Warning for duckling owners

Mom 2em All

Crowing
14 Years
Apr 20, 2008
4,040
582
456
Dora, Alabama
I wanted to share what happened here- and perhaps it may be useful to someone one day.

I have two three week old ducklings- and a Golden Retriever and a persian cat in the house. Its shedding season. I do my best to keep up with the clouds of dog hair being shed, but it still happens that a cloud of fur will be missed. My ducklings will gobble this hair up every chance they get. I am constantly trying to stay on top of the fur, and keeping them from it. My duckling will also go over and "nibble" on my Golden Retriever all the time. They chew on my hair whenever they can as well.

Last night about midnight, the babies started peepin quite loud. Normally they do that, I cuddle with them, then they settle in to go to sleep. This time sounded a little more persistent, a little more loud. I went in to tell them it was bedtime (lol) and noticed a little hair-fuzz sticking out of the side of my one ducklings bill. I said, "you have to stop eating hair", and pulled the fur out- but it didnt come out. I picked up the baby and tried again. This time, his tongue came out the side of his bill- the hair had wrapped around his tongue so tight, it had cut off the circulation to half his tongue. The end half of his tongue was completely white. I couldnt get it off- and had to have my son hold him, while I used suture-scissors to cut the hair strands that were wrapped so tight around his tongue. It almost seemed like my duckling knew I was trying to help him, because he held perfectly still as I slid the end of the scissors under the hair, against his tongue.

He then drank a ton of water, ate, and acted as if nothing was wrong. It could have been a horrible horrible accident if I hadnt seen that small amount of fuzz sticking out of the side of his bill.

No lesson learned however, because this morning during their 'out-time' he still grabs everything he can and 'bills' it...my ponytail, whatever is on the floor, the dog...
I love them very much, and have no idea how well a duck could live with half of his tongue- and I would have felt so bad.
 
Same for chicks! Keep all strings and things AWAY from them. They peck out of curiosity and then end up entangled or worse.

KIDS!
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Wow, what an experience. I have 4 dogs and 2 of them a shedding too. One golden retriever and a German shepherd mix. I have a fur rake for both and work them outside daily. This really pulls the dead winter hair out and I do not have the fur ball house issue. The thing looks like a metal blade in a loop with teeth on both sides. I use it with and against the grain of the fur and it really works well. It pull things out a brush will not get. It has larger teeth on one side and smaller ones on the other. It needs to be done daily until the shed is over.
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Yep- I have used a shedding blade and a 'defurminator' on him. He goes to be shaved next week. I never will understand how nature designed a hunting dog/swimming dog to have long thick fur that tangles up in the underbrush.

It could easily have been my hair around his little tongue- he buries his bill and chews it all the time. You have to 'child-proof' worse than having a human toddler.
 
I would move the ducks into a room the dog never goes in and up off the floor. Keep that room shut and clean. Better to prevent than fight a loosing battle with the ducks living in the hair issue weeks.
 
I'm so glad you found it in time, that would've terrified me!
Now tell me, how do you get your cat and dog to accept your ducklings??? Mine think that they are chew toys LoL we have to keep them seperated
 
Wow! You are so lucky you noticed. I had a chick have the same thing happen only it was a string from a towel which she happened to still be attatced to. She fell asleep as I held her tummy up so it was easy to unwind it and cut it off. It freaked me out a bit though!
As for the dog hair...I shave mine
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Same happens with my duck. But i cnt take out the hair from his mouth . Will it harm my duck or will he swallo it with time
This is an old thread. If I were you and experiencing something like this, I'd make a thread of my own for immediate personalized attention.
Is the hair wrapped around restricting circulation from anywhere? If so, this is an emergency.

The member that made this post hasn't been active on BYC since Sept 2020. I wish you the best with whatever you decide to do
 

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