Amanda10321
Chirping
- Aug 24, 2019
- 21
- 36
- 56
One-legged duck named Forest: hock swollen, firm, warm. No visible wound to foot or leg. Joint flexion normal, extension ~80%. X-ray read by our regular vet as “chronic injury or possibly arthritis.” She recommended euthanasia, stating that Forest ”will have low quality of life, because she cannot do normal duck things, like swim. She’s not preening normally. Her feathers are tattered.” She swims. She preens. She happily chatters to us and to her duck friends and enjoys “foraging” for treats. She’s molting and has wet feather.
Other relevant info:
We rescued Forest from a neglect situation, where a lonely person had impulsively gotten 10 ducks at the start of COVID, and kept them in a 5x5’ pen. They walked, swam, and slept in poop.
She had ammonia burns on her keel, feet, and legs, and staph infections in both feet.
Despite aggressive treatment consisting of antibiotics and surgery, one leg could not be saved, and was amputated at the hock. Her stump healed well, with no complications.
She learned how to be a one-legged duck, and I learned how to be a one-legged duck mama. She was an indoor/outdoor duck with us for about a year. She got daily supervised swim time in our pond in the summer, and our tub in the winter. I kept her stump clean and wrapped to prevent injury to the vulnerable site. I made her booties out of neoprene (wetsuit material) to give her remaining foot and leg extra cushion and protection. She slept on a soft fleece blanket, on a pillow, inside of a waterproof pillowcase. I helped her preen the stump side of her face, eye, and chin.
Then animal control came and told us we had to get rid of her (this is the extremely abridged version).
So we took her to [redacted], where they care for disabled ducks. She was severely neglected there, despite us leaving detailed written instructions about how to care for her.
She was not allowed to swim, instead getting washed with Dawn dish soap whenever they knew we were coming to visit.
She was kept inside a barn with a cement floor, with a thin layer of straw as bedding.
She was fed 50% straight corn, 50% low quality *chicken* feed.
No one helped her preen.
No one changed her stump bandage until I did it myself when we visited her. It had been almost a month. Meanwhile, she’d been attempting to bath in the drinking water, so her bandage was constantly soaking wet. Obviously the skin on her stump was supremely compromised.
They lost her booties.
Then, the law changed and we were allowed to get her back. But then I had some serious health issues, and then [redacted] had to quarantine because HPAI, and then our household got COVID.
SO, we finally got her back just a few days ago, having not seen her in several months.
She’s emaciated. Her tail feathers are all broken off, because she’s been tilting back and using her wings to “walk,” and I’m sure getting stepped on by other ducks. All of her facial feathers on the stump side were ingrown (including on her eyelid). She had many large ingrown feathers on her keel, and on her protruding pelvic bones. Some of them were several generations of ingrown feathers on top of cysts filled with broken down feather goo.
Her wings are bruised and calloused.
Her shoulders are bare - I assume from being mounted by other birds. (She was with all females but they do this for dominance.)
I get in the tub with her every day, supporting her body weight when she starts to sink from getting waterlogged, and cupping her stump when she wants to paddle real hard to lift up and flap her wings.
Her facial feathers are all growing properly now, and the pressure on her eye has been elevated.
Her wet feather will improve, and luckily she is also molting.
Her large ingrown feathers and cysts were gently worked out by me (sterile, don’t worry), after warm soaks.
She is now getting high quality feed plus niacin supplementation via nutritional yeast and peas.
I am absolutely devoted to this duck. Please help.
Other relevant info:
We rescued Forest from a neglect situation, where a lonely person had impulsively gotten 10 ducks at the start of COVID, and kept them in a 5x5’ pen. They walked, swam, and slept in poop.
She had ammonia burns on her keel, feet, and legs, and staph infections in both feet.
Despite aggressive treatment consisting of antibiotics and surgery, one leg could not be saved, and was amputated at the hock. Her stump healed well, with no complications.
She learned how to be a one-legged duck, and I learned how to be a one-legged duck mama. She was an indoor/outdoor duck with us for about a year. She got daily supervised swim time in our pond in the summer, and our tub in the winter. I kept her stump clean and wrapped to prevent injury to the vulnerable site. I made her booties out of neoprene (wetsuit material) to give her remaining foot and leg extra cushion and protection. She slept on a soft fleece blanket, on a pillow, inside of a waterproof pillowcase. I helped her preen the stump side of her face, eye, and chin.
Then animal control came and told us we had to get rid of her (this is the extremely abridged version).
So we took her to [redacted], where they care for disabled ducks. She was severely neglected there, despite us leaving detailed written instructions about how to care for her.
She was not allowed to swim, instead getting washed with Dawn dish soap whenever they knew we were coming to visit.
She was kept inside a barn with a cement floor, with a thin layer of straw as bedding.
She was fed 50% straight corn, 50% low quality *chicken* feed.
No one helped her preen.
No one changed her stump bandage until I did it myself when we visited her. It had been almost a month. Meanwhile, she’d been attempting to bath in the drinking water, so her bandage was constantly soaking wet. Obviously the skin on her stump was supremely compromised.
They lost her booties.
Then, the law changed and we were allowed to get her back. But then I had some serious health issues, and then [redacted] had to quarantine because HPAI, and then our household got COVID.
SO, we finally got her back just a few days ago, having not seen her in several months.
She’s emaciated. Her tail feathers are all broken off, because she’s been tilting back and using her wings to “walk,” and I’m sure getting stepped on by other ducks. All of her facial feathers on the stump side were ingrown (including on her eyelid). She had many large ingrown feathers on her keel, and on her protruding pelvic bones. Some of them were several generations of ingrown feathers on top of cysts filled with broken down feather goo.
Her wings are bruised and calloused.
Her shoulders are bare - I assume from being mounted by other birds. (She was with all females but they do this for dominance.)
I get in the tub with her every day, supporting her body weight when she starts to sink from getting waterlogged, and cupping her stump when she wants to paddle real hard to lift up and flap her wings.
Her facial feathers are all growing properly now, and the pressure on her eye has been elevated.
Her wet feather will improve, and luckily she is also molting.
Her large ingrown feathers and cysts were gently worked out by me (sterile, don’t worry), after warm soaks.
She is now getting high quality feed plus niacin supplementation via nutritional yeast and peas.
I am absolutely devoted to this duck. Please help.
