Thoughts on older duck...

[amander103]

Hello everyone,

A few of you have heard about Nelson when I first adopted him after being abandoned at our local animal shelter last summer. He is completely blind. Nelson and his friends have been living in my heated garage for the winter since I felt our Maine winter would be a little extreme for them (especially Nelson).

Within the last few days Nelson's attitude and energy level has greatly changed. He spends most of his time laying or standing hunched up in the corner with his feathers all ruffled up sometimes quivering. He also seems to have lost his voice and no longer does his quiet little quack anymore nor does he try to interact with Rose... He does still find his way over for lettuce every night and I have seen him eating and drinking. Has anyone every experienced anything like this?

He saw a vet in January when he had some sort of cough (although is wasn't actually a cough) but it was cleared up with antibiotics. The vet said he seemed happy and healthy at that point but definitely very old.

I'm not sure if there is something wrong with him or if old age is finally catching up...

I've included some pictures and a video of him standing hunched over tonight.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hello everyone,

A few of you have heard about Nelson when I first adopted him after being abandoned at our local animal shelter last summer. He is completely blind. Nelson and his friends have been living in my heated garage for the winter since I felt our Maine winter would be a little extreme for them (especially Nelson).

Within the last few days Nelson's attitude and energy level has greatly changed. He spends most of his time laying or standing hunched up in the corner with his feathers all ruffled up sometimes quivering. He also seems to have lost his voice and no longer does his quiet little quack anymore nor does he try to interact with Rose... He does still find his way over for lettuce every night and I have seen him eating and drinking. Has anyone every experienced anything like this?

He saw a vet in January when he had some sort of cough (although is wasn't actually a cough) but it was cleared up with antibiotics. The vet said he seemed happy and healthy at that point but definitely very old.

I'm not sure if there is something wrong with him or if old age is finally catching up...

I've included some pictures and a video of him standing hunched over tonight.

I'm sorry Nelson does look like he doesn't feel well. Can you take him to the vet again? I know the expense can be a problem sometimes. Does his poop look normal? is he eating and drinking Something is dif going on. Do they get grit?

 

[amander103]

Yes. We are planning on bringing him in on Thursday if they can take him (since we are getting another storm here tomorrow).

Just wanted to see if you guys had any thoughts.

They do get grit, which he doesn't really touch much (poor guys normally trips over that dish) and he eats Mazuri waterfowl maintenance along with their veggie snacks.
Poop seems normal, at least the same as the others.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yes. We are planning on bringing him in on Thursday if they can take him (since we are getting another storm here tomorrow).

Just wanted to see if you guys had any thoughts.

They do get grit, which he doesn't really touch much (poor guys normally trips over that dish) and he eats Mazuri waterfowl maintenance along with their veggie snacks.
Poop seems normal, at least the same as the others.

Just so hard to know what can be going on with them, Bless his heart he sure is a pretty one along with his mate. I wish i could help. Have you been giving them any kind of poultry vitamins over winter?

 

[amander103]

Just so hard to know what can be going on with them, Bless his heart he sure is a pretty one along with his mate. I wish i could help. Have you been giving them any kind of poultry vitamins over winter?

No vitamins for him. He was on two different medications for his problem he had at the end of january until about a month ago.
He's gets super disoriented when you touch him or pick him up (which is understandable because he has a hard time figuring out where he is when you put him back down) so i've never forced him to take anything that he doesn't get on his own. He's pretty independent.. or does whatever Rose does

 

[Miss Lydia]

No vitamins for him. He was on two different medications for his problem he had at the end of january until about a month ago.
He's gets super disoriented when you touch him or pick him up (which is understandable because he has a hard time figuring out where he is when you put him back down) so i've never forced him to take anything that he doesn't get on his own. He's pretty independent.. or does whatever Rose does

I meant vitamins that you would put into his water or their water, Poultry Nutri drench is one and there are others too. Just thinking he might be missing something and they may give him a boost.

 

[amander103]

Good idea! I'll go out and get some tomorrow and see if it maybe helps a little.

 

[veronicasmom]

Hi fellow Mainer!!
Aww sweet old guy. I am not sure what you can do if he has no illness. We had a similar situation with out two Blue Swedes years ago. We just made their lives as easy as we could. Gave them a lot of fresh veggies along with the pellets they got, got a very shallow pan to bathe in because getting in and out of the pool was hard. The vitamins might help, certainly worth trying. But if you have a good avian vet, I would definitely take him back since this came on pretty quickly. Maybe he is harboring something internally. Or, sadly, maybe he is just very old.
I think you are wonderful for taking him and giving him such a lovely life.

to you and Nelson.
Hope you are not going to get hit too hard with the storm today, it sure does not feel like spring here does it? This winter is endless.....................................oops, it's spring! Who knew??
Good luck with Nelson and keep us posted.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Any news on Nelson?

 

[amander103]

Nelson was put down earlier this afternoon :'(
They couldn't find anything wrong with him but he kept having small seizures this morning. So we decided it was best to let him move on.