Please help! My duck is really sick and has been for awhile now, but we aren’t able to find out the exact problem and we can’t seem to find a solution

[Drowsy_808]

We’ve been to the doctors, but they couldn’t find out what’s wrong with her even with the blood tests and all. We’ve tried putting her on antibiotics given by the doctors (Meloxicam) and it helped, but didn’t solve the problem. She’s had this problem for months and it’s getting worse. We’re tried putting her on a good diet and gave her sunlight as the doctor recommended and it helped, but didn’t resolve the problem. She got better after her mood brightened up by going out to play more often, but she’s sick again after getting a cold.

She keeps shaking her head after coming home and she’s been having difficulty breathing. Her appetite is fine and she drinks water too, but she’s really struggling.
We aren’t sure what to do since there aren’t any doctors nearby. We know she’ll be fine since she’s getting better again slowly with time, but the problem still remains. We suspect it may be a liver or lung issue and we’re sure it’s a bacterial infection. The doctors confirmed it as well.

Her symptoms have gotten better and she’s better than a few months ago, but we really want to help her make a full recovery. Any help would be appreciated

 

[BelovedBirds]

We’ve been to the doctors, but they couldn’t find out what’s wrong with her even with the blood tests and all. We’ve tried putting her on antibiotics given by the doctors (Meloxicam) and it helped, but didn’t solve the problem. She’s had this problem for months and it’s getting worse. We’re tried putting her on a good diet and gave her sunlight as the doctor recommended and it helped, but didn’t resolve the problem. She got better after her mood brightened up by going out to play more often, but she’s sick again after getting a cold.

She keeps shaking her head after coming home and she’s been having difficulty breathing. Her appetite is fine and she drinks water too, but she’s really struggling.
We aren’t sure what to do since there aren’t any doctors nearby. We know she’ll be fine since she’s getting better again slowly with time, but the problem still remains. We suspect it may be a liver or lung issue and we’re sure it’s a bacterial infection. The doctors confirmed it as well.

Her symptoms have gotten better and she’s better than a few months ago, but we really want to help her make a full recovery. Any help would be appreciated

Hi sorry to hear that, just a few questions:

What feed is she on? What treats?

How old is she, is she laying, does she have oyster shells available?

Is she a lone house duck? How much time does she spend outdoors?

And does she have water deep enough to dunk her whole head?

 

[BelovedBirds]

We’ve been to the doctors, but they couldn’t find out what’s wrong with her even with the blood tests and all. We’ve tried putting her on antibiotics given by the doctors (Meloxicam) and it helped, but didn’t solve the problem. She’s had this problem for months and it’s getting worse. We’re tried putting her on a good diet and gave her sunlight as the doctor recommended and it helped, but didn’t resolve the problem. She got better after her mood brightened up by going out to play more often, but she’s sick again after getting a cold.

She keeps shaking her head after coming home and she’s been having difficulty breathing. Her appetite is fine and she drinks water too, but she’s really struggling.
We aren’t sure what to do since there aren’t any doctors nearby. We know she’ll be fine since she’s getting better again slowly with time, but the problem still remains. We suspect it may be a liver or lung issue and we’re sure it’s a bacterial infection. The doctors confirmed it as well.

Her symptoms have gotten better and she’s better than a few months ago, but we really want to help her make a full recovery. Any help would be appreciated

Also, photos of her setup/living space and of her would be really helpful

 

[Drowsy_808]

Hi sorry to hear that, just a few questions:

What feed is she on? What treats?

How old is she, is she laying, does she have oyster shells available?

Is she a lone house duck? How much time does she spend outdoors?

And does she have water deep enough to dunk her whole head?

It’s okay, thank you.
She’s on Manna pro duck feed. We’ve been giving her healthier treats as of lately, we’ve been giving her lettuce, salmon, different kinds of mussels, shrimps, and some other vegetables. We’ve been giving her treats like these for about two weeks now. Before, she often had corn and tomato and eggs as treats, but the doctor recommended we give her more leafy greens. We believe fish and mussel would be good for her too, so we decided to give her them.

She’s a year and almost a half old. She was laying, but stopped a week ago. We haven’t bought her oyster shells yet, but we’re considering it. We’re planning on buying her calcium carbonates. We already give her some occasionally, but we’ve heard mint ones aren’t good for her long-term.

Yes, she’s a lone house duck. We plan to buy her a friend once things settle down and she gets better. We do try to stay with her often though.
It depends. We bring her out a good few times every week.

