Straightening Legs That Are Criss-Crossed?

[The Dim Side]

Hi, all!

I've had a little bit of help from another thread that wasn't initially about this topic. But I have a runner duck whose legs bend inward very drastically. From the Rural King my boyfriend works at, we took in a Cayuga duck that's blind in one eye and the runner duck with leg problems, since we figured no one else would take them.

It seems like it was either born this way, or maybe it got spraddle leg upon hatching, only it seems like in the reverse? Like instead of splaying outward, it got twisted inward? I'm not sure if that's a thing.

Someone suggested to give liquid B complex in case it's a niacin deficiency, which I've started to do via mealworms (1 mL a day, though he's likely not eating all of it since it's poured over top), plus some grass from outside and duck feed. And we try to give short swim times in the bathtub once or twice a day to exercise his legs. He can swim, though you can still see his legs cross in the water. And with him getting bigger, he seems to be getting worse, less able to stand and walk around, even though he was still tripping quite a bit in doing so. Now he just stumbles everywhere and cries as he tries to move around, and I really want to help him out.

Is there any sort of physical therapy or something like a brace we could do to try and get his legs straightened out? Today I was trying to hold his feet straight down to let him stand up. It seems to work a bit and calms him down, but as soon as he tries to take a step, his legs cross inward immediately.

Here are some video clips of him. The first two are from 5/25 and 5/26, the second two are from 5/29 and 5/31, and the last one is from today (6/5). And he's just getting worse from even how he walks there.

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

Edit to add: He's trembling a lot right now as he's trying to go to sleep. I'm not sure if he's cold, hurting, or something else. He's not crying or anything though.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Your still doing the liquid B complex? This maybe a birth defect. I'm not sure what else you can do other than keep up the b complex and water therapy and make him a sling
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-to-sling-a-ducks-leg.1450307/#post-24133375
Hopefully, others will have some advice.

 

[The Dim Side]

Yeah, we initially thought it was a birth defect, but I was hoping it might be niacin deficiency so that he might get better. I'm still giving him the liquid B complex daily, but it seems like his hips or something just bend inward too much. I'm hoping we can still help him straighten them out if we keep practicing? And any BYC advice would be helpful! Otherwise, I may try and get a vet appointment, but the closest vet for birds is 2.5 hours away, and I worry about them traveling since they're not fully feathered yet.

 

[ruthhope]

I agree that you are taking the right measures and should continue the vit B complex and lots of swimming -- the best physiotherapy is hydrotherapy for ducks.

If you can take the duckling to a vet, I would do so. The vet might know of a way to bind the legs to turn them out -- I can envisage using vet wrap crossed under the belly holding the legs out.

 

[The Dim Side]

Thanks! I'm hoping there's some sort of bracing that can be done! I actually was able to get an appointment scheduled for this Wednesday. It sucks that it's so far away though, so I'm hoping they'll be okay for that long of a ride in the car.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Just give them a nice cozy dog crate or box with bedding in it they should be fine.
Look forward to what the vet says.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thinking of you all.

 

[The Dim Side]

Thinking of you all.

Well, not very good news. The prognosis wasn't great. Turns out, both of his knees are dislocated. And while there's a very slim chance of potentially physical therapy helping him out, the vet didn't seem to be very optimistic. Ultimately, she was suggesting either surgery (when he's bigger) or euthanasia. However, she did try wrapping some bandage/tape thing around his legs to try and keep them straight, though I was confused because they already bend inward and didn't think it would help. Later when they were trying to splint them differently, she was saying how the tying works for splayed legs that go outward, but his go the opposite way. And I was like, yeeeeah, I know....

So part of me also wants to get a second opinion from this other vet clinic (that's also 2.5 hours away but is specifically for birds). What I'd like is some sort of brace/cast that we could put on or something that would be like bumper effect to keep his legs from crossing over. Because he can stand when his feet are held flat on the ground. If he has something that prevents them from turning inward when walking, then maybe it could work out.

And in other bad news, my BF called on the way home to tell me that our rooster was attacked and missing all his tail feathers. And one of our hens was missing. I got home and helped clean up the wounds a little (mostly looked like they were all plucked out, so it was raw and bleeding a little, but it didn't look like really bite wounds, but it was hard to tell fort sure with the cloaca and everything) and sprayed Vetericyn on it. The poor guy was just so sad and hurt. And I'm saddened about our other hen disappearing, but I'm starting to get a little used to all these animal problems now, getting a little desensitized). But ultimately, a rough day!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'm sorry to hear about your hen and roo. It is heart breaking.

As for the little duckling did the vet end up taping the legs or did she give up?
If it's feasible maybe having a more experienced vet [does birds] look at him and see what they think.
Your wonderful for caring so much and trying to help the little one. I hope you can.
I have no idea if anything like this would work but came across this the other day and maybe you could check this info out?
https://www.etsy.com/market/duck_leg_splints

 

[ruthhope]

Image from @Miss Lydia's Etsy link. Several of the postings there had spacers as well as splints. It seems to me that your duckling should benefit from a spacer above its knees.

I don't know how reliable is the diagnosis of dislocated knees. if you buy or print yourself splints, I suggest your duckling only uses splints for short periods to keep his walking leg muscles strong.
But your duckling doesn't want to end up with rigid knees from wearing the splints for too long. So my advice would be to let your duck walk for maybe 30 minutes and then take them off and let your duck swim for 30 minutes. Then maybe an hour or two resting and back to 30 minutes walking in splints and 30 minutes swimming without.

Good luck and please keep us posted!