Slipped Tendon or Trauma? Need Advice on my Duck

Fluffaloo · Sep 16, 2023

Hello,
My 2 month old magpie duck has been limping for the past 5 days and I am not experienced enough to differentiate this as regular trauma vs a slipped tendon.

Background:
I once had gotten three magpie ducklings and had them in a mini coop in my duck run. When they were 6 days old my 5 week old ducklings undid the latch in the middle of the night and killed 2 of the 3 ducklings. She was the survivor but ended up with a severe open fracture on her left leg. After much work with the vet and splinting/resplinting her leg for 2 weeks, she was finally making progress and the bone healed (though it was bowed). She needed another week or so with a shoe splint to learn how to use her leg again. She was doing great for the next couple of weeks but 5 days ago I noticed she wouldn't put weight on it.

Here's the problem: Because the hock healed wonky due to the malformed leg I can't tell if the tendon is in place or not so the point of this thread is to see if you guys have experience with slipped tendons. I haven't found the resources I need to picture how this tendon is supposed to function.

1. Can a duck with a slipped tendon stretch their leg all the way backward? I caught her doing this on day 1 of the injury.
2. I placed a finger splint on her as it seemed to be the most comfortable option and she kept soaking the splint wrap. She walks better in the splint than without it.
3. Can a duck with a slipped tendon walk as seen in the video or do they constantly hold their leg up?
4. Do you have any resources that explain the anatomy and function of this tendon or any visuals?

I have talked to the vet and they are optimistic that it is trauma-related due to the bruising seen in the first picture below and how the swelling did go down the following day but I haven't been able to get her into the clinic to confirm anything due to my schedule and finances. I am waiting for her meloxicam to arrive so she won't be in as much pain and hopefully reduce any inflammation but it may be another day or two before it gets here.
Day 1

Day 2

Day 5

She is eating and drinking. When I give her a bath she will paddle with the leg a little bit and then dangle it behind like she used to when she was recovering from her broken leg. I am using a non-lazer light therapy device (medical grade) on her leg every other day.

Ok thats all. Thoughts?

SmiYa0126 · Sep 17, 2023

@BelovedBirds

MGG · Sep 17, 2023

Fluffaloo said:
Hello,
My 2 month old magpie duck has been limping for the past 5 days and I am not experienced enough to differentiate this as regular trauma vs a slipped tendon.

Background:
I once had gotten three magpie ducklings and had them in a mini coop in my duck run. When they were 6 days old my 5 week old ducklings undid the latch in the middle of the night and killed 2 of the 3 ducklings. She was the survivor but ended up with a severe open fracture on her left leg. After much work with the vet and splinting/resplinting her leg for 2 weeks, she was finally making progress and the bone healed (though it was bowed). She needed another week or so with a shoe splint to learn how to use her leg again. She was doing great for the next couple of weeks but 5 days ago I noticed she wouldn't put weight on it.

Here's the problem: Because the hock healed wonky due to the malformed leg I can't tell if the tendon is in place or not so the point of this thread is to see if you guys have experience with slipped tendons. I haven't found the resources I need to picture how this tendon is supposed to function.

1. Can a duck with a slipped tendon stretch their leg all the way backward? I caught her doing this on day 1 of the injury.
2. I placed a finger splint on her as it seemed to be the most comfortable option and she kept soaking the splint wrap. She walks better in the splint than without it.
3. Can a duck with a slipped tendon walk as seen in the video or do they constantly hold their leg up?
4. Do you have any resources that explain the anatomy and function of this tendon or any visuals?

I have talked to the vet and they are optimistic that it is trauma-related due to the bruising seen in the first picture below and how the swelling did go down the following day but I haven't been able to get her into the clinic to confirm anything due to my schedule and finances. I am waiting for her meloxicam to arrive so she won't be in as much pain and hopefully reduce any inflammation but it may be another day or two before it gets here.
Day 1
View attachment 3637261
Day 2
View attachment 3637263 View attachment 3637264
Day 5
View attachment 3637267 View attachment 3637269 View attachment 3637270

She is eating and drinking. When I give her a bath she will paddle with the leg a little bit and then dangle it behind like she used to when she was recovering from her broken leg. I am using a non-lazer light therapy device (medical grade) on her leg every other day.

Ok thats all. Thoughts?

