UPDATE: she's alive! Now what?

[CMV]

Did she make it through the night?

 

[maralynn28]

She's a fighter! She is doing fantastic this morning. Seems to have a stiff neck. I don't think she was drinking last night since I set the water on the floor. I put it up on a little step stool and she is drinking and even enjoying a few peas I put in there to entice her. She seems to like the vitamin water.
I can see more injuries now. She lost some feathers and her back is pretty scratched up but doesn't look bad. It's her face that worries me now. She's got punctures on either side of her face between eye and beak. She is keeping her beak open a crack as if it hurts or she is unable to close it properly...but she's eating and drinking so that's all that matters I think. Also she has an eye that looks glazed over and the other looks leaky like she's been crying blood. . Hopefully no infection, maybe she'll lose her eyesight though.
I put betadine on her cuts, anything I can do for her eyes? So far I've just been using purified water to flush them. Saline or something else? Betadine or something else? I think you mentioned neosporin, but can I put that ON her eye or just the surrounding areas? Thanks again so much.
My kids were so relieved (so was I) to hear her quack for us this morning.
They made thank you cards and took some duck eggs to the neighbor who rescued her for us. It was so cute. My son is only 7, hence why the duck got named Darth Vader. She seems to live up to her name though! She keeps defying death...only duck I know who has stood against a raccooon and survived!

 

[CMV]

You can put the Neosporin in the eye. It is not ideal, but it works in a pinch. The ideal would be to get some terramycin opthalmic ointment. Any of your kids have pink eye recently?

 

[maralynn28]

Things still going well. She's resting a lot and we clean the tub every night (it sure gets stinky fast!) we let her splash around and groom herself as well as she can in the clean water before we drain it again. She seems to enjoy that very much, as ducks should!
Not sure how much more I can do for her eyes. They look better but still not well. Not sure how long it takes for these things to heal.
She is drinking when the bowl is on a step stool and will eat peas when we raise them to her face. She won't eat them in a bowl. I mushed some food but she won't eat the mush, or crumbles. I don't think it's lack of movement in her neck as she does lower her neck to splash in the water and clean her face. This is why I think she is having sight issues.

Things are improving much faster than I could have imagined. I'm still amazed she survived. My husband is home now and saw the raccoon, as it ran out of our yard as our dog chased it, and said it was a BIG mean looking bugger.

Any advice on how to continue treating/caring for my feathered friend and how long of a time I should be doing such things (either time or signs). Any other precautions or the like?

Thanks again from the bottom of my heart.

 

[Paulajon]

Things still going well. She's resting a lot and we clean the tub every night (it sure gets stinky fast!) we let her splash around and groom herself as well as she can in the clean water before we drain it again. She seems to enjoy that very much, as ducks should!
Not sure how much more I can do for her eyes. They look better but still not well. Not sure how long it takes for these things to heal.
She is drinking when the bowl is on a step stool and will eat peas when we raise them to her face. She won't eat them in a bowl. I mushed some food but she won't eat the mush, or crumbles. I don't think it's lack of movement in her neck as she does lower her neck to splash in the water and clean her face. This is why I think she is having sight issues.
Things are improving much faster than I could have imagined. I'm still amazed she survived. My husband is home now and saw the raccoon, as it ran out of our yard as our dog chased it, and said it was a BIG mean looking bugger.
Any advice on how to continue treating/caring for my feathered friend and how long of a time I should be doing such things (either time or signs). Any other precautions or the like?
Thanks again from the bottom of my heart.

So glad your duck is doing ok, and healing. just wanted to say please be carefull of the coon, if attacking in daylight hours it could be rabied. take care. I had an encounter with a rabied skunk years ago.

 

[CMV]

Don't be in a great rush to get her back outside, no matter how tempting it may be. You need to make sure of a few things:

Does she have any visible wounds? If so, she needs to stay inside until they heal or can be hidden.
Can she see? If not she is going to need time to acclimate to her new handicap.
Can she eat from the feeder and drink from the waterer? If not, then you are going to need to give her more time until that neck gets a little more spry.
Can she reach her top speed? If not, until you get rid of that raccoon she is going to need to stay inside until she is more mobile.

I would recommend trapping the raccoon. A raccoon that is hanging around like that is bad news.

 

[maralynn28]

Thank you for those tips. We are looking into trapping the raccoon now. Not sure how...I feel bad killing it, since it is more his home than mine (we're just living here temporarily) and there are laws around here about relocating. We'll figure it out though. Thanks again. I will have to think about rabies also...the wildlife people here say rabies isn't such a big problem here but...my dog also has wounds from fighting off the coon, so it's important that we make sure rabies isn't an issue.

 

[CMV]

How is she doing?