Unknown cause of death

[Colmftw]

A big sad, but we lost an Indian runner today, but i have no idea what caused this, and would like to prevent this from happening to the other two. She was about 3 years old, no problems in the past, when the day before yesterday she was acting quite strange. She had her feathers ruffled and she was sluggish. The next day she couldn't control her legs properly and tried to use her winds to move. Every time she fell over she would get back up in about 10-20 mins and be fine for about an hour or two, when she would lose control of her legs for an other 20 mins or so. We took her inside and I felt she was improving ,she stood on 1 leg as she slept through the night. She was bathed upstairs yesterday as well and she while she didn't seem better she was stable. This morning she was put outside in her ow pen to stop the others hurting her by accident. She ate and drank the whole time. At about 6 i noticed she was resting her head on the bowl. I went out to check on her and she started thrashing he neck every few seconds. She would flick her neck, hitting her beak off the bowl once before me and my mom picked he up and held her. She then was really limp , but still breathing. We put her in a warm box and stroked her until she died a few minutes later. I remember losing another duck when I was about 15, 3 years ago, about but never thought i could be this distressed from losing a pet. I just want to know if any of you guys know what it could have been, as I cannot lose the other two that way. Thanks, sorry if this is in the wrong place.

 

[Miss Lydia]

A big sad, but we lost an Indian runner today, but i have no idea what caused this, and would like to prevent this from happening to the other two. She was about 3 years old, no problems in the past, when the day before yesterday she was acting quite strange. She had her feathers ruffled and she was sluggish. The next day she couldn't control her legs properly and tried to use her winds to move. Every time she fell over she would get back up in about 10-20 mins and be fine for about an hour or two, when she would lose control of her legs for an other 20 mins or so. We took her inside and I felt she was improving ,she stood on 1 leg as she slept through the night. She was bathed upstairs yesterday as well and she while she didn't seem better she was stable. This morning she was put outside in her ow pen to stop the others hurting her by accident. She ate and drank the whole time. At about 6 i noticed she was resting her head on the bowl. I went out to check on her and she started thrashing he neck every few seconds. She would flick her neck, hitting her beak off the bowl once before me and my mom picked he up and held her. She then was really limp , but still breathing. We put her in a warm box and stroked her until she died a few minutes later. I remember losing another duck when I was about 15, 3 years ago, about but never thought i could be this distressed from losing a pet. I just want to know if any of you guys know what it could have been, as I cannot lose the other two that way. Thanks, sorry if this is in the wrong place.

@Colmftw so very sorry you lost your beloved Runner.

About the best way to know what happened is to have a necropsy done . We can only guess, was she laying recently? could she have had egg binding or an infection from laying internally ? could she have gotten into something moldy or dead? a plant that was posionious ? Or could she have found some metal? there is so many things that could have happened. I'd check over the whole area where you keep your ducks making sure nothing is laying around they can get into, I bought a magnet on a long handle to check for nails screws staples after some construction work was done here . Also she could have had a heart problem or liver?? just too many causes.

Sure wish I could help more just know most of us have been in your shoes so just sending hugs