Mr Flapper Duck

Flapper made a run at catching Petunia today, and now he realizes that arthritis is indeed slowing him down. He can’t catch her anymore! She was pretty happy about it though. After Flapper gave up catching Petunia, he decided that he might as well hang out with me.

Flapper was scheduled to have an endoscopy tomorrow, but we put it on hold for now. He is pooping better and feeling better from his chronic plumbing issues, so we’ll just wait for now.

Flapper has had trouble walking for a few months, and for some reason I always assumed it was related to his sore tummy from his chronic abdomen issues. So on Wednesday I thought, “I wonder if something MORE is going on, in addition to the chronic problem.” That’s why we got x-rays done Wednesday night. I thought we could bring them with us to the vet on Friday for the endoscopy. I thought Flapper’s trouble walking was a sign that his belly was very painful and more serious.

But the x-rays surprised me. What they show is that he has arthritis in his knees. The vet looked at the x-rays today and said he has “pretty severe arthritis.” And while arthritis is painful for him, at least we know his chronic belly issues are still just a minor irritation, which is manageable. And at least we can now treat the arthritis separately, which will hopefully also be manageable.

Flapper had x-rays a year ago that didn’t really show his legs well, so it’s not easy to tell how long he has had this arthritis. But the new x-rays certainly do show a lot of calcification around his knee joints. His vet said “well it’s certainly not the worst arthritis I’ve seen, but it’s significant.” This makes a lot of sense to me now, based on how Flapper has been walking the past few months.

Flapper will stay on anti-inflammatories for a bit, and then we will try to wean him off those chemicals and get him on more natural remedies to help arthritis. Luckily his main vet has personally done extensive research on treating arthritis in parrots, which can really help Flapper. He will get some glucosamine supplements and flax seed oil, and we’ll share more about the treatment when we know more.

It may seem odd to be happy he has arthritis, but it’s better than what I had imagined. I had assumed his lumbering, labored walking was because his re-worked plumbing was causing him serious abdominal pain and discomfort. And while he does have trouble with that now and then like he did recently, it seems much better to know that his abdomen is not too painful, but that his legs hurt, and that is why he walks stiffly. If his abdominal pain was severe, he’d be looking at more surgery that has never been done on ducks before. And I’d be figuring out how to fly him to the best micro-surgeon in the US. He’d be in uncharted territory again with an uncertain outcome, and I’d be stressed out. And those thoughts were hurting my brain.

So for now, we say “yay for arthritis!”

Quacks and hugs as always,

Silly human

P.S. Special thanks to all of Flapper’s veterinarians and vet technicians.

You can click on the photo to see a larger view and to see a second x-ray view.

Flapper had an x-ray tonight, and he is scheduled for an endoscopy this Friday. He has had trouble with his plumbing since before he had his big operation in August 2008. It’s a chronic issue for him. But now after this new x-ray I am wondering if he also has some arthritis forming in his knees. He has had trouble walking lately, and I thought it was pain from his belly. But if it’s arthritis pain instead, that would make me feel much better about his overall health. I’d much rather know he has a little arthritis than to think his belly is so sore he can hardly walk. I don’t know for sure yet, but that’s my hunch. We’ll see what the vet experts say on Friday. I’m hoping he just needs a little clean-up to his plumbing and then we can treat his slight arthritis… but that’s all just my conjecture right now.

When Flapper was brought back after his x-ray, the vet tech said “This is the most amazing, wonderful animal ever!” She raved about how expressive and affectionate he is. I love it when people meet Flapper and see that about him. It’s especially easy to see if he’s tired and ready for a nap, like he was tonight. Also as Flapper has gotten older, he has become more calm and trusting of me. He likes riding in his carrier in the car, and doesn’t seem to mind going places. He doesn’t make any of the stressed out noises, and he doesn’t pant like a stressed out bird. He just trusts that what we’re doing must be fun, and that there’s probably treats for him when we’re done. (I finally realized about a year ago that he doesn’t want to see out the window while we drive. There are too many scary, dangerous things to look at! But he is super comfortable in his closed carrier and he has loved riding in the car ever since I switched him to that.)

Flapper really is quite a special guy, especially to me.

Flapper’s plumbing looks better tonight and his anti-inflammatories are finally helping his latest flare up. We’ll keep you posted on what the doctors say on Friday.

It’s been a lazy weekend around here. Flapper and Chewy have been napping…

…and watching the birds go by. What kind of bird was it, Chewy?
“Just a crow. Not a hawk.”

Petunia and O’Malley have enjoyed hunting for bugs, even though it has been way too rainy.

Olivia is an expert bug hunter.

Racquel is too.

But both of them would prefer a little less rain.

“Blech, rain.” I know, Racquel. Keep preening and maybe the rain will stop soon.

Chewy is also an expert bug hunter, and he especially enjoys looking for bugs in mud puddles. So the rain is okay by him.

Flapper prefers to sit and preen…

…and wait for the bugs to come to him.

We hope you had a good Fowlentine’s Day. Flapper got some granola treats and some extra lap time. O’Malley skipped the granola but enjoyed his lap time, too.

In other news, Flapper unfortunately still isn’t feeling great. He has had trouble now and then since his surgery back in August 2008. He improved for a few days and seemed good yesterday, but today he is in pain. We hope we can get him comfortable again and hope he doesn’t need surgery. There really aren’t many duck surgeons out there, so we’d like to avoid that at all costs. Hopefully he can just have clean-up with an endoscope and not full surgery. We’ll keep you posted. I really, really hate seeing him uncomfortable.