Duck with Frostbitten Feet
Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2015 9:55 pm
Hello everyone, I was hoping you could give us some advice. Our four year old Muscovy duck Peanut has very bad frostbite on both of his feet. He's an outside duck but we see him every day- it happened so quickly in temperatures that none of our other Muscovies had any problems with. We brought him inside the house and he's been in for going on two weeks now and I don't see improvement in his feet. If anything they seem to be getting worse. He won't walk on them or even stand up. I'm moving him around his tub because he'll just sit in his own leavings
When we first brought him in he was moving around ok. I even gave him a lukewarm bath and he jumped out of the tub and ran around (albeit, not with much dexterity)- but that was over a week ago.
Peanut has always been something of a special needs duck. I pulled him out of the pen his mother and siblings were in before he even opened his eyes because some of the other ducklings had been trampled by the mother ducks. He imprinted and we raised him in the house with his sister, Butter, who passed away. We tried introducing him to the other Muscovies but they just fought with each other, so he is in his own pen. He doesn't really understand how to be a duck. He can't spread his oil or bath himself very well, and he sleeps with his feet out behind him instead of tucked up under him (hence the frostbite).
What can we do? I was thinking about a wheelchair but if he can't use his feet very well it doesn't seem like it would do much good. Do you think the feet will heal themselves? As I've said we've never had problems with frostbite on any of our other ducks.
Thank you.
When we first brought him in he was moving around ok. I even gave him a lukewarm bath and he jumped out of the tub and ran around (albeit, not with much dexterity)- but that was over a week ago.
Peanut has always been something of a special needs duck. I pulled him out of the pen his mother and siblings were in before he even opened his eyes because some of the other ducklings had been trampled by the mother ducks. He imprinted and we raised him in the house with his sister, Butter, who passed away. We tried introducing him to the other Muscovies but they just fought with each other, so he is in his own pen. He doesn't really understand how to be a duck. He can't spread his oil or bath himself very well, and he sleeps with his feet out behind him instead of tucked up under him (hence the frostbite).
What can we do? I was thinking about a wheelchair but if he can't use his feet very well it doesn't seem like it would do much good. Do you think the feet will heal themselves? As I've said we've never had problems with frostbite on any of our other ducks.
Thank you.