This morning something terrible happened. My Cayuga ducks, Mochi, who I raised when she was just a little duckling, passed away today. We woke up getting ready to go on a family day trip when it happened. I saw her laying on the ground outside completely unable to move. She was just flopped over. And seeing as she was just fine and happy a couple minutes before it was terrifying. We assume she got stung by a scorpion and immediately started looking up what to do.
We crushed up a Benadryl tablet and mixed it with water and gave it to her. After not moving at all she started to have spasms. She whipped her head around and stuck her wings out, I did everything I could to keep her from banging her head on anything. I held her almost the entire time. Petting her and speaking to her softly. When she started to spasm and twitch more we thought that maybe she was coming out of the scorpion shock. Everything we read online said that scorpions won’t kill fowl just put them in shock. So when she started moving more we got our hopes up. She eventually started throwing up and sure enough a scorpion came out. Not a huge scorpion but definitely a decent sized one. I was relieved that we knew what it was and was glad that scorpions didn’t kill. I even said we could still possibly go on our trip cuz she seemed to be looking better.
I was wrong.
We out blankets down in our bathroom for her because we thought it would be better to keep her inside than out. We got her food and water. I say her down on the blankets and almost immediately everything seemed to stop. She wasn’t twitching. She wasn’t making noises. I immediately got down and broke down. I can’t express how much I loved Mochi. She was like a daughter to me since I’ve been there with her her entire life. She only lived to be 8 months old.
This is honestly the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go to. To have a happy duck change from running around to dying within a span of 5 minutes is absolutely horrifying. Mochi made my life so much better. She helped me with my depression. She helped me relax and made me laugh. My favorite time of the day is when I got to give her and my other duck, Billy, their nightly bath and watch them splash around. Though Mochi didn’t like when I tried to kiss her head, I still knew she appreciated everything we did for her.
We buried her and I’m planning on making her a headstone. She deserves no less. I decided to keep one of her feathers which I will put in a frame and hang on my wall. I know some of you might think this is excessive and that I shouldn’t be so upset over the loss of a farm animal, but she was more than that to me. Her and Billy both meant the world to me. I can’t help but feel horrible for Billy, her closest friend, her sister, is gone and she doesn’t even know why. She’s going to be so alone now and it breaks my heart. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure she isn’t.
Anyways, this is how my day went. Everything happened within a span of 2 hours and I’m glad I was with Mochi the entire time she was suffering. I wish she didn’t suffer. I wish her death had been more peaceful. She didn’t deserve to die, she had a long life ahead of her but because of one accident she is now dead. Please, if you live anywhere that scorpions (especially in Arizona) are common, do whatever you can to prevent your birds from eating them. I’m assuming when Mochi gobbled it up it stung her more than once while going down.
I just can’t believe she’s gone. I’m in so much shock right now that she’s actually gone. My poor baby girl. I’ll miss you so so so much. You have no idea.
We crushed up a Benadryl tablet and mixed it with water and gave it to her. After not moving at all she started to have spasms. She whipped her head around and stuck her wings out, I did everything I could to keep her from banging her head on anything. I held her almost the entire time. Petting her and speaking to her softly. When she started to spasm and twitch more we thought that maybe she was coming out of the scorpion shock. Everything we read online said that scorpions won’t kill fowl just put them in shock. So when she started moving more we got our hopes up. She eventually started throwing up and sure enough a scorpion came out. Not a huge scorpion but definitely a decent sized one. I was relieved that we knew what it was and was glad that scorpions didn’t kill. I even said we could still possibly go on our trip cuz she seemed to be looking better.
I was wrong.
We out blankets down in our bathroom for her because we thought it would be better to keep her inside than out. We got her food and water. I say her down on the blankets and almost immediately everything seemed to stop. She wasn’t twitching. She wasn’t making noises. I immediately got down and broke down. I can’t express how much I loved Mochi. She was like a daughter to me since I’ve been there with her her entire life. She only lived to be 8 months old.
This is honestly the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go to. To have a happy duck change from running around to dying within a span of 5 minutes is absolutely horrifying. Mochi made my life so much better. She helped me with my depression. She helped me relax and made me laugh. My favorite time of the day is when I got to give her and my other duck, Billy, their nightly bath and watch them splash around. Though Mochi didn’t like when I tried to kiss her head, I still knew she appreciated everything we did for her.
We buried her and I’m planning on making her a headstone. She deserves no less. I decided to keep one of her feathers which I will put in a frame and hang on my wall. I know some of you might think this is excessive and that I shouldn’t be so upset over the loss of a farm animal, but she was more than that to me. Her and Billy both meant the world to me. I can’t help but feel horrible for Billy, her closest friend, her sister, is gone and she doesn’t even know why. She’s going to be so alone now and it breaks my heart. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure she isn’t.
Anyways, this is how my day went. Everything happened within a span of 2 hours and I’m glad I was with Mochi the entire time she was suffering. I wish she didn’t suffer. I wish her death had been more peaceful. She didn’t deserve to die, she had a long life ahead of her but because of one accident she is now dead. Please, if you live anywhere that scorpions (especially in Arizona) are common, do whatever you can to prevent your birds from eating them. I’m assuming when Mochi gobbled it up it stung her more than once while going down.
I just can’t believe she’s gone. I’m in so much shock right now that she’s actually gone. My poor baby girl. I’ll miss you so so so much. You have no idea.
That makes me want to cry. Poor little Mochi. That is so sad that that happened. It's not your fault though, don't beat yourself up.
