My Duck Ate . . . Something

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i have a runner that's been feeling poorly. Brought her into the house to hand feed. Then she stopped eating. Got her to the vet yesterday and they took an x-ray. She has something in her stomach. My vet said it is either metal or a rock, as rocks have metal in them, as those are the only two things that show up so brightly on an x-ray. i kept looking at the x-ray, trying to figure out what the heck it is. i guess the main piece could be a rock, but then there are a couple pointy things. My vet said those could be staples or small nails. i think the main mass looks too rectangular to be a rock. But i'm baffled. i am so careful to keep the ground picked up from any work materials.

Anyhow, surgery would be close to a thousand - and we just don't have that right now. So they gave her barium in hopes she will pass it. i need to give her sub-q fluids twice a day, and then pain meds. i surely hope she can pass whatever it is soon. She can't go on too much longer with no food.

 

[tbitt]

Wow! This is scary.

Good Luck with her....

Sending {{passing garbage}} vibes to her!

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Thank you for your healing thoughts. We have her in the office with us. Every time i hear a squirt, i check.

 

[featherfinder]

Ummm... How big is the rock because dont ducks swallow their food whole? Wonder how she got it down.



Hoping she "passes" threw it!

 

[RunnerWhisperer]

Poor thing! I hope she get's through it ok!!

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

That is a mystery. i've seen my ducks pick up things, like rocks, move them around in their mouth, then put them back down.

But, we have a bigger problem. When my husband picked her up so i could do the fluids, the barium she was given yesterday just poured out of her mouth. So, she must have a blockage. i just dropped her off at the vet. i don't have a good feeling about this.

 

[featherfinder]

 

[froggie71]

Oh no that is terrible. I don't know if it would work but I know when tortoise eat rocks and have blockages they can be given mineral oil. Helps to lubricate the blockage and enable them to pass much easier.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Quote:
That certainly makes sense. i think my vet was using the barium in the same way. She said it coats the stomach and would hopefully grab whatever that is and help carry it out. But if the barium is just coming back out her mouth, it's not getting through.

The other thing that had been happening (before i got her into the vet), i would watch her drink water, then she would do a weird neck maneuver. Then she would lay down and her neck would balloon out. She would try to push the balloon back down, then it would fill up again. My vet said it seemed like she was regurgitating from her stomach back into her crop. Her thoughts were that the foreign body in her stomach was irritating her tummy and that was causing the reflux. But i wonder if that foreign body is not the primary issue. i don't know if the vet took x-rays of the neck area, or if she did, i don't know if she could see a blockage.

*sigh* i don't know.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i just heard from a tech at the vet's office. They gave her sub-q fluids. Our options at this point are to do surgery, to the tune of close to a thousand dollars, which we don't have. Or they can hospitalize her and watch her to see if the foreign body passes. That would cost over a hundred and i could do that here. Or we can euthanize.

i put a message back into my vet to see if she feels it is worth it to give Quackers a few days to try to pass things through. But if the barium keeps flowing back into her crop and out of her mouth every time she's picked up, waiting might just be prolonging her suffering.