Hey Flap! How’re you feeling, buddy?
“I’m feeling pretty good, mom. Thanks.”
Why don’t you tell everybody what you’re up to, today?
“Well right now I’m swimming.”
“And I’m doodling in the mud, even though you put rocks here to make it difficult.”
“I just got done noshing on some lettuces, too.”
“I tried showing off for awhile, but no one was very impressed.”
I’m always impressed, Flapper.
“Aww thanks, Mom.”
“So anyway, then I dried off my wingies and now I’m thinking of takin’ a nap.”
“Hey, Mom… You know what would go good with a nap? Some french fries.”
How about some peas instead, Flapper? Sweet dreams, buddy.
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Flapper is feeling pretty good these days. He has to have surgery in the next week or two, to remove more of the base of his phallus. Here’s a blurry image that I’ll try to explain, though I don’t understand the technical terms.
Flapper had his phallus removed almost a year ago now. But the base of the phallus is still there because it’s part of a whole lymphatic? system and it kind of wraps around the cloaca. This makes it fairly difficult to remove. It needs to be removed though, because it either has scar tissue on it, or a granuloma, or a tumor of some kind. Basically something there is enlarged and abnormal, and causing him discomfort and continued swelling and infections.
Flapper’s most-recent vet (part of the same office we love) has performed this exact operation many times on cockatiels and other birds, but never on a duck. So he wants to practice on some deceased ducks first. We also think he should practice a lot too, so we enlisted help to find some good deceased drakes for him to practice with. (Sometimes ducks don’t make it and people keep them refrigerated or frozen to use for training to help out future ducks in need).
Interestingly, the drakes our friend was able to get for Flapper’s vet to practice on were wild ducks, and pretty cool ones. Here are links to photos of two of them:
Common Eider
Northern Shoveller
Pretty cool birds, eh?
So a fancy eider and shoveller are helping the vet practice so he can be super ready for this celebrity pekin’s surgery. Only the best for my Flapper boy!
We’ve already heard that so far the anatomy is just as expected on the practice ducks, and the operation seems “do-able.” We’ll keep you posted as the surgery date approaches. So far, so good.
Special thanks to those who helped us get the practice drakes, and to the drakes who didn’t make it but are helping Flapper get better. Also thanks to Flapper’s vets and the entire office for helping make sure he gets the best chance at resolving his health issues.
Tags: pet health veterinarian
