. The outside tissues were inside and she wasn’t acting lethargic or anything. She still had noticeable residual paralysis though. Wobbly, sudden stops would have her eating the dirt face and crop first, etc.
I started thinking “I don’t recall THIS being a symptom of just prolapse.” So I took to the googles and BYC. Learned about botulism and dangit if the symptoms weren’t spot-on-the-nose for botulism.
About this time, I’m seeing that she’s doing much, much better. Likely 90+ percent back to normal maybe? But I noticed her hind end would never perk back up like the other two Pekins. Hers just sortve always sloped down and was perpetually messy. I’d look back there and it just looked dirty to me, no sign of anything amiss. But that drooping butt plagued me for a week.
I decided I was done with this dirty butt thing and I was going to give her another bath. I put her in the bath and she didn’t do anything duck-like. No splashing, no drinking, no preening, nothing. I kinda swooshed water over her back towards the rear as best as she’d let me. I found it odd so I figured maybe she’s uncomfortable with all of this, I’ll go ahead and get her out. But because of her history with the presumed wet feather, and the fact that it has been record breaking sub zero temps, I wanted to make sure every ounce of wetness was gone. Was getting her on counter, hubs holding her, and I didn’t even get to turn on the blower when a volcanic eruption happened from her butt. We’re talking she might’ve shat as much liquid poo as an adult male human at that point. And the smell was downright horrific. I immediately put her bath in the tub water while I figured out how I was going to get this mess off of my feet, his legs, his feet, the counter, the floor, the tub basin and the wall (told you it erupted!) she started splashing and playing and feeling fantastic, apparently, after that massive horrific bowel movement. I do manage to get her out and dried off and blow dried at some point (likely many many cigarettes later, for my sanity) and put her out with the others. I sat and thought. I obsessed and read a billion posts on the poopthread here by casportpony. I couldn’t figure it out. She’d survived that prolapse... that might’ve actually been botulism... and then she has this funky droopy tail thing but she’s 100% turned around and paralysis is gone. And now this!? I began putting probiotics in their water. Eased up on veggies in case they were causing the diarrhea.
It’s all too close to be coincidental to me. So on Sunday, I pick her back up and get my tools of healing and look back there and find it all sorts of red, swollen, borderline potentially getting another prolapse, and it just looked sad. Like I looked at it and it just made me sad. So I cleaned it with witch hazel, vetericyn spray and put bluekote on it. Made sure she was dry, and put her back outside with the others.
The next morning, near noon, I’m checking on her and she’s got clear identifiable labored breathing and is just plopping her head on the ground. She DID move around when I approached and still had enough fight in her when I picked her up. But... something told me this was the end. The breathing was not good. Period.
I also knew that I had exhausted everything I knew to do. I’d given the hole prolapsed vent treatment, I’d given the botulism care, I was keeping her from getting chilled, I was trying to make sure she wasn’t caked in loose poo or yuck. But I’d officially done all that I knew to do.
As it got closer to sunset, I went back out there and got her. I’d been off and on crying all day but I’m an emotional person and so I wanted her and I to have some time. I picked her up and she and I went outside to the unusually beautiful 50+ degree weather. She wasn’t happy about it, but I just held her. And I talked to her and I cried and I nuzzled my face into her soft little feathers on her neck. She volcanically erupted from the rear again. It filled my boot, both legs, my coat, the chair, the deck and my arms. I cried some more and pleaded that she’d make it but I told her I’d let her be with her mates now. I put her back with them. She was still alive around midnight, labored breathing, plopped over but I noticed that, for the first time, the other two were staying by her. She was always the smallest of the three, seemingly the younger of the three and was frequently reminded of her place in the pecking order. But this time, they were with her.
She passed away sometime between midnight and 5am. The other two girls were still right there beside her. It was freezing temps out so I’m certain she was a little more stiff than typical but she still had a few ounces of warmth. So she either passed just a couple hours prior, or the girls were keeping her warm.
We got her cremated and she sits next to my other pets who’ve been cremated (god those are pathetic stories themselves) and I still just don’t know what it was that killed her.
Was she egg bound? Was the botulism real? Why did she have a tiny prolapse at same time of botulism symptoms? Was the diarrhea just causing it? Why didn’t she have the diarrhea at onset? What was wrong that she never perked her tail back up?
These are but a few questions I still have. Obviously I can’t fix it now but I’m curious if anyone else had anything similar or maybe an idea?
And I’m sorry this was stupid long but I figured the 2-3 weeks of everything would help, if anyone were to have any idea. I have pics of different things if it’d help (none are gross beyond the initial ‘prolapse’) but I didn’t want to add any extra stuff to an already embarrassingly long post.
As always <3
