muddypaw66
Chirping
- Sep 8, 2022
- 11
- 30
- 64
Hey there,
I hope it's okay to post about a duck on here. I am a lifelong "animal person" (they find me everywhere I go!) and have extensive experience with furbabies, but not as much with feathered ones. I have an Orpington female duck that adopted me, along with a Rouen and a Mallard. (The survivors of an animal abuser in the neighborhood. Remind me to tell you about the mallard's abuse someday! They showed up in December last year and just hung around my front yard. In February this year, the surviving Pekin broke her wing and eventually had to be put down.) They have been my crash-test duckies, unfortunately.
This Orpington (Oddy the duck) is maybe a year old (?) Hard to say, but they all seem to be getting bigger than they were when they showed up and the abuser idiot got them as chicks (he also has neglected peacocks.) I'm guessing Oddy is (should be) about 5-6 lbs?
On 8/31, I noticed she had an "egg white noodle" coming out of her bum, probably about 4 inches long, and she was waddling around slowly like she had, well, something in her bum. Since she's mostly feral, I had no luck catching her until the next day (9/1), when I carefully extracted that membrane without any resistance from her bum. I felt her all over and did not feel any lumps or marshmallows anywhere inside and she otherwise seemed pleased to have it out. But, she has not been the same since.
This all coincided with a massive heat wave in our area (Sacramento, CA vicinity) when it has been 116 in my town. (Over 102+ for a week now.) The ducks have a "ponddle" (pond/puddle cross) that they built and I've deepened and maintained, along with two pools, four big water tubs, and a sprinkler (and plenty of shade). They free roam in the secure double-fenced backyard with grass and dirt. They usually just bed down in the tall grass of the yard under the bird feeders and bushes. (They do have a big duck house, but never go in it!)
Since 9/1, after I got that membrane out, Oddy has acted "off" ... "close" to normal but not. She is not taking a bath like she always does (once that I've seen in a week), and she drinks a lot of water, but only nibbles food. Although, she does forage for bugs in the pond and yard. She still swims and wades around in the ponddle, but she doesn't talk much and is not nearly as active. But then again, it's blazing hot.
On 9/7, I finally caught her again and was able to take her inside the house and put her in the secure shower in her open pet carrier. I noticed she felt a bit lighter, which is not good. She has water and food and mealworms in her shower enclosure. Also on 9/7, I was able to watch her on the "duck cam" set up to keep an eye on her. She drank about a third (probably about two cups?) of her water with Nutri-drench in it. Last night (9/7), I swapped out the Nutri-drench water for clear water with Durvet Oregano and Probiotics. She drank some but not as much as the drench water. This morning (9/8), I changed her water to a mix of the three (a splash of Nutri-drench, and the two Durvets). She has been drinking but not excessively like she had been, and nibbled a bit of her duck pellets/scratch mix. She ate a few mealworms but not many. I'm trying to balance keeping her from overheating, in a cool place where I can monitor her, but not send her into depression because she can't be with her friends. (They ran to her defense when I caught her and was taking her in the house! It was so sad!)
As for output, overnight she filled up a pee pad with brown runoff, no real consistency, because all she's really done is drink water. Her bum is otherwise "normal", with no vent issues that I can see. She's got a bit of ick on her underside from sitting on the pee pad overnight before I changed it today, but it's not a gooey bum. (She just needs a bath) Tonight, I added a bit of clean straw under her so she can nest (she's a big-time nester!) Speaking of which, during the spring, she nested on a pile of eggs for two months before I could steal the black orbs away from her. And a week before her egg membrane incident, "someone" laid a micro-egg and now I suspect it was her.
The avian vet is not in the picture and cannot be at this point, although, in a perfect world, that would be my preference.
Again, it's been super hot, and I know ducks don't do well with the heat, and it really wasn't helping Oddy... she was just so darned difficult to catch. The other two are managing it (with a lot of water, long swims, and electrolytes in the water) so far, and thankfully the weather will cool down over the weekend.
I'm sorry this is so long, and I'm sorry if this is not the right place to post this. I'm just at a loss as to what I can do now. I can't do the vet, as much as I'd like to.
I'll see if I can add pics (two different angles of the membrane thing, one of the result after I pulled it out, and one of her in her crate in the shower tonight).
Thank you for your time.
