Prolapsed Duck Phallus- Need Help

[Luv Ducks]

Thanks for checking in! Not much progress. The tissue is dying but it’s not hard enough to safely cut yet. This picture is from yesterday but I can get another today.View attachment 3694676

Part of me wants to check the vasculature in the “dead” part soon to see if and when it would be technically safe to cut. I would do a slight poke with a sterilized needle and see if the dead tissue bleeds. He is still on antibiotics until Sunday. So if I did anything I would wait until at least then to do so. Then I can put him back on meloxicam for inflammation and pain.

Here is the pic for today
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Yes it sure looks like mine did but I can understand you going a different route right now since yours is on medication and such. I don't know how long mine had his prolapsed as my daughter-in-law noticed it first and it was hard and dried. Mine are on sand so I thought at first it was a hardened stool as I never even gave a prolapse a thought. Then when I saw it was attached to his penis I knew what was going on. I was afraid the infection would go though his whole body is why I amputated that part off of him right away. I had no meds for him and didn't want to take any chances. You have meds and so hopefully that will keep the infection out of him. The understanding I got from what I read about it was that it would go though his system and kill him and I couldn't take that chance once I knew what was happening. I pray everything works out well and thanks for the update.

 

[Fluffaloo]

Yes it sure looks like mine did but I can understand you going a different route right now since yours is on medication and such. I don't know how long mine had his prolapsed as my daughter-in-law noticed it first and it was hard and dried. Mine are on sand so I thought at first it was a hardened stool as I never even gave a prolapse a thought. Then when I saw it was attached to his penis I knew what was going on. I was afraid the infection would go though his whole body is why I amputated that part off of him right away. I had no meds for him and didn't want to take any chances. You have meds and so hopefully that will keep the infection out of him. The understanding I got from what I read about it was that it would go though his system and kill him and I couldn't take that chance once I knew what was happening. I pray everything works out well and thanks for the update.

True. It is definitely a bit of a different situation. Either way, I think it would be best to attempt to amputate it on Sunday if there is no sign of blood supply. Nothing good can come from waiting for it to crust over, and possibly become infected and frostbitten. There is a very clean line between healthy and dead tissue which is key in determining if infection is spreading to the rest of the body. m Hopefully, if this method works it might be something that other people can try. That being said before attempting to amputate I will be giving Meloxicam within 2 hours of the cut to help with pain just in case. The tissue does look dead on the outside so fingers crossed the blood supply will be completely cut off by then so I can get a clean cut.

 

[Luv Ducks]

True. It is definitely a bit of a different situation. Either way, I think it would be best to attempt to amputate it on Sunday if there is no sign of blood supply. Nothing good can come from waiting for it to crust over, and possibly become infected and frostbitten. There is a very clean line between healthy and dead tissue which is key in determining if infection is spreading to the rest of the body. m Hopefully, if this method works it might be something that other people can try. That being said before attempting to amputate I will be giving Meloxicam within 2 hours of the cut to help with pain just in case. The tissue does look dead on the outside so fingers crossed the blood supply will be completely cut off by then so I can get a clean cut.

Hopefully all will be well. I am glad that you have the meds, mine did just fine with the way that I had to do it. It never acted like it was in pain or even flinched when I cut into the tiny bit of healthy part and the drop of blood that came from it was nothing to be concerned about. I pinion my own ducklings. I have had them bleed more than I thought they should as they were only 3 days old when I did them. I was concerned about the blood loss but they have all always done just fine afterwards. I used cornstarch and held it between my fingers for a few minutes to stop the bleeding but sometimes they would still bleed. It never hurt any of them however so some blood loss must not be too big of a problem as they were very tiny ducklings at the time. I only mention this in case you have any blood loss. Good luck with your decision and I too wanted to share to help others so I am glad that you too can. We don't all have access to vets that will work on ducks and I saw one person years ago spent $750.00 to get done exactly what I did. That is out of my range of money I can spend on one Duck as I know it would be a lot more than that since that was years ago.

 

[Fluffaloo]

Hopefully all will be well. I am glad that you have the meds, mine did just fine with the way that I had to do it. It never acted like it was in pain or even flinched when I cut into the tiny bit of healthy part and the drop of blood that came from it was nothing to be concerned about. I pinion my own ducklings. I have had them bleed more than I thought they should as they were only 3 days old when I did them. I was concerned about the blood loss but they have all always done just fine afterwards. I used cornstarch and held it between my fingers for a few minutes to stop the bleeding but sometimes they would still bleed. It never hurt any of them however so some blood loss must not be too big of a problem as they were very tiny ducklings at the time. I only mention this in case you have any blood loss. Good luck with your decision and I too wanted to share to help others so I am glad that you too can. We don't all have access to vets that will work on ducks and I saw one person years ago spent $750.00 to get done exactly what I did. That is out of my range of money I can spend on one Duck as I know it would be a lot more than that since that was years ago.

I hope so too! Thanks for your help! I keep my birds flighted as the run is completely covered but that experience is good to know! I have Kwikstop in my Macaw first aid kit so I will have that ready. I do have one exotic vet that I go to when I need it but they are 2 hours away and not too long ago I pretty much spent my "farm animal budget" on my disabled duck. She needed her leg resplinted every 4 days (she was 6 days old when it happened) for 2 weeks before healing and between that and x-rays it was expensive. She had an open fracture which ended up healing great but once she reached her adult weight something happened where the joint meets the tibiotarsus causing her whole leg to be oddly angled/bowed at the spot. This thread tracks most of the progress https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/slipped-tendon-or-trauma-need-advice-on-my-duck.1598597/

I thought about going to the vet when I first noticed this prolapse but it was closed for the following 2 days. After much research and putting my own clinical experience into play it didn't seem like the vets would be able to do much that I cant do myself at home (at least with my budget). Thats why I feel its important to have these medications on hand and the knowledge that comes with using them in case emergencies like this happen.