Unfortunately, she doesn’t. We can’t really let her since we use dog pads. She tries to eat the stuff from the dog pads whenever it’s wet, so we refrain from putting water-related things on her pads. I’ve been putting warm water for her whenever I’m awake, but not when we’re asleep.

 

[Drowsy_808]

Also, photos of her setup/living space and of her would be really helpful

Thank you for letting me know, I’ll try to send some of them in tonight!

 

[BelovedBirds]

It’s okay, thank you.
She’s on Manna pro duck feed. We’ve been giving her healthier treats as of lately, we’ve been giving her lettuce, salmon, different kinds of mussels, shrimps, and some other vegetables. We’ve been giving her treats like these for about two weeks now. Before, she often had corn and tomato and eggs as treats, but the doctor recommended we give her more leafy greens. We believe fish and mussel would be good for her too, so we decided to give her them.

She’s a year and almost a half old. She was laying, but stopped a week ago. We haven’t bought her oyster shells yet, but we’re considering it. We’re planning on buying her calcium carbonates. We already give her some occasionally, but we’ve heard mint ones aren’t good for her long-term.

Yes, she’s a lone house duck. We plan to buy her a friend once things settle down and she gets better. We do try to stay with her often though.
It depends. We bring her out a good few times every week.

Unfortunately, she doesn’t. We can’t really let her since we use dog pads. She tries to eat the stuff from the dog pads whenever it’s wet, so we refrain from putting water-related things on her pads. I’ve been putting warm water for her whenever I’m awake, but not when we’re asleep.

Can you switch her to pine shavings? Or at least create a system around the water bucket to prevent spillage? She really needs water deep enough to dunk her head fully, this is so that she can clean her eyes, her nares etc. I know the wet mess is challenging indoors but it's really important for their health. You could also put her in the bath once or twice a day, it would provide enrichment and allow her to clean herself and her face

How much of her diet is treats such as fish etc? Ideally they should only make up 10% of her diet, but since she's unwell I would hold off on treats (except when giving medicine). Just ensure she has feed and water available all day. Does she have grit?

The thing worrying me most is the possibility of her being or becoming egg bound. Hens need to be outside in the sun to get plenty of Vitamin D for egg production- they also need oyster shells to regulate calcium levels. Giving her doses of calcium wont work longterm as a supply for her, as she knows how much she needs and we dont, thats why free choice crushed oyster shells is important. She'll be able to take as much or as little as she needs.

Without those two things (calcium and Vit D) she may not be able to properly make her eggs, and they could become stuck inside her, a condition which can be painful and even fatal if untreated.
You can supplement Vit D, and supply oyster shells to prevent this.

Is she laying down excessively, limping or walking funny, bobbing her tail? Off food at all? Panting? If she has any of those symptoms I would treat her for egg binding to be on the safe side. To do this you'll need calcium gluconate, either in the durvet liquid form from TSC, or in powder form from a health store or online. The liquid version says injectable, but you just need to give it orally, 1 ml over a treat. For the power, use 1.5 tsp over or mixed into a treat.
This needs to be done asap.
It's possible that it may be another cause, but this calcium won't hurt her either way, it's a good idea.


Also please don't feel like I'm grilling you at all, just trying to rule as much out as possible so we can help you to help her

 

[bhaugh]

If she isn’t outside then how did she get the bacterial infection? I’m guessing from a wet living area? The only time I encountered respiratory issues was in ducklings who trapped wet shavings down underneath and they ended up growing mold spores. I lost two ducks to that. Now I don’t use shavings for ducks. Has this duck ever been around other ducks? Can’t stress enough that humans just can’t replace the companionship of other ducks. Once her infection is cleared up, I’d seriously be looking for a companion for her. Ducks need their own space outside to be themselves and having their own kind to hang with and just be.

 

[BelovedBirds]

If she isn’t outside then how did she get the bacterial infection? I’m guessing from a wet living area? The only time I encountered respiratory issues was in ducklings who trapped wet shavings down underneath and they ended up growing mold spores. I lost two ducks to that. Now I don’t use shavings for ducks. Has this duck ever been around other ducks? Can’t stress enough that humans just can’t replace the companionship of other ducks. Once her infection is cleared up, I’d seriously be looking for a companion for her. Ducks need their own space outside to be themselves and having their own kind to hang with and just be.

Shavings are actually really good for ducks, but they need cleaning out frequently so they don't grow mould...
If cleaned out as needed, they're quite absorbent and reduce the bad smells, at least so I've found.

