Osteosarcoma

As many of you know, we had to let go of Roberta during her leg surgery when our vet discovered osteosarcoma at the heart of her joint issues. 

Osteosarcoma is a type of bone cancer that tends to occur at the end of long bones, usually around the hip or knee joints in waterfowl.

Since the treatment of osteosarcoma involves limb amputation and chemotherapy, there is no suggested treatment options for ducks or geese. Although pain medications can be utilized in the short-term, in the long-term euthanasia is the common veterinary recommendation.

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Joint Care

While caring for Roberta our vet taught us a few things about joint care. We know many of you have ducks and geese with joint troubles who might benefit from this knowledge, so we are going to share what we learned.

If you try any of these products, please let us know if they are of any assistance to your feathered friend. REMEMBER: you should always consult with your vet BEFORE administering any of these products to your ducks or geese!

Procasa II and OptOmega are both Usana products that can be purchased via their website. Just visit their home page and then click on "Products" and then on "Nutritionals" and finally on "Express Shopping."

Procasa II (item #131)

Each bottle of Procasa II contains 120 tablets. Each tablet contains 75 mg of Vitamin C, 1.25 mg of Manganese, 500 mg of Glucosamine Sulfate, 125 mg of Turmeric Extract and .75 mg of Silicon.

Our vet advised a 1/2 tablet a day for adult ducks that weigh 6-8 lbs. and 1 full tablet a day for adult geese. Review this information with your vet before administering to your duck or goose.

OptOmega (item #127)

Each bottle contains 237 mls of oil that include Omega 3, Omega 6 and Omega 9 fatty acids.

Our vet advised a 3 ml per 1 kg of body weight, once  a day for adult ducks and for adult geese. Review this information with your vet before administering to your duck or goose.

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Healthy Intestinal Flora

When your ducks or geese are on certain treatment regimes, some medicines (like Metacam, Rimadyl, Clindamycin, etc.) can affect their intestinal flora; that is, they can wipe out or cause an unbalance in the natural levels of bacteria in their intestines. This can lead to side effects such as diarrhea. High doses, or long-term use of some medications, can even cause serious or permanent damage to intestinal lining.

Our first answer to this dilemma was to chase pills with 1-2 mls of yogurt with L. acidophilus, but we recently learned of a better option through our vet.

Lake's Ultimate Avian Diets makes a probiotic LACTO-Plus powder that can be ordered via their website. Lake's guarantees a live microbial analysis of Lactobacillus Acidophilus and Bifidobacterium Bifidum (50/50) at two billion live organisms per gram.

The use of these probiotics may prevent digestive upsets by maintaining a healthy digestive flora, thus inhibiting the growth of disease causing organisms (i.e. E. Coli, Salmonella, Pseudomonas, Klebsiella, and Staphylococcus).

Depending on the health condition of our patients and the types of other medications they are receiving, we dissolve anywhere from 1/8 to 1/2 of a teaspoon of LACTO-Plus into water once a day. Birds with compromised immunity systems who are on more powerful medications receive a higher dose of LACTO-Plus than stronger birds who are on less potent medications.

Geese get a single daily dose of LACTO-Plus mixed into 6 mls of water and administered orally via syringe once daily. Because this is a lot of liquid for a duck, we split the mixture in half for them. For ducks we fill two syringes with 3 mls of the prepared solution and store one in the refrigerator to be administered 12 hours later. This dosage is NOT intended for immature birds, ducklings or goslings. 

REMEMBER: you should always consult with your vet BEFORE administering any treatments to your ducks or geese!

Visit Lake's website and read their pages regarding LACTO-Plus, Lactobacillus Acidophilus and Probiotics for further and more detailed product information.

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Tricide & Tricide-Neo

Tricide was going to be used on Roberta during her surgery to flush out her infected leg before discovering that she had inoperable osteosarcoma.

Tricide-Neo is used when an operation is NOT near nerves. One package makes a gallon of solution.

Tricide is used when an operation IS near nerves. One package makes a gallon of solution.

Tricide makes otherwise resistant bacteria susceptible to low class antibiotics. It is packaged specifically for veterinarians and can be formulated with a variety of antibiotics depending on the patient's individual needs.

Veterinarians with further questions or who want to order Tricide can contact them directly via their email: tricideinfo@yahoo.com. 

Tricide products are delivered in granule form and come in a packet:

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Contaminated Lab Test, Warning Signs

When your duck or goose is suffering from inflammation in their limb(s) that is not related to an injury, vets will often aspirate a sample of fluids from the swollen area to determine the nature of the infection. This will assist them in prescribing the correct antibiotic to treat the condition.

Always ask your vet for copies of any tests performed on your ducks or geese and keep your own medical files at home (this should be done for all of your pets!).

If your duck or goose's lab test results successfully indicate the type of bacteria/pathogen present, the lab will also provide a list of suggested antibiotics for your vet to choose from (some are safe for waterfowl while others are not).

"S" means the bacteria is Susceptible to the antibiotic

"R" means the bacteria is Resistant to the antibiotic

If you see that the isolated bacteria is Susceptible "S" to ALL types of antibiotics, this could be a sign that the sample drawn from your duck or goose was contaminated. It is rare that an infection is susceptible to all types of treatment, which is why this is a warning sign. If you see this type of result you should ask your vet for a retest to confirm results. Prescribing the wrong antibiotic can often lead to zero results and the worsening of your pet's condition.

Below is an example of what is likely a contaminated sample since the infection shows susceptibility to every type of antibiotic on the list. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is...

Test Results

S     AMPICILLIN
S     AUGMENTIN
S     CETIOFUR
S     CEPHALOTHIN
S     CLINDAMYCIN
S     ERYTHROMYCIN
S     GENTAMICIN
S     ENROFLOXAC
S     OXACILLIN
S     PENICILLIN
S     TRIBRISSEN
S     VANCOMYCIN

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Spalding Fly Predators

When our dear friend Caroline donated a few months' supply of fly predators to our sanctuary, we had never heard of them, but the results of their introduction has been amazing. After carefully researching the environmental safety of releasing fly predators around our duck and goose pens, we gave them a try. They worked so well for us this summer, we wanted to share this information with other families.

Fly predators are quick and easy to distribute. You place your order in the spring and then receive your monthly packages until summer is over. Releasing a package of 5000 predators once-a-month was plenty to handle our sanctuary's needs. Visit their Website and see for yourself!

Thank you, Caroline!