Kristy
I hope it's okay to post about a duck on here. I am a lifelong "animal person" (they find me everywhere I go!) and have extensive experience with furbabies, but not as much with feathered ones. I have an Orpington female duck that adopted me, along with a Rouen and a Mallard. (The survivors of an animal abuser in the neighborhood. Remind me to tell you about the mallard's abuse someday! They showed up in December last year and just hung around my front yard. In February this year, the surviving Pekin broke her wing and eventually had to be put down.) They have been my crash-test duckies, unfortunately.
This Orpington (Oddy the duck) is maybe a year old (?) Hard to say, but they all seem to be getting bigger than they were when they showed up and the abuser idiot got them as chicks (he also has neglected peacocks.) I'm guessing Oddy is (should be) about 5-6 lbs?
On 8/31, I noticed she had an "egg white noodle" coming out of her bum, probably about 4 inches long, and she was waddling around slowly like she had, well, something in her bum. Since she's mostly feral, I had no luck catching her until the next day (9/1), when I carefully extracted that membrane without any resistance from her bum. I felt her all over and did not feel any lumps or marshmallows anywhere inside and she otherwise seemed pleased to have it out. But, she has not been the same since.
This all coincided with a massive heat wave in our area (Sacramento, CA vicinity) when it has been 116 in my town. (Over 102+ for a week now.) The ducks have a "ponddle" (pond/puddle cross) that they built and I've deepened and maintained, along with two pools, four big water tubs, and a sprinkler (and plenty of shade). They free roam in the secure double-fenced backyard with grass and dirt. They usually just bed down in the tall grass of the yard under the bird feeders and bushes. (They do have a big duck house, but never go in it!)
Since 9/1, after I got that membrane out, Oddy has acted "off" ... "close" to normal but not. She is not taking a bath like she always does (once that I've seen in a week), and she drinks a lot of water, but only nibbles food. Although, she does forage for bugs in the pond and yard. She still swims and wades around in the ponddle, but she doesn't talk much and is not nearly as active. But then again, it's blazing hot.
On 9/7, I finally caught her again and was able to take her inside the house and put her in the secure shower in her open pet carrier. I noticed she felt a bit lighter, which is not good. She has water and food and mealworms in her shower enclosure. Also on 9/7, I was able to watch her on the "duck cam" set up to keep an eye on her. She drank about a third (probably about two cups?) of her water with Nutri-drench in it. Last night (9/7), I swapped out the Nutri-drench water for clear water with Durvet Oregano and Probiotics. She drank some but not as much as the drench water. This morning (9/8), I changed her water to a mix of the three (a splash of Nutri-drench, and the two Durvets). She has been drinking but not excessively like she had been, and nibbled a bit of her duck pellets/scratch mix. She ate a few mealworms but not many. I'm trying to balance keeping her from overheating, in a cool place where I can monitor her, but not send her into depression because she can't be with her friends. (They ran to her defense when I caught her and was taking her in the house! It was so sad!)
As for output, overnight she filled up a pee pad with brown runoff, no real consistency, because all she's really done is drink water. Her bum is otherwise "normal", with no vent issues that I can see. She's got a bit of ick on her underside from sitting on the pee pad overnight before I changed it today, but it's not a gooey bum. (She just needs a bath) Tonight, I added a bit of clean straw under her so she can nest (she's a big-time nester!) Speaking of which, during the spring, she nested on a pile of eggs for two months before I could steal the black orbs away from her. And a week before her egg membrane incident, "someone" laid a micro-egg and now I suspect it was her.
The avian vet is not in the picture and cannot be at this point, although, in a perfect world, that would be my preference.
Again, it's been super hot, and I know ducks don't do well with the heat, and it really wasn't helping Oddy... she was just so darned difficult to catch. The other two are managing it (with a lot of water, long swims, and electrolytes in the water) so far, and thankfully the weather will cool down over the weekend.
I'm sorry this is so long, and I'm sorry if this is not the right place to post this. I'm just at a loss as to what I can do now. I can't do the vet, as much as I'd like to.
I'll see if I can add pics (two different angles of the membrane thing, one of the result after I pulled it out, and one of her in her crate in the shower tonight).
Thank you for your time.
Kristy
try to find the silver lining in knowing you gave her the best days of her life at the end. She is not suffering and she is running around flapping her wings, and eating all the treats she could possibly want without any consequences. Big hug 