It's not slipped tendon, they can't put any weight on the leg when that happens. I would agree thar it's likely just trauma with all the leg has been through. The toes do look swollen, the meloxicam will probably really help with that. Make sure you're keeping her off of slippery surfaces so she doesn't hurt it worse, and I'd encourage her to swim in warm clean water daily to use it.

Fluffaloo · Sep 17, 2023

Thank you. Your reply makes me feel better. Without seeing a detailed picture of how the tendon inserts and its anatomical/physical function its hard for me to picture what exactly is going on. So I appreciate more experienced people telling me whats normal with it and whats not.

I have been giving her baths in the bathtub every day and then she goes back to her mini coop in the run. I do make sure that she isn't on a slippery surface. The meloxicam will be here tomorrow so fingers crossed that we see some significant improvement after using it for a couple of days.

Fluffaloo · Sep 25, 2023

It has been roughly a week though I haven’t seen too much of an improvement. Shortly after my initial post she would limp quicker and put some weight on the foot and held it on the ground more so I took the “finger brace” off. However a few days after that she starting holding her foot up as if she was on her “tippy toes”She will put the tip of her foot on the ground and only put it flat on the ground when she is moving around quickly. She is still on meloxicam.

I thought maybe because she always had trouble fully flattening the foot she might need another foot brace for muscle memory so I put her in this.

I left it on for a few days but she looked really uncomfortable in it especially at night so I went back to the finger brace tonight as it was more comfortable and seemed to be working. I will check and see how she is walking tomorrow but is there anything else I can be doing to help her? She has been getting bathed and laser light therapy as well.

Fluffaloo · Sep 26, 2023

The finger brace doesn’t seem to be helping anymore so I will leave the actual shoe on her for a week. Is it possible that her leg is now shorter than the other one due to the bow? She still can stretch the leg fully behind her. It could just be me but it also looks more swollen around the hock. Its hard to tell.

Here are some videos of her today.

(This is how she has always swam so that’s normal)

Fluffaloo · Oct 1, 2023

Another update:
I have taken off the shoe and put the finger brace on. I will be leaving it on for another week then take it off for good and see how she walks with the limp. I’m really starting to think the leg finally bowed to the point where it’s too short to fully walk on but who knows I don’t have enough experience to know otherwise.
I let her out of the iso pen to see how she walks and she moves around pretty quick.

Ps. Don’t mind the muddy mess. It was cleaning day so I was in the middle of hosing some stuff down when I took the video. Normally it’s pretty dry.

Fluffaloo · Oct 5, 2023

The verdict is in, I’m taking off the brace for good. Anyone have any ideas on what may have happened?

It has been nearly 3 weeks since the initial injury. When I first found her in the run she didn’t want to stand at all and acted like she was in pain. With 1 week of meloxicam and the brace I thought she was getting better as she was putting weight on the foot. Week 2, not so much. She started not really putting the foot on the ground so I kept the brace on. Week 3 she is very active tries to keep up with everyone and will put her foot slightly on the ground when she runs.

I wonder if the hock fused oddly with the bone recently? I can post an X-ray from when she first healed around a month old to show how the bowed bone initially looked. Based on how her hock has been growing and kind of protruding outwards it’s the only thing I could think of that might have happened. She uses the foot to scratch her face and will even stretch it behind her so I think the tendon is intact and works. It’s definitely an interesting case.

Part of me wants to get X-rays again to see how the leg has changed but idk if that is going to happen.
Here are some pictures of the hock today. It doesn’t feel too warm or inflamed and I can’t feel any edema so it’s interesting.

I will be posting a video of her walking without the brace shortly. As always any input is appreciated.

Fluffaloo · Oct 6, 2023

First day with full access to the run and pool with the brace off and her hock feels pretty warm to the touch. I will keep her on meloxicam for another week and hopefully the inflammation doesn’t continue.

Fluffaloo · Oct 15, 2023

Continuing with my updates in case anyone is either in a similar situation or has any input.

The hock kept getting more swollen or at least I believed so, so I started her on a 6day treatment of broad-spectrum antibiotics. I was worried about synovitis or another infection. The swelling seems to have decreased some and yesterday she was walking with her foot flat on the ground. However her leg would snap backwards a bit as she walked. Today (day 6 of tx) she went back to walking more on her toes but at rest/standing she will have it flat on the ground. Let me know if you notice a difference in swelling before and after the antibiotics.

Before antibiotics and after Meloxicam tx