Sprained/Broken Duck Leg... Please Help

[Kmoreau]

We have an above ground pool, and occassionally when the weather has been nice, I let my ducks swim in it... since I wont be until alteast next spring anyway. Well the other night, I put them in the big pool and I went to run so errands. They have never tried to jump out on their own and are usually very content floating in the pool.... shame on me because I should have gotten them out before leaving, but unfortuantely I didnt.
Well my female jumped out of the pool, my drake did not. So when I got back home I went to get them out and noticed she already got out, I let him out put him on the ground then went to feed them. I noticed she was limping just a little bit, but not too bad. As a precaution, I kept her overnight in a kennel, gave her some asprin ( acording to byc suggestions), gave her food and water and left her for the night. My drake was ticked off at me, but she was not being her usual self (i.e. running from me, scared to death) She was just laying there letting me hold her and pet her... I could tell she was in pain.

Next day, I let her out to strech her legs and so I could clean out the kennel. She wasnt back to normal but she wasnt in too much pain. she was still limping but atleast waddeling around and even running from me like normal, but I put her back in the kennel that whole day just to be on the safe side. Well I got home from work and she was much worse, limping more pronounced and holding her leg up.
Flash forward to 3 nights later (aka tonight) and she has gone down hill. She wont move unless I pick her up, she will stand for short spurts on the good leg, but doesnt put the other one down at all. I am so worried about her, she has been confined to the kennel, she is still eating and drinking but not too much. Today I felt bad so I left her out of the kennel but I locked my drake up so he wouldnt be harassing her. she was in the kiddie pool for most of the day (btw I had to put her in it this morning, all she did was stand at the edge looking in it but couldnt lift her self up to climb in). I have her back in the kennel and have given her some more asprin.

I throughly checked her leg, hip, and foot out. I noticed some minor swelling but nothing serious. No bruising, and nothing feeling or looking out of line. I felt her hips and both appear to be the same. I dont have the money right now for a vet. My mother just had a kidney transplant and while it was a miracle, its been very expensive being her sole provider.

I just dont know what else I can do for my baby girl. I feel so bad it was my fault. Is there any sure fire ways to tell if it was just a sprain or if it is broken? Any suggestions would be helpful.. I dont want this to be so bad I have to take her life, cause I do not think I could ever live with myself for that. I dont judge those who do at all, and I probably could had I had those intentions from the begining, but she was a rescue and my baby, who I and my husband have grown very attached to.

She is a 7 month old, Pekin/Stainbridge White female duck.
No previous sign of injury before the pool fall.
My other duck has no issues or problems.
No signs of external trama, no heat coming from leg, only mild swelling.
Poo appears very normal.
She is eating and drinking.

 

[Judy]

I'm sorry. That is a tough situation.

Maybe this link will help somehow, if you haven't already found it:

https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry

 

[CMV]

I have had numerous leg injuries in my ducks thanks to a couple of aggressive geese. The best thing you can do for her is to let it heal on its own. If she had an unstable, complete fracture I would intervene, but for every other injury I would let her do what she will do and let her rest as much as she will.

I had a duck fracture the lower part of his leg when he was beaten by a goose. It was bad, but my ducks are so flighty that I could not do anything aside from watch from a distance to see what would happen. I decided I would cull him if he became too injured to survive. The duck parked himself next to the feed and water, and just laid there with his leg stretched out in front of him for weeks. He would limp into the house at night and limp out in the morning, but that was the extent of his movement. After several weeks he started moving around a bit more, and then one day he started walking around with the rest of the flock. He had a permanent limp, but even that faded over time. The fracture healed completely without any help from me.

Your girl will try to be as still and immobile as she is allowed. Keep her close to resources, and just let her rest. Protect her from predators and harassment. She should heal up pretty quickly with a sprain unless she gets re-injured. A fracture takes a good long time to heal, but they will eventually heal.

I hope this helps. Good luck with her.

 

[duckman6666]

How much of a baby asprin should I give. I think we have 2 ducks with sprains.

 

[casportpony]

It might say here:
https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/medicine-chart

Kathy

 

[casportpony]

How much of a baby asprin should I give. I think we have 2 ducks with sprains.

Have you checked them for bumblefoot?

-Kathy

 

[RoosterThigh]

I have a duck with a broken leg too. I have read where some people say their duck starts walking in a week. Mine will be two weeks come this Thursday and she still isn't putting any weight on it. I have it splinted. It is the first time I've ever done that and the break seems high. I put the splint (used a Sam-e splint) as high as I possibly could on her leg and taped it up. The leg is warm and she has a very good appetite. So I'm praying it will go ahead and heal up. I thought about just taking the splint off and letting her do her own thing with it. I bring her in every few days and let her clean up in the bathtub. She likes it pretty well. Maybe because I feed her peas and meal worms while she is in there, lol.

Can anyone give time frames for how long it took their duck to start using their leg? Maybe this break is worse than some. There isn't infection or her appetite wouldn't be so good and the leg is warm so she is getting blood to it. I didn't see any swelling.

 

[casportpony]

For a splint to work properly in an animal you need to immobilize the joints above and below the fracture.

-Kathy

 

[TracyLovesDucks]

Hi Everyone, I see RoosterThigh mentioned infection. How can you tell if internal leg injuries are becoming infected?

I have a duck with what I believe is a sprained ankle. She's had an almost unnoticeable limp for about 3 weeks. I thought that had to do with a cut on the bottom of her foot. Treated that for 2 weeks, hosing it off with water and spraying it with veteracyn every night. Until it looked like it was healing properly on it's own. Then I noticed the limp coming back. Treated another minor cut/crack on her heal, then the next day (yesterday) she progressively got a worse limp and her ankle began to swell. By the end of the day, she just wanted to lay down. When standing, she would use only her good leg, and when walking she can barely put enough pressure on the bad foot to just barely move about.

I feel really bad about it, because I just know fiddling with her cut/crack agitated the sprain even more I guess we just have to make these calls, huh?

Today I plan to keep her penned off from the rest of the flock. And maybe for a few more days depending on if it begins to heal. Once it doesn't look to be so painful, I might start to use epsom salts. Any other advice? Thanks!

 

[RoosterThigh]

Hi Everyone, I see RoosterThigh mentioned infection. How can you tell if internal leg injuries are becoming infected?

I have a duck with what I believe is a sprained ankle. She's had an almost unnoticeable limp for about 3 weeks. I thought that had to do with a cut on the bottom of her foot. Treated that for 2 weeks, hosing it off with water and spraying it with veteracyn every night. Until it looked like it was healing properly on it's own. Then I noticed the limp coming back. Treated another minor cut/crack on her heal, then the next day (yesterday) she progressively got a worse limp and her ankle began to swell. By the end of the day, she just wanted to lay down. When standing, she would use only her good leg, and when walking she can barely put enough pressure on the bad foot to just barely move about.

I feel really bad about it, because I just know fiddling with her cut/crack agitated the sprain even more I guess we just have to make these calls, huh?

Today I plan to keep her penned off from the rest of the flock. And maybe for a few more days depending on if it begins to heal. Once it doesn't look to be so painful, I might start to use epsom salts. Any other advice? Thanks!

If you think it's an internal infection I would look to get some antibiotics into her too. The epsom salts sound like a good idea if it is external and keep antibiotic spra on her. If you still see external cuts/cracks, maybe try to wrap it up after treating it to keep out any germs.