Healthy ducks live long and happy lives, but illnesses and injuries can shorten your bird’s life if not addressed.
If you’re wanting a long and healthy life for your pet, but something seems to be wrong with its foot then you’d be right to worry.
This article explores why your duck may have a twisted foot.
Table of Contents
Duck with a twisted foot:
Your backyard duck can suffer from a number of foot-related issues and these foot-related issues can decrease the bird’s quality of life, that is why it is important to deal with any issues that your duck may have.
This article looks into why your duck has a twisted foot and what to do
Twisted ankle:
Ducks can suffer from a variety of foot injuries including a twisted ankle and this may be why your bird’s foot now looks twisted.
Twisted ankles can develop while the bird is walking around, fighting, or simply playing with another bird.
The bird’s foot or ankle may also start to swell, become discolored, and or become warm or hot as the bird’s body tries to repair the foot or ankle.
What to do:
If you think that your bird has a twisted ankle then the first thing that you should do is move the bird to a safe place where it can’t move too much. Moving around will make the injury worse.
You can create a duck hospital by leaving the bird in a pet carrier and giving it its own food and water close to it. This will keep the bird from having to walk too far when hungry or thirsty.
This is an emergency situation for the bird so take the bird to a vet, or an avian vet as soon as you can.
The vet may take an x-ray of the bird’s foot to figure out what the extent of the injury is.
The vet will realign the injured foot in its correct position, may use a splint to keep the foot in place, will bandage the bird up to keep the leg protected as it heals up, and then leave the bird’s foot to heal.
Because these birds have a fast metabolic process their healing is faster than other animals. It is common for injuries to take about 3 to 6 weeks to fully heal.
This also depends on how severe your birds injury was, how the foot was treated and any complicating factors as well.
If the injury is very bad then your vet may suggest orthopedic surgery for the bird.
Ensure that the bird gets maximum rest once it gets back from the vet, this will speed up your bird’s healing.
If you can’t get the bird to an avian vet then try to take the bird to be seen by a wildlife rehabilitator and see what they suggest.
If you can’t get the bird to a wildlife rehabilitator then you can take a video of the bird and how it’s moving with the twisted foot and see how the rehabilitator responds.
The rehabilitator may suggest that you bring the bird in, or, they may advise that the bird is better off left alone especially if the bird is still able to move somewhat normally and move away from any threats and predators
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Chicken Sneezing When Eating, Why Your Chickens Head Doesn’t Move, How Do Wild Chickens Survive In The Winter?, Why Is My Duckling’s Neck Swollen?, Chicken Shaking Head And Walking Backward, Do Chickens Shake When Scared?, Chicken Limping After Dog Attack, Chicken Trembling Legs, Rooster Shaking Legs
