Sick duck again, not sure what’s going on

[Urban Waddler]

So, my Loretta has had her second implant, stopped laying, has arthritis in her leg, but otherwise was doing real good. Then she started panting a few days ago. I brought her to vet, blood work looked good, but she lost over a pound, eyes are little red. I’ve noticed her appetite going down as I tried to switch her food to mazuri. She hates it. I tried switching her back, but while she’ll still do anything for a mealworm, she seems disgusted with all her food. She’s still drinking and will eat lettuce in her water, worms when she can get them, and sometimes softened corn. We started her on antibiotics to be safe, but I just feel like we don’t know what’s going on. She is molting, lots of feathers flying. I’m trying to keep her on a low protein food to protect her reproductive health, but I’ve tried mazuri maintenance, Purina duck pellets, mana pro all flock. She hates it all right. She seems hungry as she comes to taste anything I bring, but then makes an ick face. Could she have a sore throat? I just don’t know anymore. To be clear, she’s not hot. Her temp was normal (but she’s on metacam, so could have masked her fever). Thanks for any suggestions on food or what to do!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Very sorry Loretta isn't feeling well. Are they sure this doesn't have something to do with the implant? Side effects.

 

[Urban Waddler]

Very sorry Loretta isn't feeling well. Are they sure this doesn't have something to do with the implant? Side effects.

You know I asked that, but both vets I’ve spoken with seem to think it’s unrelated.

 

[DuckyDonna]

Ya, but don't discount your gut feeling either. Doctors/Vets aren't always right. The perfect example is @Runner duck mom 's little Olive. The vet told her she wouldn't last the weekend about 6 months ago! She's bigger and stronger than ever and kicking butt!

 

[Runner duck mom]

Ya, but don't discount your gut feeling either. Doctors/Vets aren't always right. The perfect example is @Runner duck mom 's little Olive. The vet told her she wouldn't last the weekend about 6 months ago! She's bigger and stronger than ever and kicking butt!

So true, sometimes vets are making an educated guess since animals can't talk. We were told Olive wouldn't make it and she sure showed them.
Then when our other duck got injured the vet said she should recover, xrays looked good. Constant care and meds and she passed 3 weeks later.
Olive hadn't eaten much for almost 2 weeks and lost a lot of weight. We just kept feeding her anything she would eat to keep her alive until the meds started working. She literally ate nothing but peas and earthworms for an entire week (our ducks don't like mealworms so we were digging earthworms by hand). Was rough but we'll worth it.
Our ducks like scrambled eggs, don't know if Loretta would like them as well and good for protein.
I'm so sorry your girl isn't feeling well and hope she starts feeling better soon.

 

[Urban Waddler]

So true, sometimes vets are making an educated guess since animals can't talk. We were told Olive wouldn't make it and she sure showed them.
Then when our other duck got injured the vet said she should recover, xrays looked good. Constant care and meds and she passed 3 weeks later.
Olive hadn't eaten much for almost 2 weeks and lost a lot of weight. We just kept feeding her anything she would eat to keep her alive until the meds started working. She literally ate nothing but peas and earthworms for an entire week (our ducks don't like mealworms so we were digging earthworms by hand). Was rough but we'll worth it.
Our ducks like scrambled eggs, don't know if Loretta would like them as well and good for protein.
I'm so sorry your girl isn't feeling well and hope she starts feeling better soon.

Thank you. So glad Olive is doing better. What were her symptoms other than not eating?

 

[Miss Lydia]

If Loretta wants to eat feed her what she'll eat for now and hopefully if it's something the antibiotics can take care of you can start to add some feed into her mealworms after a while and she'll get back to eating on her own.

 

[Urban Waddler]

If Loretta wants to eat feed her what she'll eat for now and hopefully if it's something the antibiotics can take care of you can start to add some feed into her mealworms after a while and she'll get back to eating on her own.

Thank you. I think that makes good sense. I’ll do that.

 

[quackiemama]

That is so awesome about Olive, I hope Loretta gets better too!

 

[Runner duck mom]

Thank you. So glad Olive is doing better. What were her symptoms other than not eating?

She was just a bit quiet and noticed she wasn't eating at all (she is always hungry) but otherwise seemed ok. She would check out her treats (other than peas) and kibbles like she wanted to eat them and then walk away.
Xrays showed a large mass in her reproductive system pressing up on all her organs, including her stomach making her feel full.
We have not had her xrayed since to see if the mass is gone but she felt better after a round of antibiotics and back to her old self. Has not layed any eggs since and probably never will but I'm perfectly ok with that