Runner Duck labored/heavy breathing

[Beanfox]

Hello,

Noticed this morning that my runner duck is heavy breathing. It’s not noisy and she doesn’t seem lethargic to me. It is 23°F here currently with a feel like of 10. Could that be causing it?
No one else is breathing funky. It is just her. She is quite small compared to everyone else.

I haven’t noticed it before, although on days that I work they put themselves to bed by the time I get home since it gets dark so early now.

We use the deep bed method in the winter with straw. Haven’t had any issues in the past with doing this.

Also she is about 6months old if that matters.

 

[Jenbirdee]

I lost a fawn and white runner last year from the same thing I had her tested. It came positive for aspergillosis here is her thread. You can skim through it if you want to. Currently, I am dealing with her sibling duck who I believe has the same thing. I stupidly treated her with antibiotics first, which only made it worse. Don’t know why I did that again. It should have learned the first time. Right now she’s getting nebulizer treatments every eight hours and have been giving her meloxicam and terbinafine. Every 12 hours. And I just made this video of her breathing. She started when I started using straw again when the weather got cold. I believe she had a mild case of the aspergillosis last year, but I treated her along with her sister and she revived quickly although her sister died and now that aspergillosis has returned. Here’s the thread (which includes videos of Poppy ) and the video I just made of Willow.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/runner-duck-cough-or-hiccups-aspergillosis.1606047/

 

[Goosebaby]

Hello,

Noticed this morning that my runner duck is heavy breathing. It’s not noisy and she doesn’t seem lethargic to me. It is 23°F here currently with a feel like of 10. Could that be causing it?
No one else is breathing funky. It is just her. She is quite small compared to everyone else.

I haven’t noticed it before, although on days that I work they put themselves to bed by the time I get home since it gets dark so early now.

We use the deep bed method in the winter with straw. Haven’t had any issues in the past with doing this.

Also she is about 6months old if that matters.

I’m sorry!

Is a vet an option?

What’s her body condition? Does her keel feel like it juts out far from her body like a blade?


She is having serious respiratory issues, sometimes that can be caused by a tumor pressing on the lower airsacks or it’s caused by a respiratory illness, bacterial, viral, or fungal.

Straw bedding is a source of mold spores, if her immune system is weak she would come down with asper quicker and more easily than the others but that doesn’t mean she necessarily has asper, it could also be a mycoplasma or another bacterial or viral infection.

You could put her on Tylosin and/or bartril or doxycycline if you have any, that should take care of most respiratory bugs, if she has a fungal infection it will make it worse.

 

[Goosebaby]

I lost a fawn and white runner last year from the same thing I had her tested. It came positive for aspergillosis here is her thread. You can skim through it if you want to. Currently, I am dealing with her sibling duck who I believe has the same thing. I stupidly treated her with antibiotics first, which only made it worse. Don’t know why I did that again. It should have learned the first time. Right now she’s getting nebulizer treatments every eight hours and have been giving her meloxicam and terbinafine. Every 12 hours. And I just made this video of her breathing. She started when I started using straw again when the weather got cold. I believe she had a mild case of the aspergillosis last year, but I treated her along with her sister and she revived quickly although her sister died and now that aspergillosis has returned. Here’s the thread (which includes videos of Poppy ) and the video I just made of Willow.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/runner-duck-cough-or-hiccups-aspergillosis.1606047/

I’m so sorry you’re going through this!

 

[Beanfox]

I lost a fawn and white runner last year from the same thing I had her tested. It came positive for aspergillosis here is her thread. You can skim through it if you want to. Currently, I am dealing with her sibling duck who I believe has the same thing. I stupidly treated her with antibiotics first, which only made it worse. Don’t know why I did that again. It should have learned the first time. Right now she’s getting nebulizer treatments every eight hours and have been giving her meloxicam and terbinafine. Every 12 hours. And I just made this video of her breathing. She started when I started using straw again when the weather got cold. I believe she had a mild case of the aspergillosis last year, but I treated her along with her sister and she revived quickly although her sister died and now that aspergillosis has returned. Here’s the thread (which includes videos of Poppy ) and the video I just made of Willow.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/runner-duck-cough-or-hiccups-aspergillosis.1606047/

Oh gosh, I’m so sorry I appreciate you sharing the info with me, will read through the thread. Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery for your girl

 

[Beanfox]

I’m sorry!

