Sprained Duck leg

[Galaxyfalcon]

Hello all,

It's mating season so we've had our boys separated from our girls. Normally, we keep our youngest boy (Triton) with his girlfriend (Freya) since they get along really well and he doesn't bully her too much during this season. She recently had some hard egg times and suffered a prolapse, so she is recovering with the girls and has a no boy time until she heals up, probably the rest of the season. We've introduced Triton to the two older boys, who normally get along to varying degrees during mating season. This year things seemed to go amazing. Triton is only 2, and the two older boys bullied him much much less than last year. In fact, after a day they were getting along swimmingly.

Yesterday, one of the older drakes was feeling particularly angry and chased Triton away a couple of times. Triton stumbled over some rocks on the side of the yard and was then limping the rest of the day. Sometimes ducks get surprised or chased, or run after peas, and have a little limp for a short while. Triton still has his limp next morning, and he was holding the foot up when he could.

We checked, and there's no swelling and nothing looks visibly inflamed or otherwise broken. No obvious signs of injury. He needed to be separated but I didn't want him pacing on the leg, so I brought him inside in a small animal carrier so he can't move around too much and has to mostly sit.

I'm planning on keeping him in the carrier for the day so he has to stay off the leg, but is there anything else we could try to do to help him out? He has some slight bumble sores and we don't think those are causing the limp, but we're debating doing an epsom salt soak starting tomorrow to see if it might relieve any pain he is experiencing. Any other ideas?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Soaking would be good for his leg to if it's a sprain. Epsom salt helps with inflammation also.

 

[Galaxyfalcon]

Is it okay to leave him in the crate for the day? I let him out twice for water but I also want to try to keep him off the leg as much as possible.

 

[ruthhope]

It won't harm him in the short term --1 day -- In a pet carrier. I put my drakes in pet carriers so that they remain seated when we have to travel. I try and travel as much as possible at night when the ducks would normally be sleeping. But inevitably they can be in the pet carrier for upto 16 hours with no ill effects the following day!

 

[Jenbirdee]

I used to have a duck named Triton. My first set of Khaki's were all Little mermaid names. I hope he is better soon!

 

[Galaxyfalcon]

Okay, today we moved him to a larger dog crate so he has a little more room but is still somewhat immobile. We tried keeping him in a different setup last night, which he didn't like and kept trying to jump out of (obviously bad for the foot).

He also has a large sore on his foot we had been treating him for, so I'm wondering if the sore is bothering him too at the same time. We're going to keep him off the foot for another day or two and try doing some epsom soaks.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Good plan. It takes time for sprains to heal and just like us rest is the best. Hopefully, the warm Epsom salt soaks will help too.

 

[Galaxyfalcon]

We've still got him in the dog crate today for some quiet inside rest time. We've been letting him out a few times a day to stretch and take a bath in the evening. I'm wondering how many days it might be healthy to keep him indoors for? As a bonus we've started wrapping his foot with ointment in case the bumble is complicating things. He isn't lame but he does seem to favor the leg still. Situation seems slightly improved over his first day inside but not significantly. I know these sorts of things take some time to heal. I just feel bad for the poor boy.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Can you set him up outside where he can be around everyone but not overdo? Mine sure do better if they get to stay out with everyone. I use a dog X pen.