Swollen leg

[BelovedBirds]

I went out to put the girls to bed and found Sprightly lying down, it was a little unusual for her to stay laying down even with me petting her, so I asked her to stand and noticed right away that she wasn't taking full weight on her foot and it looked swollen.
I had a good look and a good feel of both of her legs and her leg is definitely swollen, and warm. She's got a limp but it's not a hugely bad one, she didn't react to pressure anywhere on her leg or foot. I gave her a cold water soak before I put her to bed but now I'm all worried.
It seems mostly in her ankle, right above her foot. Doesn't seem fractured or broken based on her behaviour currently but the swelling has me spooked. Dougie sprained her leg badly one time, couldn't step on it at all, and it didn't swell even a little bit. This definitely occurred today, likely this afternoon or evening as she was fine early afternoon.


Should we get her to the vets, or is it likely to resolve on its own? Photos tomorrow if she's still feeling bad.

 

[ruthhope]

I went out to put the girls to bed and found Sprightly lying down, it was a little unusual for her to stay laying down even with me petting her, so I asked her to stand and noticed right away that she wasn't taking full weight on her foot and it looked swollen.
I had a good look and a good feel of both of her legs and her leg is definitely swollen, and warm. She's got a limp but it's not a hugely bad one, she didn't react to pressure anywhere on her leg or foot. I gave her a cold water soak before I put her to bed but now I'm all worried.
It seems mostly in her ankle, right above her foot. Doesn't seem fractured or broken based on her behaviour currently but the swelling has me spooked. Dougie sprained her leg badly one time, couldn't step on it at all, and it didn't swell even a little bit. This definitely occurred today, likely this afternoon or evening as she was fine early afternoon.


Should we get her to the vets, or is it likely to resolve on its own? Photos tomorrow if she's still feeling bad.

Poor Sprightly! If you cannot feel anything wrong except the swollen and presumably painful leg, I am thinking it is a sprained ankle. You might give her Meloxicam if you have it as it is a painkiller and anti-inflammatory. IF you don;t have any, you might buy ibuprofen for her from a pharmacy. I like infant ibuprofen as it is more concentrated and thus a smaller volume to give the dose but not everywhere has it. Paediatric ibuprofen seems to be widely available. The ibuprofen dose for ducks is 5-10 mg/kg 2-3 times a day. So, being in the USA, I use 5 mg per pound. For a 7lb duck 35mg.

You are lucky to have a vet option. Whether you take her depends on how comfortable you are waiting and seeing. Many of us don't have vet options and generally wait and see, and find that sprains and feet wounds generally get better with home care.

Let us know how she does in the next few days

 

[BelovedBirds]

Poor Sprightly! If you cannot feel anything wrong except the swollen and presumably painful leg, I am thinking it is a sprained ankle. You might give her Meloxicam if you have it as it is a painkiller and anti-inflammatory. IF you don;t have any, you might buy ibuprofen for her from a pharmacy. I like infant ibuprofen as it is more concentrated and thus a smaller volume to give the dose but not everywhere has it. Paediatric ibuprofen seems to be widely available. The ibuprofen dose for ducks is 5-10 mg/kg 2-3 times a day. So, being in the USA, I use 5 mg per pound. For a 7lb duck 35mg.

You are lucky to have a vet option. Whether you take her depends on how comfortable you are waiting and seeing. Many of us don't have vet options and generally wait and see, and find that sprains and feet wounds generally get better with home care.

Let us know how she does in the next few days

Thank you for the reply!
I have a feeling that I do have some meloxicam so I'm going to have a look for it this morning and see how she does today, I remember the dose from back when Dougie had a sprain.
If it stays the same or worsens over today I'll take her to the vets to be safe, as I havent seen swelling before and its sort of freaking me out. But I do generally like to avoid vets as the trip stresses them out a ton

 

[BelovedBirds]

Poor Sprightly! If you cannot feel anything wrong except the swollen and presumably painful leg, I am thinking it is a sprained ankle. You might give her Meloxicam if you have it as it is a painkiller and anti-inflammatory. IF you don;t have any, you might buy ibuprofen for her from a pharmacy. I like infant ibuprofen as it is more concentrated and thus a smaller volume to give the dose but not everywhere has it. Paediatric ibuprofen seems to be widely available. The ibuprofen dose for ducks is 5-10 mg/kg 2-3 times a day. So, being in the USA, I use 5 mg per pound. For a 7lb duck 35mg.

