Lily to the Vet
Lily Lou did great at the vet today, but she made it very clear that she does not like the vet’s office.
Between Lily and this cockatoo Lulu who was there recouperating from a prolapse, it was a chorus of loud quacking and squawking. There was also a bearded dragon, a hedgehog, a cockatiel, a chicken and some hamsters at the vet’s office.
Lily’s feathers are not growing back as fast as Sam’s did, but overall she seems okay. It’s possible her feathers are not growing back as fast because she is laying eggs. Some of them were broken off from malnutrition as well, so those have to molt before they will grow back nicely.
Lily gained 20 grams in weight, and had a negative fecal test (no parasites). We’ll get the results of her blood work on Tuesday, and that will show whether or not she has an infection. I think she’s okay, I just needed to take her in for a recheck to make sure she was gaining weight and that she was headed in the right direction in her recovery.
By the way, there are two things that quiet Lily down. The first is treats. I always bring treats when I go outside now, to try to keep Lily quiet. The other thing that keeps her quiet is holding her. Lily loves to be held and cuddled. She is super affectionate and loves to give hugs. She is a real sweetheart of a duck.
In other news, here’s a sweet portrait of Sam.
Sam has a heavier eyebrow and a larger head and beak than my other ducks. It makes him look pretty serious sometimes. He is a handsome guy though. See how his feathers grew back lighter? Here is a photo of him when he first arrived for comparison…
I wonder where his green went?
These days, Flapper has been trying to impress me. Here he is making his favorite donkey honk noise to convince me he is the cutest drake on the pond.
Very impressive, Flapper.
Flapper did great at his latest anti-foie gras demonstration on Friday, and tried to impress all the people there, too. We’ll be taking next week off, and then we might try another restaurant.
That’s it for now. We’ll update again once Lily Lou’s blood work is in.
Quacks,
Tiff & the flock
6 Comments
Aww, good luck to Sam and Lily. I wish my ducks loved to be held and cuddled. Quacker does let me pet him, though. Flapper actually let the carpet cleaner pet her, which really surprised me!
Beautiful portraits of both Sam and Lily Lou (I was wondering when the second names would appear;-) Good to hear that Lily is on the mend, I hope she doesn’t have an infection. Recovery might take a while since they were in such a bad shape.
Maybe Sam is in his Summer plumage, and will turn dark again after Fall molt. I like his lighter feathers!
Flapper is cute, his donkey honk makes him even more cute (if that’s possible).
Looks like you’ve had a nice visit at the vet’s too! Ha ha ha, I’m sure Lulu had a lot to gossip about the critters there;-)
I’m wishing everyone a wonderful sunday!
Maybe Sam has a seasonal color change, similar to O’Malley’s? Perhaps the green head will be back in the winter months?
Wish I could hear Lily’s quacks. Are they the high-pitched, excited supranos kind?
I’m thinking Sam is in his molt where he takes on female colors. Our Louie (a mallard) did this and actually had girlie colors more months of the year than drake colors. It was kind of sad to see him without his studly male glory, but it’s natural and I’ll bet with Sam it has nothing to do with the physical condition he’s been in recently.
Hi there, quackers! I think the commenters above are correct, Sam looks like he’s in his summer “eclipse” plumage. I’ve had several mallards and Rouens (large mallard-colored, Pekin-size ducks) and all the drakes were “dressed in drag” each summer as my fellow 4-H’ers called it.
I miss having my quackers around… though they certainly would not do well in an apartment with my kitties! I’ve just moved up to Washington and would love to stop by for a duck fix. Do you hold visiting hours for your internet fans?
Aw, you don’t need to honk to convince us that you’re a cutie-pie, Flap.
It’s interesting that you were able to play with Lulu the cockatoo. We could never put our parrots with strangers. They’d go for the jugular. Hell, they bite us half the time. They’re probably 1/4 the size of Lulu, but it is said, the smaller the bird, the bigger the attitude (Malley being an exception to this rule).
I’m so glad that Lily is on the mend. I’m sure her feathers will grow back in time. Tweek the conure’s feathers are growing back nicely. Tweek has gone from shabby-chic, where she had many feathers missing, to punk-chic, where she’s got a lot of new feathers sticking up in odd patterns. She goes back to the vet on Thursday for a check-up.