Long-Distance Check-In

flapcam sitter
Here are a few screenshots from Flapper Cam this evening. I took the photos from my hotel room in Philadelphia. I hate leaving the ducks (and cats) to travel on business, but thankfully they are in great care with my house sitter, cat & duck wrangler.

They will get a little stir crazy while I am away, because they don’t get their yard time when I’m gone. (I don’t like to risk them being out of their pens when I’m not home with them). Their pens are large and they can swim in their baby pools, perch, eat and nest… but they miss out on lap time.

Still, I think I miss lap time more than they do. I can’t wait to get home and see them on Sunday afternoon.

Until then… be good, kids! Be nice to the duck wrangler!

XOXOX

Love,

Mom

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January 30, 2009|Chewy Magooey, Mr Flapper, O'Malley Peepers, Petunia Peach, Silly Human, Yard Stuff|2 Comments

closer and closer

You two are sitting pretty close together, for cats who don’t like each other.
stop
“Stop talking.”

Okay, fine. I’m going to work, kids. See you tonight.

“Still talking. Bring back treats.”

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January 27, 2009|Fuzzy Indoor Ducks, Silly Human|8 Comments

Juno Checks In

Remember little baby duck Juno?
juno

She sent us this photo yesterday, of her with her duck buddies Fling & Thor.
juno fling thor

Her human Erin says she’s doing great. All 3 ducks get along well and are doing fine through the winter cold. We’re glad to hear from Juno and happy that she’s doing so well in her forever home.

Thanks for the note, Erin!

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January 25, 2009|Rescues|10 Comments

Big Cojones

flapman
Flapper’s vet read his x-rays from yesterday and was able to determine that what he saw that looked suspicious on the small x-ray last week was actually his testes. (I saw the small x-ray too and it really was pretty confusing.) But Flapper has been given a clean bill of health.

His only diagnosis is “impressive testes.”

Yay for Flapper!

Last week when he was at the vet for his check-up, they left me alone with his chart while they took x-rays. I have a huge, huge chart the size of a novel there, for all my ducks plus all the rescues I’ve taken. I was leafing through it and cracked up at the obnoxious notes I had left them so very often. Every time Flapper was in for a procedure, under the “any special notes?” section, I had written, “He is a celebrity.” Ha ha ha. And on Petunia’s “special notes” form I had written “used to date a celebrity duck.”

There was also a note by a vet tech on one page that said “Tried to call and give Tiffany the results. Hung up because she thought I was a telemarketer. Called back and gave results.”

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January 24, 2009|Mr Flapper|16 Comments

Cute on the Inside, too

no
Flapper had good x-rays today. He was not too happy about going back in for another vet visit, but we took him to the emergency clinic because they have a great x-ray machine.

flapxrays000c
Flapper looks pretty cute on the inside, don’t you think? I prefer to only see the outside of him, but this inside view will help the vets see if there’s anything wrong. You can click on the image to see it at full-size.

flapxrays000b
Flapper did really well through the x-rays, and didn’t even get stressed out.

flapxrays000a
I can’t read the x-rays, but I think they’re cute. We should hear from the vet experts on Monday. There was an area of concern on his crappy little x-ray last week. These great x-rays should clarify whether that area for concern is still concerning or not.

I’ll post more when I hear the good word. He’s doing really well right now, so I’m not too concerned for his immediate health.

Oh! When we looked up this clinic to ask if we could bring Flapper to get good x-rays taken, we found their website online and saw that they were featuring one of our kids on their home page.
choochoo
http://www.criticalcarevets.com/

Recognize that duck? That’s Chewy! He was at this emergency clinic on July 4, 2007 after O’Malley ripped a hole in him. I didn’t realize they took a picture of him when he was there. They sewed him up and he has been good as new ever since.

I think he looks cute on their homepage, and Chewy was flattered that they featured him. He has asked that his model royalties be paid in peas.

:)

Quacks,

Tiff

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January 23, 2009|Chewy Magooey, Mr Flapper|15 Comments

Flapper Update

Flapcam
Flappy is snoozin’ in the sunshine this afternoon. His blood results look just great, but his x-ray shows an area of thickening on one of his air sacs… maybe. It was hard to tell. This could be a respiratory fungal infection (it’s not a bacterial infection or that would have shown up on the blood work).

I had Flapper x-ray’d because I did something really stupid in mid-November. I used a pipe cleaner to hang a mirror in his & Chewy’s pen. I don’t have any idea why I was that stupid, except that I was kind of depressed over losing Georgie and worried about Hodjee being sick. I was obviously not thinking clearly. I used shoelaces to hang the other two mirrors in their pens. One day the pipe cleaner was gone, but I didn’t even notice when it happened because I just found the mirror on the floor when cleaning out his pen on the weekend. I looked for the pipe cleaner several times, with a strong magnet, a shovel, a fine-tooth comb… no pipe cleaner. So the x-rays were to soothe my mind that Flapper didn’t swallow the pipe cleaner. Thankfully, he didn’t swallow it.

If those x-rays did show a thickening on an air sac, which could be aspergillosis or some other fungal infection, I feel really, really lucky that I had him x-ray’d, because most problems with fungal infections are not caught early-enough to help. You often don’t find out a duck has a fungal infection until after they’re dead, or so far along that they can’t be saved.

So Flapper is going to get a new x-ray on a much better machine at the dog/cat vet’s office. His usual vet’s x-ray machine is more for little critters like hamsters and cockatiels. It’s not big-enough for a super duck. This new x-ray will show more clearly if his air sac does in fact have thickening. Then if it does, he may need a quick endoscopy to get a biopsy and see what is causing the thickening (a biopsy of what spores are in his air sacs, if there are any).

