Sick duck

[Childwanderer]

Yet another one of my 1 month old khaki campbell girls is apparently ill. Her throat and tongue are swollen, and she won't stretch out her neck. Could she have eaten a small poisonous toad or something?

 

[70%cocoa]

Swelling suggests to me some kind of reaction to a toxin or an allergic reaction. Could she have swallowed a bee or wasp?

How is her breathing?

 

[Childwanderer]

Her breathing is just a little bit ragged. I carefully opened her bill and her breath smelt sort of strong- like a large dog's. I gently felt her throat, just below and behind her bill, and it felt squishy.

 

[Childwanderer]

amendment: her breath is not really ragged, but labored.

 

[Amiga]

She may have an infection in her throat. Do you have antibiotics?

Another thought is some kind of parasite.

I would give her some activated charcoal in water initially, but if you have a vet I would see if I could get her in right away.

 

[70%cocoa]

I agree - bad smell suggests an infection.

 

[duckmamma]

Has your duck eaten anything that could have had a fungus on it? Sounds like it could have aspergillosis, which would cause fungus to grow in the ducks lungs (air sacs) and throat and eventually cause labored breathing and death. Essentially, the fungus slowly suffocates the duck.
Supposedly "asper" is very hard to cure, but I cured my duck of it quite easily by giving it terbinifine (a type of lamisil tablet) that I crushed to a powder between two cast iron pans. Gave the duck 10 mg powder per day in water with a little cranberry juice added to mask the bitter flavor of the medicine. She drank it up and was noticeably better in day. I kept her on it for 2 months to make sure the fungus was completely eradicated. I also gave her generic Diflucan (fluconazole) at 10 mg powder per day for a 2-lb duck, once a day, with the terbinifine. The terbinifine kills the fungus that is in areas of the duck that do not have much blood circulation (such as its air sacs), while the fluconazole kills the fungus that resides in tissues that have good blood circulation.
You can google using terbinifine and see that a few vets have had great success using it to cure asper in different types of birds, such as parrots and raptors. I bought my meds at inhousepharmacy.com and received them in less than 10 business days (I got the water dispersible type of fluconazole). Unfortunately, inhousepharmacy doesn't carry the terbinifine anymore, so you'll have to find another source for it.

 

[Childwanderer]

Unfortunately, yes. Our yard has bad drainage so fungus has been a real problem with the recent rain in our area. I will look into that medicine.

 

[Amiga]

Deleted my idea about horse thrush medicine - apparently that is a hoof bacterial problem, not fungal.

But nystatin might be a medicine to look into . . . may take a prescription.

 

[Childwanderer]

What is Thrush medicine?