I will update on Sunday with my decision unless anything else changes sooner.

 

[Luv Ducks]

I hope so too! Thanks for your help! I keep my birds flighted as the run is completely covered but that experience is good to know! I have Kwikstop in my Macaw first aid kit so I will have that ready. I do have one exotic vet that I go to when I need it but they are 2 hours away and not too long ago I pretty much spent my "farm animal budget" on my disabled duck. She needed her leg resplinted every 4 days (she was 6 days old when it happened) for 2 weeks before healing and between that and x-rays it was expensive. She had an open fracture which ended up healing great but once she reached her adult weight something happened where the joint meets the tibiotarsus causing her whole leg to be oddly angled/bowed at the spot. This thread tracks most of the progress https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/slipped-tendon-or-trauma-need-advice-on-my-duck.1598597/

I thought about going to the vet when I first noticed this prolapse but it was closed for the following 2 days. After much research and putting my own clinical experience into play it didn't seem like the vets would be able to do much that I cant do myself at home (at least with my budget). Thats why I feel its important to have these medications on hand and the knowledge that comes with using them in case emergencies like this happen.

I will update on Sunday with my decision unless anything else changes sooner.

You are most welcome and I pray it goes as well as mine did. Good Luck and thanks for your updates.

 

[Fluffaloo]

Update: I decided to cut the dead tissue off today instead of tomorrow. It did bleed a bit so I put kwikstop on it in addition to neosporin. I gain him pain meds before the amputation to help if he was in any pain. I will be continuing antibiotics for the next few days.

For the image above I do realize it looks very messy. Before amputating I gave him a bath then sprayed veterycin spray around the area. I also had put manuka honey at the base of the skin. I tried to keep it as clean as I could but it got a bit messy in the end. The antibiotics will help prevent any infection from setting in.

After cutting the dead tissue off the remaining healthy tissue it hadn’t sucked back in on its own after treating it so I tucked it inside. I will check in a few hours to see if the left over nub stayed put or if it fell out.

 

[Luv Ducks]

Update: I decided to cut the dead tissue off today instead of tomorrow. It did bleed a bit so I put kwikstop on it in addition to neosporin. I gain him pain meds before the amputation to help if he was in any pain. I will be continuing antibiotics for the next few days.

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For the image above I do realize it looks very messy. Before amputating I gave him a bath then sprayed veterycin spray around the area. I also had put manuka honey at the base of the skin. I tried to keep it as clean as I could but it got a bit messy in the end. The antibiotics will help prevent any infection from setting in.
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After cutting the dead tissue off the remaining healthy tissue it hadn’t sucked back in on its own after treating it so I tucked it inside. I will check in a few hours to see if the left over nub stayed put or if it fell out.

It looks like you did a fine job. I also had to tuck the remainder healthy part back inside my little one. I kept a close eye on it and have never seen anything at all coming back out. I have read that they will still be able to breed but will be infertile. In another article I read that they will be still fertile so I am not sure which is right. I guess spring will tell what their behavior is in mine's case. I pray all remains well.

 

[Fluffaloo]

It looks like you did a fine job. I also had to tuck the remainder healthy part back inside my little one. I kept a close eye on it and have never seen anything at all coming back out. I have read that they will still be able to breed but will be infertile. In another article I read that they will be still fertile so I am not sure which is right. I guess spring will tell what their behavior is in mine's case. I pray all remains well.

I'm praying it all goes well too. From what I understand the articles that state they will be infertile more has to do with the length of the phallus rather than the sperm quality itself. For example, in cases where just the tip was trimmed, the duck can still reach his phallus into the females reproductive system. However, if we took off a few inches like we did here, the phallus would still function normally but wouldn't reach far enough in to fertilize the egg. I will keep you updated if it falls out or if anything changes.

 

[Luv Ducks]

I'm praying it all goes well too. From what I understand the articles that state they will be infertile more has to do with the length of the phallus rather than the sperm quality itself. For example, in cases where just the tip was trimmed, the duck can still reach his phallus into the females reproductive system. However, if we took off a few inches like we did here, the phallus would still function normally but wouldn't reach far enough in to fertilize the egg. I will keep you updated if it falls out or if anything changes.

Thanks, I had also read that when smaller drakes are kept with larger ducks they can actually grow a longer penis when mating season comes. I actually wondered if that way why mine's fell out and got infected like it did. There are so many articles that are conflicting out there that it makes it hard to decipher which to believe and which not to. Thanks for saying you will keep me updated. Hopefully you just saved his life and he will be just fine like mine is.

 

[Fluffaloo]

Update: It could just be due to the swelling but the nub that I tucked in did fall out a few times today. It lasted several hours before falling out so that was an improvement. The tissue is still a nice healthy pink so I’m not concerned just yet. When I do tuck it in I can feel the muscle attempt to retract it. I think it is falling out when he poops. Hopefully with continued antibiotics it will stay inside and not get infected. I did pack it with Manuka honey to help. He still acts normally I will update tomorrow if it looks worse or stays tucked in.