A Success Story

A young mallard duck came in with a twisted foot; it is thought that he couldn’t keep up with his mother or siblings because he couldn’t walk on it. The outcome didn’t look good for him. Dr. Kristen Boston from the Covington Veterinary Hospital made it a project to invent a splint that would be light enough for him to move around but also hold his foot in the proper position. She used tape, gauze, and a piece of a tongue depressor to splint up his foot. Fortunately for the little duck his foot was not broken, it was suspected that a tendon had snapped but nothing showed up on xrays that she could see. It took a few days of the splint being on his foot (and as many bandage changes because once he felt better he wanted to be a duck and sit in his water) before he could stand without the splint. Once he could stand without his bandage support, Dr. Kristen prescribed 30 minutes of swimming a day so he could build up muscle in his foot and get used to using it again. After a couple of weeks of water therapy the little duck was walking normal and eating and drinking. He started growing by leaps and bounds and was successfully released back into the wild.