Painful duck

Re: Painful duck

Hannah Wynne Richards — Sat, 20 Dec 2014 09:28:05 GMT

DON'T try an MRI scan

Wynne

Re: Painful duck

Sammy82 — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 23:54:02 GMT

Looking at the photo the lower "stone" looks indeed exactly round like a coin. And so does the ovoid shaped one as well, just it's been pictured from a different angle, but it looks the very same size as the other one. 10 pence?

Re: Painful duck

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 23:02:23 GMT

Does anyone around the practice own a metal detector?

Re: Painful duck

Marie Kubiak — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 20:06:08 GMT

Is there any chance of metal ingestion? One of those stones looks very uniform (still easily a stone but also consider a metallic FB which is a concerns whereas pebbles are unlikely to be significant).

I use 0.5mg/kg bid of meloxicam in ducks based on pharmacokinetics in Cairina ducks.

Re: anaesthesia, I draw up 10mg/kg propofol and give to effect, then intubate and maintain on Isoflurane (often with ventilation based on end tidal CO2). The easiest vein to get a catheter in is the medial tarsal vein (just below the 'hock' on the medial leg, superficial and visible without raising).

You could do with a lateral view with limbs retracted away from the coelom, plus a DV view with retracted limbs to get a clear idea of the gizzard densities and also evaluate for musculoskeletal problems.

Marie

Re: Painful duck

Martin Atkinson — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 18:25:31 GMT

Birds will often suffer from septic arthritis so it may be worth doing a joint tap from the hock joint to see if you get purulent . Otherwise we used Ciproxin 250mg/ml suggested dose 0.4ml/kg bid q 5-7 days for a penguin with septic arthritis.

Re: Painful duck

Hannah Wynne Richards — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 17:59:50 GMT

Another who wouldn't worry about the pebbles. I thinkthey're normal,and the pain comes from something else. Good luck.

Wynne

Re: Painful duck

Robin Grimmer — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 17:29:03 GMT

Is it not normal for birds to have stones in the gizzard? Although granted they do seem pretty big. But the fact that the bird is eating normally suggests that they are not causing a problem.

Re: Painful duck

Suzanne Kelly — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 17:05:50 GMT

Ok here's the blurry duck pic, i figured out how to measure the stones, they're 2cm in diameter which seems quite large to me! It's my first duck-o-gram though so I haven't anything to compare it to.

Re: Painful duck

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 22:32:19 GMT

Hi Suzanne, I hope someone more experienced will write soon but 0.3mg/kg of meloxicam appears to be a quite high dose in birds. They do not drink a lot, so I would dose them at 0.1mg/kg or even lower if there are worries about kidney function.

I wonder though could you dose ducks and other water birds higher as they must drink more than other birds.

Pebbles and stones in the gizzard are normal and are needed for digestion to grind up the food. This would not worry me unless someone thinks 1cm in diameter is large?