Weasel Attack - badly injured duck

[Swampfarm]

Continue on using the triple antibiotic ointment, that will work. Sick/injured birds often don't eat much, which directly results in lowered metabolic energy levels, so she's not able to maintain heat well. That's why it's important a lot of the time to provide some sort of supplemental warmth.

Which antibiotic did you order?

The one from chewy that you recommended

 

[Isaac 0]

The one from chewy that you recommended

If you post back here once you get the Cephalexin, I can give a follow-up, on dosing, and route of administration.

How is she doing today?

 

[Swampfarm]

If you post back here once you get the Cephalexin, I can give a follow-up, on dosing, and route of administration.

How is she doing today?

I can do that once they come in. I’d appreciate the help, I have no idea the amount to administer.

She’s doing okay today. About the same. She still hasn’t eaten anything, it’s been almost 3 days. I’ve continued to make her drink water every few hours. Her coat is clean and dry and looks less frazzled compared to the past few days. She’s also not shaking and twitching as much (I moved her out of the green house with the extra light and wood stove and put her in our bathtub where it’s much warmer). I’m assuming her absence of bowel movements is due to her not eating a thing in the last few days..she may have gotten a few grains of rice down but nothing more.

I didn’t change her bandage today and was planning to do so tomorrow. Hopefully she keeps showing signs of improving.

 

[Isaac 0]

The lack of appetite/and reluctance to drink is normal with birds suffering from trauma, but I'm afraid it can take a grim turn if she continues to not eat, or drink much. White blood cells, like neutrophils, are her natural defense to fight bacterial infections. The cells maneuver around and destroy the bacteria, but are unable to where there is a lack of liquid in the blood, and among other things, so it's very important she stays hydrated.

It may be a good idea to order tube feeding supplies in case she continues to act reluctant towards feed/water. Tube feeding may look scary, but it is fairly easy once you have a hang of it. Tube feeding consists of sticking a large smoothed end tube down her esophagus into her crop to fulfill her nutritional/ and liquid needs.

To tube feed, you need a large 60ml syringe, parrot baby feeding formula, or gamebird feed crumble. You also need a gram scale to calculate her weight and a tube to pass into her crop. For a tube, a French red rubber catheter size 20 would work best, but you can also use aquarium tubing, and melt down the tube to prevent damage to the esophagus.

Here is some info on tube-feeding :

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/tube-feeding-ducks-updated-5-7-2020.1211994/

 

[Swampfarm]

The lack of appetite/and reluctance to drink is normal with birds suffering from trauma, but I'm afraid it can take a grim turn if she continues to not eat, or drink much. White blood cells, like neutrophils, are her natural defense to fight bacterial infections. The cells maneuver around and destroy the bacteria, but are unable to where there is a lack of liquid in the blood, and among other things, so it's very important she stays hydrated.

It may be a good idea to order tube feeding supplies in case she continues to act reluctant towards feed/water. Tube feeding may look scary, but it is fairly easy once you have a hang of it. Tube feeding consists of sticking a large smoothed end tube down her esophagus into her crop to fulfill her nutritional/ and liquid needs.

To tube feed, you need a large 60ml syringe, parrot baby feeding formula, or gamebird feed crumble. You also need a gram scale to calculate her weight and a tube to pass into her crop. For a tube, a French red rubber catheter size 20 would work best, but you can also use aquarium tubing, and melt down the tube to prevent damage to the esophagus.

Here is some info on tube-feeding :

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/tube-feeding-ducks-updated-5-7-2020.1211994/

She surprisingly started to eat a little bit on her own. She’s also drinking water, but mostly when I prompt her to do so.

Looks like the antibiotics have been delivered. How do I know how much to administer?

Oh also, how do I administer?

 

[ackie]

When I initially cleaned the wound I didn’t use alcohol or hydrogen peroxide...I only used soap and water. It’s such a huge gaping wound with a lot of exposed flesh, I just couldn’t get myself to poor a solution on it.

This is fine or potentially good. The reason hydrogen peroxide is effective at disinfecting is because it kills everything - even healthy cells. Soap and water is effective and much less harsh on the bird. I imagine a stinging solution would have added to her shock/stress. There are other solutions that dont hurt that you could use next time, if you wanted more than soap and water. I usually use betadine.

 

[Isaac 0]

She surprisingly started to eat a little bit on her own. She’s also drinking water, but mostly when I prompt her to do so.

Looks like the antibiotics have been delivered. How do I know how much to administer?

Oh also, how do I administer?

Did you get the 250mg, or 500mg cephalexin tablets? The dose is calculated by weight, so do you have her weight?

 

[Isaac 0]

The dose for Cephalexin in birds, mentioned in Plumbs Veterinary Drug Handbook, is 35-50 mg/kg four times daily PO.

I will be using the 35mg dose for my calculations.

If you have the 250mg pills, take one pill out, crush it finely, and mix in with 10ml of water. The powder won't dissolve completely, so you may need to shake the container well before administration, and before sucking it into the syringe. With 250mg of Cephalexin in 10ml water, you'll roughly be left with a solution that contains 25mg per ml.

Using the 35mg/kg dose, you would draw out 0.64ml of the solution per pound of her body weight. So if she weighed five pounds you would give 3.2ml of the solution, four times a day, orally with a syringe.

If you have 500mg tablets, take one, crush it finely, dissolve it in with 10ml of water. You will be left with a solution that contains nearly 50mg of cephalexin per ml of water. With that, you would draw out, 0.32ml, and dose per pound.


Here is a link regarding administering medications orally to poultry :

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

 

[Swampfarm]

If you post back here once you get the Cephalexin, I can give a follow-up, on dosing, and route of administration.

How is she doing today?

Hi there - hoping you could give me some instructions on how to administer the cephalexin to duck.

Thanks!

 

[Isaac 0]

Hi there - hoping you could give me some instructions on how to administer the cephalexin to duck.

Thanks!

Look at my posts above.