Testicular Tumors in Ducks - Information to share.

[JacinLarkwell]

Thank you for the tip!

Here is a pic of him and his girls Ethel & Lucy 3 days prior. You can see his big belly.
Lucy LOOOOOVED her Big Cheeze!

That was also one of his favorite spots, so that is where he now is.

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Spoiler: Tumors - viewer discretion

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This makes me wonder about a cockerel I processed years ago. His were egregiously giant compared to his size and his siblings'. I processed him because he wasn't what I wanted in the flock, so I never ended up keeping him long enough to know for sure though

 

[ruthhope]

Thank you for the tip!

Here is a pic of him and his girls Ethel & Lucy 3 days prior. You can see his big belly.
Lucy LOOOOOVED her Big Cheeze!

That was also one of his favorite spots, so that is where he now is.

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Spoiler: Tumors - viewer discretion

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That's a lovely spot to lay your boy to rest.

 

[Kiki]

From what was explained to us, the implants are sometimes used in aggressive drakes or ganders in attempt to suppress testosterone and curb aggression In our case with Ritz, we tried it to attempt to shrink the testicals to give some relief and "reduce the pinch" of the nerve. Unfortunately, it had minimal effect but he WAS very sweet in his final days. Not sure it had anything to do with the implant. I am by no means an expert on this subject matter and I am unaware if they have any effect on tumor growth rate. That might be a better question for a veterinary professional.

I'm not sure it would have been worth it with Cheeze since he was very sweet and not at all aggressive. We suspect he went sterle about a year or so prior since when we did try to incubate in attempt to get baby Cheezes, all three batches turned out to be duds. We also speculate that he had his tumors start to develop about the same time as Ritz, but his grew into his abdomen rather than into the spinal area. It is also possible that Ritz's were more Renal in nature. The sizes of these testicle tumors were truly crazy and if stomachs are OK with it, i can post photos. They aren't TOO graphic, but just a warning. Still, what are the chances of 2 unrelated drakes having testicular related tumors??? We sometime wonder if they might actually would have been brothers. Ritz sure was the "Pretty guy'."

Please share the photos.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Please share the photos.

They did

Spoiler: Tumors - viewer discretion

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[Kiki]

They did

Thanks.

Does anyone have some normal ones to post a picture of?
I'd like to compare the two.

 

[4Qwackers]

So sorry for your looses
RIP cheese-it and Ritz
They were well loved and cared for in their time
Thank you for sharing the info
How are the last 2 handling loosing the leader

I have a khaki drake who treats his pekin wife like gold.
I love how dedicated he is to her and how she can say no and he will respect it and leave her be

I’m so very sorry for your losses! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. I’d always hoped that the drakes were spared some of the horrible reproductive issues that appear to run rampant through the generally poorly bred duck population. I’m sad to see that that is not the case. It’s so hard when you are willing to do anything to help your precious feathered friends, but their genetics are stacked against them.

At any rate, you are a welcome addition to BYC, and I look forward to reading more from you!

Thank you for all the kind words.

Lucy & Ethel came along when Ritz was still around and are now about 4 1/2. They have been thru sooo much and have always had each other, then Cheez-it to depend on. They were visibly sad and acting "1 duck down" and wouldn't leave each other's side.

That's why we decided to rescue Fred to be their new b/f. (and a baby goose)
THEN, after 31 days, Fred just disappeared! As you may have read in another post, we are now fearing he got taken away by an EAGLE!
Since it has been a week now, we have come to terms' that Fred is gone for good, so we decided to re-home another Khaki drake with our lovely ladies. Walter, aka Mr Duck.

They are doing very well and have accepted Walter rather quickly. At first, they heard his RAAAAP and i think thought it was Cheez-it, since he kinda sounds very similar. They were sooooo excited but then realized it wasn't him. so they left and went back into their house. Shortly after i let Walter out of the carrier, he flew up and over the partition i had and went straight into the duck house with the girls. The rest is history! No real love affairs yet, but they are doing great as a team almost immediately. Maverick "the pool hog goose" is even hanging out with them quite well also with no real drama.

 

[4Qwackers]

Thanks.

Does anyone have some normal ones to post a picture of?
I'd like to compare the two.

If i understand correctly, they are not very big. Supposedly they get to approx 1000 times larger during mating season. Still, maybe the size of a pea??? I have no pics avail.