Why does my duck twitch his head like this? (video)

[DuneDucks]

Was this your post as well? https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/duck-shaking-his-head-and-throwing-up.1543990/ I could have sworn that 3rd post had been by 'valeria-' instead of 'duckiedessert' when I saw it last night. Apologize If I'm mistaken.

But if so, I'd agree between the two posts that it would seem like a crop issue/blockage. You mention having him for a few weeks, and giving him treats over the last few days, does he have access to grit as well?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Does your duck always have access to water (also needs to be deep enough to fully dunk his head) when he eats/has access to food? You mentioned that you were new to ducks and not everyone at first knows that ducks actually cannot properly swallow and eat their food without drinking water in-between bites. If they don't have water they can't fully flush it down and can vomit is back up, choke or have blockage issues.

 

[valeria-]

Haha... srry... my mom was panicking about him and she made posts too while we waited for the vet. That seems like it could be hers unless there's another duck with my duck's symptom. They initially told us it would be a few days wait for the vet but later they were later able to squeeze him in today

Our duck always has access to water 24/7, both the kiddie pool and a few water buckets we refill each day for him.

We never supplied him with grit because he usually forages. My brother brought it up to the vet as well but the vet said it's fine that we don't supply him with grit and it shouldn't be a grit issue.

I'm going to update this in detail in case anyone else has a duck w/ my duck's symptoms and maybe it'll help.

My duck threw up all day... he threw up food that he had eaten 2 days before. The vet said he may have crop stasis & gave him some laxatives, gave antibiotics to him & also gave us a brown liquid in a syringe (molasses??) to give him later. He told us not to feed him until 8 pm, and then we would give him the syringe. The vet said he did not have impacted crop.

My brother didn't explain this thoroughly to me but the vet said it may be because he had eaten a long grass? I'm not sure why eating grass would do this to him

I've never seen a duck vomit before so I'm attaching a video. It's usually a lot more mucusy & slimy when he does it and lasts around 5-10 seconds of shaking his head and then he coughs after.

https://imgur.com/a/2JAEfUc

 

[DuneDucks]

How has he been doing since coming back from the vet?

We never supplied him with grit because he usually forages. My brother brought it up to the vet as well but the vet said it's fine that we don't supply him with grit and it shouldn't be a grit issue.

I would leave him a bowl full that he regularly has access to just in case. Ideally, he'd be finding enough on his own, but depending on both the size of the area and ground composition, he might be having a hard time reliably finding properly sized rocks/pebbles to swallow.

 

[valeria-]

That's a good point! If he gets better, I'll get him a huge tub of grit to enjoy.

Right now, he's not doing well.