Mr Flapper Duck

Ducks are not really that fond of dogs, but we received this adorable photo from our neighbor whose co-worker is fostering an old dog named Buster Posey.

Buster is an older dog who needs a forever home. He is in Seattle. Buster Posey is about 8-years-old and a parti-colored cocker spaniel. You can read more about his love of pillows and his prancing talents at: http://www.olddoghaven.org/adoptable.htm#fosters

We had an adopted older dog a few years ago and she was the best dog ever. Taking a chance on an older dog is a great way to make a difference. See the other pups looking for forever homes at Old Dog Haven, and pass it on.

Quacks and thanks,

Tiff

George’s foot has taken a long time to heal, but it’s getting really close. It will never be completely healed, because he has a broken dislocated arthritic toe bone that is an old injury. But the bottom pad of his foot started out with infected tissue and a scab that was well over an inch in diameter with a smaller scab area (left). After surgery to clean it up, it started to improve. In early December the foot was much flatter and the remaining scab was down to under an inch (right).

Here George shows off one of the many bandages he had on his foot while it was healing.

Now the bottom scab is less than a centimeter long. In this new photo the scab is covered with Nolvalsan cream.

Every night and every morning since George arrived we have put chlorhexadine spray and Nolvalsan cream on his foot. That’s how long it takes to treat a foot injury in a bird. It’s great to see his foot is finally, finally almost healed. But it’s so tough to be patient for that last little bit of scab to finally be gone. C’mon scab, be gone!

As you can see, a bum foot doesn’t slow George down. He has been making these test flights for weeks now. I don’t have the heart to tell him that he’s too fat to fly. Oops… it’s called “high wing load” not fat.

The new rescue kid is here. He is a he, and he is a domestic crested cayuga duck. He has osteomyelitis — a bone infection — from not being treated for nearly 2 weeks after being attacked by a dog. So his owners let him suffer without treatment for at least 10-days and then they dumped him at the Seattle Animal Shelter. Nice job, jerks!

I was hoping he could be outside, so I set up a space next to George for him. But when I saw him, I realized he would need to be in the house for awhile. He can’t walk, and his legs don’t bend right. He’s in pain and sits off to one side kind of funny. But if the antibiotics help, he might re-gain use of his legs and do okay. We hope he improves. He is eating and drinking well, and talking with Flapper, so that’s good. He also has pain meds.

Here you can see how his leg sticks out funny. The other one doesn’t work well either. We sure hope they improve as the antibiotics fight off the infection.

I didn’t think my bedroom needed another duck, but this guy disagreed. He is SUPER afraid of Simon though, so we put up some towels around two sides of his playpen so he can’t see the furry beast. We don’t blame him for being afraid after he was attacked by a dog. Hopefully he’ll come around in time.

He’s a sweetheart with a super fashionable hairdo. He’s fairly friendly but that might just be because he isn’t feeling well. We’ll see how he does over time. He does talk to me, and also to Flapper, so it’s possible he’s human friendly and has been with other ducks before. He is strongly anti-cat.

For now, we welcome him to the family. We’ll name him tomorrow after he tells us what he wants to be called.

Settle in, little duck.