Mr Flapper Duck

Flapper headed back to the vet today for another round of stretching his cloaca. The cloaca is the muscle inside the vent that has scar tissue on it from when Flapper had surgery in August 2008. The scar tissue was causing that muscle to close up so much that Flapper was having trouble eliminating waste, which made toxins build up in his system. Flapper also had blood drawn to re-test his uric acid level, because it was really, really high last week.

My guess was that his uric acid level would test just fine now, and it did. His blood test was really normal and average. Last week when I thought he was dying, his uric acid was 20. This week, now that I know he is passing urates, his uric acid level was 5. Normal range is between 3-10.

“I finished my vet treatment. Now where is my waffle treatment?”

Flapper will stay on antibiotics and anti-inflammatories and continue to go to the vet once a week for at least two more weeks to have his cloaca stretched. He has been pooping like a champ and I know he feels much better already, so we’re hoping this technique of stretching his cloaca helps keep him healthy and comfortable for the long haul.

For now, he is a happy and healthy ducky. Waffle treats all around!

Funny note: Flapper’s vet is bird-sitting a beautiful green parrot right now, and brings her to the office. They were packing up to go back home for the night and Buddy the parrot was put in a bin for the car-ride home. Buddy the parrot started yelling, “Help! FIRE!… Help! FIRE!” to protest being put in the bin. Very funny, parrot.

Flapper’s blood work says he has high urates. We got a message that the vet wants to do an ultrasound, but we want to talk to the vet first. We thought Flapper had urates building up, and he did. But now we see urates in his waste, and that seems like an improvement. So… an ultrasound is not in our plans this week, unless the vet can explain why it needs to happen right now. We think that Flapper’s scar tissue and closed-off cloaca caused him to build up urates. But since the vet stretched out his cloaca on Saturday, he is now able to pass waste more easily and we think that means he has less of a build up of urates.

We can tell he felt terrible on Saturday, and as soon as we picked him up we could tell he was passing urates, which we know was not happening for weeks before that.

Now on Wednesday evening, Flapper is a new duck. He has energy, he’s playing, he doodles in mud puddles and he’s happy. All of that is a big improvement over Saturday. So we just need to talk to the vet and figure out why they want to do an ultrasound, and what’s next for Flapper. Stay tuned.

So far… so good.

The vet called and said Flapper is stable for now, and strong. They think what I am seeing is that he’s in a lot of pain. They looked in his vent and his cloaca is almost completely closed off from scar tissue. The opening should be about the size of a nickel maybe, but Flapper’s is so small he can’t pass waste and his digestion isn’t working right.

They want to try stretching it every week for awhile to see if they can enlarge it without surgery, which is just likely to cause more scar tissue anyway. So for now he is on antibiotics and pain medication and he can come home tonight. His blood work won’t be back ’til Tuesday, so we’ll know then how his kidneys are doing and how his other blood chemistry is, and whether or not he has an infection.

They don’t think he looks as bad as I do, as far as being lethargic and not moving. So what I’m seeing is probably his pain. Apparently he has been biting them with great force.

And that is a good sign.

We’ll know more Tuesday, and then we’ll try to see if we can keep him comfortable and out of pain for the long term.

In every day, there are five key phases of Flapper. Flapper explains what each phase means and how you can use each phase to your best advantage.

The first phase is posing.

This is an important phase. This is a default phase for many uses. It can show how cute you are, but it can also be used to show disinterest. Use the posing phase when you want to be admired or when you want to send a message that says “mmm I don’t really care so much.”

The second phase is blushing.

This phase happens when your people tells you how cute you are. You can try to resist blushing, but it is very difficult. Also, when you blush, your people will just tell you you’re even cuter, and that just causes more blushing. This is an embarrassing phase when you are trying to act cool and casual.

The third phase is honking.

This phase is also known as “the donkey honk.” You can only blush in phase two for so long, and then you have to fight back. Phase three is where you strut your stuff. If your people thinks you’re cute and handsome, show off. Make sure your people sees your smile and your muscles and your belly. People like belly feathers. Honking is sure to get you hugs and pats. It also might get you treats.

The fourth phase is noshing.

If treats don’t appear after honking, you will need to build up your strength for more phases. Find your food bowl and nom nom nom on snacks. I prefer lettuces and peas during the day, and duck crumble at night in my pen. Every duck is different though. Right now I like waffles for breakfast. Mmmmm.

The fifth phase is snoozing.

All that posing, blushing, honking and noshing can really be exhausting. So it’s important to spend time snoozing. If I can’t snooze on my people, I like to choose a corner, a plant or a rock to prop my beak up against, and then I can really snooze in peace. Chewy can tuck his beak behind his wing but mine always falls out, so I have to prop it up.

After the fifth phase is complete, you can start again at phase one.

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So those are the five phases of Flapper. The people have been sick here at Flapper’s house, so the blog has been quiet. We’re finally on the mend and should be feeling better soon. In other news, Chewy has had a limp. We’re not sure why… we left for work one day and he was fine. Came home that night and he was limping. It seems to be improving and he is putting weight on it just fine, so hopefully it will resolve on its own. Flapper is doing pretty well these days, thankfully, and the anti-inflammatories are keeping his arthritis pain in check.

More updates as we feel better. Until then, thanks for your patience and quacks.

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.

This is what Flapper looks like on Google Earth.