My duck ate a 2ft plastic string!! ohh my gosh is he gonna die??(pics)

nettie said:

First of all, take a deep breath... It's going to be okay. My ducks have eaten the weirdest things and all turned out fine. When I had Victor, my runner, eat a long ribbon, part of it was still hooked on the comb of his bill. I was able to pull it out through his mouth. It sounds like your guy has already eaten it and it's past his mouth.

I would add the grit, just to help crunch up the ribbon. If it has become weak enough for him to pull on it and eat it, it may be weak enough to get crumbled into pieces in his gut. If you saw some fragments, that probably means he was pulling and yanking on it (Playing with it) before he got a piece he could eat. This may be a good sign since he may have broken it up into smaller pieces before consuming them. Because it is not a normal food it could take longer to pass.

I would keep vigil, over his poop and keep calling every vet you can explaining it is an emergency (that usually gets their attention) until you find once with some experience with large parrots or best, waterfowl. If you start to see bits of green in his poop, you'll know the ribbon has broken up. If you see an end sticking out, do not pull, If the end hanging out his behind gets long, you can cut it closer to his body so it doesn't trip him or get in the way. Be careful not to give him too much olive oil, as it is a fat and ducks shouldn't get too much fat. I'd also research the entire area where his brooder box is, and make sure that any of it didn't fall on the other side of the box or end up under neath blankets, or was dunked in his water. You may find larger pieces that he hid/flung thus making you feel better about how much he may have eaten.

If you don't see anything over the next two days coming out the other end, call a vet. If you can't find a vet who will see him, find an emergency vet that sees birds (when you call the emergency places, you can just ask if they see birds) and just bring him in. Usually if someone is terrified holding their animal telling their story to the receptionist, especially in front of other patients, the likelihood they will just see him and do an xray is higher. Tell them to xray his belly and that they don't need to knock him out, but try to hold him still first. Sometimes they will let you aid in this. I've had many ducks get xrays and only once did one need to be knocked out (it was of her throat). If he's upset and wiggling too much, then he'll need to be put under, so it'll be good for you to calm him.

This sounds like something that should crumble inside his gut and come out in smaller pieces. It also seems likely he shredded it into smaller pieces when he ate it.

Make sure to give us updates!

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jz said:

So I broke down and couldn't wait two more days and took him to a vet. I will write all what he told me for my records and in case anyone has a problem like this in the future.

Either it is going to pass in the next three days, or he will digest it in the next week or so, or it will rupture his intestinal wall and he will go into shock, stop eating, and lay on his side and die within the hour. He took the string sample I had and wetted it, and then tried pulling it apart. It broke apart, but I had my doubts because I don't think a duck's digestive system uses a yanking apart motion, but rather grinding. He said that the string will probably break up inside him, because many more plastics are biodegradable these days. He looked at his poo under a microscope to look for tiny synthetic fibers as evidence of digestion, but found none. He said if it was going to cause a problem, it probably would have started by now. He said if it were bothering him, they have a way of sensing when something has been in the crop too long and will try to shake their heads, gag, or scratch excessively at their throat. If it were bothering his stomach, he would be "thumping" his leg against his stomach. Near his cloaca, he would be excessively preening his vent area. He said to watch him and his feces and make sure he didn't poop it out and eat it again, or if he has any new symptoms. He felt his crop and looked down his throat but said he couldn't see/feel anything, but I doubt you would be able to feel it because it is pretty soft (imagine a string made out of a thick plastic wal-mart bag material). He said it would be very difficult for the string to show up on a contrast x-ray or ultrasound.

He said we shouldn't try to make him vomit because he doesn't think it is still in the crop. But last night I took my string sample that had been soaking in water/vinegar to simulate what its doing inside my duck, and put it in a plastic bag with sand. I massaged the bag, trying to do what a gizzard would do, and the string broke apart lengthwise, but not width-wise - unfortunately there were some knots in the string, giving it strength even if it were to be split lengthwise/frayed apart. Some tiny fibers did come off all of the way, which made me think if it had passed into his gizzard, we would be seeing some tiny fibers in his poop (which we are not). Therefore if I had to guess, I would think it is still in his crop.

He seemed to be very knowledgeable, but I was a little worried when he told me that if I saw a piece of string coming out of his vent, to pull it out; but I don't think that is the right thing to do based on all of your guys's info and my google research. He also said that if he was completely digesting it, then there would be no fibers in the poop, but I thought it was impossible to completely digest something even if it were edible (otherwise duck poop wouldn't exist), especially something synthetic.

Overall it was $45 for the office visit and $20 for the fecal exam - I felt that was very fair and reasonable. He could have easily taken me for a financial ride in terms of x-rays, ultrasounds, etc. I am much more at ease knowing that I have done all I can, and that I have a vet on standby now. If god forbid my duck did die in the next few days before I took him to a vet, I would have regretted it the rest of my life.

I forgot to ask him if I should give him more olive oil. I think I will, just a little bit.

Thanks for listening,
Julie

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