What the heck is wrong with my Pekin?

[Magnolia Ducks]

I would definitely stop feeding layer to a drake. You can get an all flock and put oyster shell on the side for the girls. Not saying too much calcium is your problem but it's not great for drakes.

 

[EvaluationUnit]

Thank you for this information.

I'm including a video of him (definitely a drake -- not sure if that matters) attempting to walk. He stood up when I came by the pen today to put him in his pool, and tried to amble away, which is definitely better than he has been doing in the past few days. He is no longer actively dragging his right leg, and is instead trying to use it. I noticed when he was standing in the pool and the level was low, he was looking a bit splay-legged. Once the water level got a little higher he stood up fine and was walking around the pool, less hobbly than days prior.

Unfortunately I couldn't get him to try to walk much once he was out of the pool (he really just wanted to preen) but you can see he just falls over and tries to use his wings and bill to steady himself.

His eyes are definitely still weeping (one moreso than the other). His legs/feet are definitely not swollen to the naked eye. Not really anything on them aside from one small scratch on the top of his left foot -- surprisingly clean, too. No redness, swelling, definitely no bumblefoot. As noted before his feet/legs and bill are both warm to the touch, and he does end up panting a lot whereas the other ducks do not, even when he's in the shade.

You can hear in the video he's quite raspy, and he's a bit wheezy today as well. The vet noted this as well. Excuse the poor photos - trying to snap them on my own. I only took one photo of the underside of the seemingly problematic foot (the right). I also included a photo of the top side of the left foot with the small scratch on it. It doesn't seem scabby so I'm wondering if this even is a scratch. Also included are his two eyes -- one is much worse than the other (left) and always seemingly has been. I *just* took him out of the pool too, and this is what it looks like.

 

[Miss Lydia]

@Isaac 0

 

[Isaac 0]

I apologize, I did not see he was a male. Since males don't need calcium, you should really switch to a feed like (Purina Flock Raiser, or All Flock Feed) that contains a decent amount of calcium, but not enough for it to pose a problem with males.

What has your vet done as far as a treatment to the eye?

What kind of diagnostic tests has your vet done so far?

 

[EvaluationUnit]

I apologize, I did not see he was a male. Since males don't need calcium, you should really switch to a feed like (Purina Flock Raiser, or All Flock Feed) that contains a decent amount of calcium, but not enough for it to pose a problem with males.

What has your vet done as far as a treatment to the eye?

What kind of diagnostic tests has your vet done so far?

For the eye treatment, my vet has tried, in this order:

- Clavacillin, 2x daily - Resolved but came back.
- After that, we had an aerobic culture performed.
- The culture came back with 4 types of bacteria, most of which were resistant to antibiotics.
- The vet prescribed eye drops - ciprofloxacin, 2x daily, along with an oral suspension, enrofloxacin. His voice seemed to resolve more with the enrofloxacin, but his eyes were still goopy.
- The vet tried an eye flush, and asked me to do the same with saline, along with a daily massage (which I did, no resolution).
- The vet prescribed a different type of eye drops, gentamycin, 2x daily, which didn't seem to have any effect.
- When he came down with the issue with his leg, the vet performed an xray and blood test. Vet said his joint looked slightly swollen.
- Vet prescribed clavacillin again, 2x daily, along with an anti-inflammatory/pain (carprofen) management med, 2x daily. When on the clavacillin, his eye issue seemed to resolve again, then came back as soon as he was off of it.
- Blood test came back with elevated white blood cells.

The vet prescribed more clavacillin and anti-inflammatory after it all came back again, and I have not started him on it again because...

Interesting change. He has decided now that his right foot is not the foot that he is having issues with, and has instead switched to now his left foot being the one he refuses to use and drags along behind him. I've been giving him his poly-vi-sol which I feel like may be helping (He'll stand for a brief period of time, but will fall over; obviously due to favoring one leg), but now that he's switched legs, I'm not sure what's going to help him, or if any of the other stuff has helped him at all. Since he's been on so many antibiotics I'm trying to give him some time to recover a bit before I put him back on them again (since we weren't doing them back-to-back I feel like the effectiveness of doing so is lost anyway)... He certainly hates me jamming meds down his throat every day anyway.

He's still getting plenty of swimming time, and is eating plenty, he's just not very mobile so he ends up more or less in the same place for hours when he's not in his pool.

 

[EvaluationUnit]

After trying with the vitamins all weekend and a few more days, Quasi does not seem to be improving. His eyes are still dripping and he can no longer walk or stand on his own. I have started his new course of antibiotics and anti-inflammtory two days ago. Still giving him plenty of swimming time, vitamins, and ensuring he's eating. I'm not sure what else I can do for this poor guy.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I would definitely not feed any duck Dumor. I had issues with it when I use to use their feed for my horses and I told myself never again would I feed any of my animals Dumor. Well fast forward to when covid hit and everyone around us ran out of feed. The only thing I could get my hands on was Dumor (never say never right?). I always put nutritional yeast on my ducklings food from the start, weather permitting they're outside to exercise daily (if not they get put in the tub for exercise) and at 2 weeks I put them on a lower protein grower feed. Not even two weeks after I had to switch to Dumor I noticed that a couple of my ducklings started to develop angel wing, they started to seem less energetic and overall almost had a full appearance. Now I have never had this happen before and go out of my way to ensure my ducklings receive the best care so I was shocked to say the least until I remembered the issues I had before with Dumor. I wrapped their wings, found a place online where I could get my usual Kalmbach feed, took them off of the Dumor, everyone healed up very quickly, their overall appearance brightened up and their energy came right back.

 

[EvaluationUnit]

Thanks for the information regarding the food. However, I do not believe the food type is the issue here.

Quasi is now unable to walk or stand entirely. His most functional leg and foot appears to be the right leg and foot (since he switched sides) at this point. He now uses his beak and wings to essentially flop around in his pen.

We are working on a PVC wheelchair for him to at least get him off of the ground as I believe the longer he is sedentary the more likely what little muscle in his legs there is will deteriorate. He still gets plenty of pool time but doesn't seem to be enjoying it -- he tries to leave as soon he is put in, and doesn't really dunk or clean his nose/beak like the others. His eyes are still runny and foamy despite being on the antibiotic. We will continue to monitor and administer his antibiotic and anti-inflammatory, but it's not looking positive.

 

[EvaluationUnit]

Unfortunately I came out this morning to let everyone out and found Quasi. My heart is broken but I tried everything for this poor chap.

 

[quackiemama]

Oh noooooooooo! I am so sorry to hear about your boy. That breaks my heart. He had an excellent duck parent that did everything you could. I lost one earlier this year too and it is truly painful. Big hugs