Is a vet an option?

What’s her body condition? Does her keel feel like it juts out far from her body like a blade?


She is having serious respiratory issues, sometimes that can be caused by a tumor pressing on the lower airsacks or it’s caused by a respiratory illness, bacterial, viral, or fungal.

Straw bedding is a source of mold spores, if her immune system is weak she would come down with asper quicker and more easily than the others but that doesn’t mean she necessarily has asper, it could also be a mycoplasma or another bacterial or viral infection.

You could put her on Tylosin and/or bartril or doxycycline if you have any, that should take care of most respiratory bugs, if she has a fungal infection it will make it worse.

So at first I didn’t think a vet was an option due to having no Aviary vet anywhere near us. But with sheer luck the vet by my house agreed to see her in about 45mins. I guess they have a vet there that does do Aviary work… good to know!
Hoping they can help.

Going to change all the house bedding tonight and keep this girl inside for a bit until she (hopefully) recovers.

I have VetRX that I attempted to put under her wings. Did not seem to do much as of now. I also put 2 drops into a big bowl of warm water for her. She is currently in my bathroom.

When I picked her up to bring her in, her keel did feel sharp. All I could feel was what seemed a long bone. So that freaked me out a bit.

Overall she is acting normal. Just the breathing issue… which obviously really concerns and scares me.

 

[Jenbirdee]

So at first I didn’t think a vet was an option due to having no Aviary vet anywhere near us. But with sheer luck the vet by my house agreed to see her in about 45mins. I guess they have a vet there that does do Aviary work… good to know!
Hoping they can help.

Going to change all the house bedding tonight and keep this girl inside for a bit until she (hopefully) recovers.

I have VetRX that I attempted to put under her wings. Did not seem to do much as of now. I also put 2 drops into a big bowl of warm water for her. She is currently in my bathroom.

Overall she is acting normal. Just the breathing issue… which obviously really concerns and scares me.

That’s wonderful you can take her to a vet. I have way too many Ducks for my husband to allow me to take them to the avian vet here anymore even though I do have one and have taken a few of them there in the past also one of my geese I took there once or twice. All the credit cards get maxed out pretty quickly doing that when you have so many birds. another thing you can do at home that will help is spray a fine mist of colloidal silver over her several times a day . Please please let us know everything The vet says perhaps there will be some information passed along. That will help me with Willow too. It is very hard to see them like this. I was just crying a little while ago.

 

[Jenbirdee]

Another thing is the majestic waterfall sanctuary diagnostics chart has a link to information on how to treat Aspergillosis if I didn’t mention that in Poppy‘s thread, I’m not sure if I did so. I am mentioning it now I’m following your thread and I will probably continue to post information that might help you or myself or anyone else with this kind of problem. if you don’t mind. One thing I just found out today is that I could raise the dosage of the terbinafine which I just started doing today.

 

[Jenbirdee]

( this is what I found that made me decide to raise her dosage.))

Terbinafine is used as an antifungal medication for treating fungal infections in ducks, including aspergillosis, often as an alternative to other antifungals like itraconazole due to its lower risk of liver damage. It is available in oral formulations and has demonstrated in vitro activity against Aspergillus spp., which is relevant for treating aspergillosis. The recommended oral dose for ducks is 15–30 mg/kg every 12 hours. In clinical practice, terbinafine is used in combination with nebulizer treatments, such as with F10SC veterinary disinfectant, to improve outcomes in respiratory fungal infections.


Pharmacokinetic studies in other avian species suggest that higher doses may be necessary to achieve therapeutic plasma concentrations. For example, a study on Hispaniolan Amazon parrots found that a dose of 60 mg/kg orally did not result in adverse effects and may be potentially useful for treating aspergillosis, although further studies are needed to confirm efficacy and safety. In African penguins, terbinafine was used at a dose of 500 mg twice daily for up to six months, showing high clinical success (91.7%) and eradication rates (100%), with fewer adverse events compared to itraconazole. While specific dosing data for ducks is limited, these findings support the use of terbinafine as a viable treatment option, particularly when liver toxicity from other antifungals is a concern.

 

[Jenbirdee]

@Miss Lydia hello dear friend I am tagging you in this thread, just in case you have a few cents to throw in lol