You are lucky to have a vet option. Whether you take her depends on how comfortable you are waiting and seeing. Many of us don't have vet options and generally wait and see, and find that sprains and feet wounds generally get better with home care.

Let us know how she does in the next few days

I have meloxicam but it's been opened and stored away for about a year, just over- and the box says that it expires 6 months after opening. The bottle says it expires March 2025- according to Google, it shouldn't be hazardous to use, but it may be less efficient? I'm still concerned as it's expired beyond shelf life.
Should I go for it or not take any risk?

 

[BelovedBirds]

Poor Sprightly! If you cannot feel anything wrong except the swollen and presumably painful leg, I am thinking it is a sprained ankle. You might give her Meloxicam if you have it as it is a painkiller and anti-inflammatory. IF you don;t have any, you might buy ibuprofen for her from a pharmacy. I like infant ibuprofen as it is more concentrated and thus a smaller volume to give the dose but not everywhere has it. Paediatric ibuprofen seems to be widely available. The ibuprofen dose for ducks is 5-10 mg/kg 2-3 times a day. So, being in the USA, I use 5 mg per pound. For a 7lb duck 35mg.

You are lucky to have a vet option. Whether you take her depends on how comfortable you are waiting and seeing. Many of us don't have vet options and generally wait and see, and find that sprains and feet wounds generally get better with home care.

Let us know how she does in the next few days

Photos from today

The swelling is worst in her ankle, there's heat too all up her leg- and there's swelling under her foot here, that scab is making me suspicious of a bumble infection. It feels very firm and is bigger than her other foot's pad. My partner is going out to get some epsom salts so I can give it a soak to be on the safe side. I have ichthamol that I could put on it and I might possibly be able to put a boot on her if need be. But if people think this looks like bumble I will probably go to the vets with her as I'm nervous to lance it without knowing for certain. Plus if it's early stages I'd rather get her on antibiotics and hope it clears up on its own.

She got plenty of cuddles as payment for being a good patient so far. She's still not limping too badly, but it is visible and she holds her foot up/lies down plenty.

 

[ruthhope]

I have meloxicam but it's been opened and stored away for about a year, just over- and the box says that it expires 6 months after opening. The bottle says it expires March 2025- according to Google, it shouldn't be hazardous to use, but it may be less efficient? I'm still concerned as it's expired beyond shelf life.
Should I go for it or not take any risk?

I'd use it for myself if I needed it!! Medications dont suddenly become impotent the decline in potency is over years. The only medication I know that should not be ingested after its expiry date is tetracycline as it slowly becomes toxic to kidneys.

I would have no qualms using it on my ducks

 

[BelovedBirds]

I'd use it for myself if I needed it!! Medications dont suddenly become impotent the decline in potency is over years. The only medication I know that should not be ingested after its expiry date is tetracycline as it slowly becomes toxic to kidneys.

I would have no qualms using it on my ducks

This is reassuring! I did decide to use it in the end, I couldn't find any evidence online that it'd be harmful. I didn't give her a huge dose then, just a bit less than Dougie had prescribed for her sprain years back.
I'm leaning towards taking her to the vets anyway though, she's just so miserable. I came over to her earlier while she was laying down and she refused to get up even with encouragement. I ended up transferring her to my lap and she had a long restful cuddle.
I did an epsom soak earlier just incase, as I do not like the look of the swelling under her foot, and I've been doing somewhat frequent cold water soaks to relieve the inflammation.

If she's the same in the morning, which I think she will be, we'll book her for a check. If she's a bit better we'll wait and continue with our current meloxicam. I also did order some niacin capsules just incase it's a sprain it can't hurt to have a little extra niacin.