OP uses puppypads, which would soak up and go bad very fast, wood shavings would be better

 

[Drowsy_808]

Can you switch her to pine shavings? Or at least create a system around the water bucket to prevent spillage? She really needs water deep enough to dunk her head fully, this is so that she can clean her eyes, her nares etc. I know the wet mess is challenging indoors but it's really important for their health. You could also put her in the bath once or twice a day, it would provide enrichment and allow her to clean herself and her face

How much of her diet is treats such as fish etc? Ideally they should only make up 10% of her diet, but since she's unwell I would hold off on treats (except when giving medicine). Just ensure she has feed and water available all day. Does she have grit?

The thing worrying me most is the possibility of her being or becoming egg bound. Hens need to be outside in the sun to get plenty of Vitamin D for egg production- they also need oyster shells to regulate calcium levels. Giving her doses of calcium wont work longterm as a supply for her, as she knows how much she needs and we dont, thats why free choice crushed oyster shells is important. She'll be able to take as much or as little as she needs.

Without those two things (calcium and Vit D) she may not be able to properly make her eggs, and they could become stuck inside her, a condition which can be painful and even fatal if untreated.
You can supplement Vit D, and supply oyster shells to prevent this.

Is she laying down excessively, limping or walking funny, bobbing her tail? Off food at all? Panting? If she has any of those symptoms I would treat her for egg binding to be on the safe side. To do this you'll need calcium gluconate, either in the durvet liquid form from TSC, or in powder form from a health store or online. The liquid version says injectable, but you just need to give it orally, 1 ml over a treat. For the power, use 1.5 tsp over or mixed into a treat.
This needs to be done asap.
It's possible that it may be another cause, but this calcium won't hurt her either way, it's a good idea.


Also please don't feel like I'm grilling you at all, just trying to rule as much out as possible so we can help you to help her

Unfortunately, I believe pine shavings aren’t exactly a good idea for the environment she lives in. However, we will try to find a way to prevent her from spilling water while having enough water to dunk her head in to clean her nares and face. Thank you.

Right now, her diet consists of salmon, shrimp, and mussels since her duck feed is arriving late. We can’t buy any of her feed nearby and switching to any other feeds that are an option isn’t a good idea for us since most of them lack protein.

We’re hoping to drastically decrease her treats once she gets her feed back, but she’s rather picky. Unfortuantely, she gets sick of her feed at least once every few meals, so it might be difficult to only give her a treat or two everyday. It might take awhile.

I try to put food and water out for her whenever I’m awake, but we can’t when I’m sleeping since she makes the dog pads wet and eat from it. She also has a habit of soaking her chest feathers into the water when we give her water, so unfortunately, it’s not exactly the best idea to give her food and water without someone watching her.
Oh, she doesn’t have grit.

Oh, I see. Thank you for telling me.
We’ve also been concerned about lack of sunlight. The vet has mentioned this before, so we’ve already brought a fluorescent lamp for her. We try to turn it on and cover her eyes or go out on a walk with her so she can get some vitamin D. It isn’t enough, so we’re still trying to figure out a good way to help her get sunlight without having to stay outdoors with her for long periods of time everyday.
Thank you, we’ll try to buy her oyster shells soon.

She does have some of those symptoms, but that’s likely because of her infection.
Please don’t worry about that, it doesn’t bother me. Thank you for the help, I really appreciate it. It’s a lot better and much more reassuring to get help from other people who have ducks. It’s my first time raising a duck and just kind of a pet too, so I’m lacking a lot of knowledge regarding birds and ducks specially. Any advice is much appreciated, thank you.

 

[Drowsy_808]

If she isn’t outside then how did she get the bacterial infection? I’m guessing from a wet living area? The only time I encountered respiratory issues was in ducklings who trapped wet shavings down underneath and they ended up growing mold spores. I lost two ducks to that. Now I don’t use shavings for ducks. Has this duck ever been around other ducks? Can’t stress enough that humans just can’t replace the companionship of other ducks. Once her infection is cleared up, I’d seriously be looking for a companion for her. Ducks need their own space outside to be themselves and having their own kind to hang with and just be.

To be honest, I don’t know how she got it either. The house isn’t completely clean, so maybe that’s how? It isn’t very dirty either, but maybe we weren’t attentive enough. I’m not completely sure how she got it, but we were lacking a lot especially in the beginning and we made a lot of amateur mistakes while taking care of her. We didn’t completely clean every nook and cranny of her living area, so it’s possible that’s related to her current infection.

I’m very sorry to hear that. Your ducks must’ve known you cared about them a lot and did what you knew you could do for them at the time to the best of your abilities.

She has, but unfortunately, her friend passed away.