Right now he’s doing just fine, and feeling… good. I just had a “feeling” that he wasn’t 100%, and I’m glad I had it checked out. This morning he looked great and he’s not in any immediate danger with his health.

As soon as we know more, we’ll post more.

Quacks,

Tiff
XOXOX

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January 21, 2009|Mr Flapper, Silly Human|10 Comments

Meelee is Good/Flapper Gets a Check-Up

meels
Meelee went back to the vet on Saturday for a urinalysis and radiograph of her kidneys. This is a follow-up to ensure her health is good as she ages. She is a little bit skinny. She is about 14-years-old.

Her radiograph looked pretty good and only showed that she has some arthritis in her lower back. Her kidneys and bladder looked okay. Her urinalysis showed she has very mild kidney disease, which is pretty normal for her age.

She will move to an all-wet-food diet so she can get enough fluids to keep her kidneys working well. Her diet is also designed for slowing down the progression of kidney disease.

So for now, she is all good. She even gained almost a half-pound in a week-and-a-half, so she must like her new diet.

In other news, Flapper went to the vet today for a check-up.
flappy
He hasn’t been feeling 100% and I’m not sure if it’s the cold weather or something more serious. His vent issues seem okay, but his feather quality is not great and he is losing feathers more than I’d like at this time of year. We took blood today and should get those results tomorrow. So I’ll post an update then.

It could be nothing, but I just worry about him. Today was hard on me because I just love him so much. I know he’s not going to live as long as I will, but it breaks my heart to imagine life without him someday. I get jealous of people with old pekin ducks over 10-years-old. Flapper has had so many issues in his 4-years & 9-months so far.

All of my pets are special to me, but there’s something extra-special about Flapper.

lovebug
Last night when he was hanging out with me on the couch, he laid down right next to me and tucked his beak against my leg while he slept. I can’t tell you how special it is to me that he trusts me this much. When I go outside to tuck him in for the night (he’s already in his predator-proof pen, I just like to go say good night to him) he runs to me and gives me a hug. He isn’t hungry at that time of night… it’s just a hug. He runs to me and rests his beak in my hand and lets me pet him for a few seconds. Then he goes back to his nest area.

It’s our bed time ritual.

I’ll post an update when I get his blood results. For now, Flapper and I are going to snuggle on the couch together some more.

NON-UPDATE: Flapper’s results didn’t come in today so they’re expected in the morning. I’ll post an update when I have one.

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January 19, 2009|Fuzzy Indoor Ducks, Mr Flapper|13 Comments

Lucky goose gets a kiss

goose
In a Kalamazoo, Michigan cemetary, this Canada goose was spotted with a plastic bottle caught on its head.

jill
Gazette staff photographer Jill McLane Baker called Kalamazoo County Animal Services and Enforcement, and Officer Mark Vanderberg arrived.

chase
After a brief chase…

caught
Officer Vanderberg caught the goose and removed the plastic bottle. The goose had a few ruffled feathers, but was otherwise unharmed.

kiss
The officer kissed the goose on the head and let it go.

blech
“Blech. Human cooties.”

I was impressed that the officer took the time to kiss the goose goodbye. What a nice animal services officer. He’s a good egg.

All photos property of Jill McLane Baker | Kalamazoo Gazette.

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January 18, 2009|Good Eggs|17 Comments

Petunia Makes Dinner

dinner
Tonight for dinner we had Field Roast’s vegetarian mexican chipotle sausage with potatoes and duck eggs.

The eggs were courtesy of Petunia Peach.
sunshine
Thank you for giving me your eggs, Petunia. They were very tasty.

welcome
“You’re welcome. Thanks for the worms and extra treats in return for the eggs. Can you find me more worms?”

I will find you some wormies in just a little bit, Petunia. How about that?
toad
“Okay. I will wait right here by your feet so you don’t forget.”
Good plan, my little toad stool.

mind
You look like you’ve got something on your mind, Chewy. What’s up?

eggs
“If I give you my eggs will you bring me worms, too?”

Um… if you bring me eggs, Chewy, I will definitely give you worms. Good luck with that.

yay
“Yay! Let’s go find some eggs, Flapper.”

trick
“It’s a trick, isn’t it?”

Maybe, Flapper. :)

worms
“Could I maybe get worms in advance for eggs I find later?”

For you, Chewy? Yes. You keep looking, buster. Good luck!

And special thanks to Petunia for the super good eggs.

XOXOX

Mom

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January 14, 2009|Chewy Magooey, Mr Flapper, Petunia Peach, Silly Human|14 Comments

Meelee and Simon Update

meelee
Miss Amelia Dingo (Meelee) still insists she deserves special treatment for enduring the humiliating visit to the vet’s office last night. Her blood results came back just perfect. Her thyroid was well within normal range which means she does not have hyperthyroidism. She is a little too skinny, so the vet thinks she may have the beginning of kidney disease. Many older cats have it, so we’ll take her back in for urinalysis and radiograph of her kidneys to see if kidney stones or an infection or something else is causing her to be so skinny. She’s active and happy, just a little thin. If she does have the start of kidney disease, it will be treatable. So she’s all good for now.

simon
Simon is NOT skinny. He is 18lbs 15oz. His blood work came back with really good results though. He will be on a special diet to lose some of his chub chub, but overall he’s healthy and happy.

So, great results for both furry kids today. They’re just getting older and needed a check-up. We’re happy they’re doing well and will follow up with Meelee to make sure her kidneys are good and that she doesn’t lose any more weight.

Meow,

Tiff

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January 8, 2009|Fuzzy Indoor Ducks|13 Comments
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