Flapper had some fun today, playing outside in the pool and splashing Petunia. George has decided the pool is HIS now, and he protects his AstroTurf, so he followed Flapper into the pool. Luckily he is a good goose, but Flapper was not about to share. So I had to kick George out until Flapper was done. Flapper is just about to start his 3rd month of heart medicine, and he seems to be feeling good. He definitely tires easily, but he is happy and stable and sweet as ever.
Flapper had a good time splashing, and then Lester Leroy came out for a quick swim as well.
Then George had his pool back, and spent some quality time with his AstroTurf.
On Tuesday, our chickie Olly Astro will have surgery. Also, Lester Leroy will go to the vet as well, for a recheck on his bone infection. Please send good thoughts for Olly. We hope the surgery goes smoothly. Fingers crossed!
It was a busy weekend here at Flapper’s house. Poor Olly Astro, who just got over another respiratory infection, now has yolk coelomytosis. That is the same illness that killed Phoebe Kay years ago. Luckily I think we caught Olly’s illness sooner, and she was on antibiotics for the respiratory infection, so hopefully she will have a better recovery. She will have surgery on Tuesday. Yolk coelomytosis is a common problem in egg-laying hens and ducks. It is an infection that causes egg yolks to form without shells, and to build up inside along with fluid. I hope she does well on Tuesday. She sure deserves to be healthy and happy for awhile after her rough start in life. NOTE: Her care is paid for, so no donations are needed.
Speaking of rough starts, Lester Leroy came outside with Flapper today to hang out in the aviary and swim in the baby pool.
They took turns in the pool and ate some lettuces while soaking up the sunshine.
Lester allowed me to take a few photos of his amazing hairdo. Lester is a crested cayuga domestic duck. His crest is not very big, but it is pretty cute.
Isn’t it fancy? It even blows in the wind.
I think George has a little bit of hairdo envy.
In other news, we found a new place in Seattle that sells good quality chicken feed and supplies. Portage Bay Grange. They also sell duck and rabbit food, and are looking into getting us Mazuri food.
We heard about them at the vet’s office and went to take a look. While we don’t really like to see any place selling baby chicks, they are doing it as responsibly as it can be done. For people who are going to eat eggs, this is a better way to get them than from a factory farm. The bad part is that 1/2 of these little chicks are likely male, and there isn’t any use for roosters on an urban farm. Roosters are even illegal in Seattle. Next time you eat eggs, ask yourself “what happened to the baby boy chicks?”
Still, they’re awfully cute little babies. Adorable even. The ones with the puffy heads are silkies, like our rescued fluffy muppet Racquel L’Oreal who passed away last June.
It was a beautiful Sunday in Seattle, and we enjoyed it to the fullest.
Today I took a day off of work and traveled to Olympia, WA to meet my legislators and talk to them about the opportunities they have to help reduce the suffering of animals in our state. There are various bills to talk about, and I wanted to make sure they knew that while animals can’t vote, I sure can, and I speak loud and often for the hens, dogs, cats and other furry & feathered friends who share this land with us and count on our responsible, compassionate stewardship.
In case you wonder where your tax dollars go, rest assured, they’re not being wasted on fancy office space for our Representatives and Senators in Olympia.
Here’s Representative Frockt talking to some 4th graders about the legislative process. He took time out of his busy schedule to listen to me talk about HB1813, which is a sham bill that egg producers introduced to keep hens locked in battery cages with less than 67-square-inches of space to live in for their entire lives. That’s less space than a sheet of paper, and it doesn’t allow them to stand up, turn around or flap their wings… ever… for their entire lives of suffering. I hope my representatives, Frockt and Kenney, vote NO! on HB 1813.
Then it was off to the Senate side to meet with Senator Scott White, who was running late because he was entertaining those same 4th graders from earlier in the day. Senator White is a loyal advocate for the animals, and knew almost all we had to say before we even spoke. So we had fun talking about his campaign instead, and how I’d wave to him standing on the corner of Lake City Way & 80th Ave NE every evening on my way home from work. Special thanks to John in his office for squeezing in our time with the Senator, even when he was running behind schedule. We hope we can count on Senator White to vote NO! on SB 5487.
It was a great day in Olympia, and I was happy to be a part of Humane Lobby Day for the animals.
After a bit of a drive back to Seattle, I was home before 5pm, and spent a little quality time with George in the yard.
Then something really special happened.
I brought Flapper and Lester Leroy outside for a little sunshine, and Lester STOOD UP for the first time!
As you remember, Lester has not walked since he arrived here, after being bitten by a dog and suffering from parasites and osteomylitis from not being treated promptly (bone marrow infection). But after twice-daily physical therapy, he is finally sitting better and amazingly, able to stand up! Yay for Lester!
It was a good day for the animals, a good day for the people, and a great day for Lester.
Tonight while I was eating dinner, Flapper really wanted some. But my veggie tofu thai food was way too spicy to share, so I went and picked him up some french fries. As you can see, it made him very, very happy.
In other news, Lester is doing pretty well. Realistically, he won’t ever walk again. He doesn’t even stand up. But he seems content and he likes his buddy Flapper. That will have to be enough. Olly Astro still has a respiratory infection. We hope to try a new antibiotic for her starting tomorrow or Thursday. Everyone else is doing good.
Little Lester Leroy went to the vet for a check-up today. His regular vets are vacationing on the beaches of Hawaii, so he saw a substitute vet who was very nice.
Lester was soooo happy to be home from the vet and see his buddy Flapper. They chatted for nearly 1/2 hour. Lester’s prognosis is not good. His legs are not likely fix-a-ble and he does have nerve damage. He also still has parasites so he’s still on medication for that as well as antibiotics for his legs and previous dog-bite wounds.
For now, Lester has a good quality of life. He likes his playpen and his mirror and he likes his buddy Flapper. Flapper also likes him and they are good company for each other. He is eating well and seems content. So he will stay with us for as long as he is happy and has a good quality of life. And he’ll go back to the vet in 2 weeks for another check-up. NOTE: We don’t need donations for Lester, as his care is paid for by the Seattle Animal Shelter right now.
In other news, Chewy was featured in a book last year. I do not support people farming animals, but this book wanted to use one of my photos of Chewy and so we said they could. Since Chewy passed away unexpectedly, I bought the book so I could have it as a keepsake.
Chewy is featured in the book in his tuxedo, and his caption says, “Chewy, pictured right, is kept as a much-loved pet, its owners keeping a lively pictorial blog of its exploits on flickr.com.” I thought it would be good for some people to see that ducks are more than just agricultural or ornamental objects. And Chewy always did look very handsome in his tuxedo.
We worked from home today so we could get Lester to the vet, and as you can see, George was happy to hang out with us. Flapper sat on some blankets inside the house and looked out at the chickens and O’Malley, Petunia & George. George was very curious about the house but too shy to step inside.
Lastly, Simon is doing pretty well these days. He has adjusted to having not one, but TWO ducks living inside HIS house, even though it can be exhausting at times.
Lester Leroy went outside today to get some much-needed sunshine.
He and Flapper both needed to get out of the house and enjoy the great outdoors, so I set up a little play area out front and gave Flapper a little pool to swim in.
Lester Leroy really needed a bath too, as his eyes were getting crusty. Duck tears have an oil in them that they spread onto their feathers while preening. Ducks need to dip their entire head in water every day to clean those tears away and to clean any feathers out of their beak. Lester hasn’t had a bath though, because he has been recovering from his injuries.
Here you can see the big wound area on Lester’s back. This is probably where he was bitten by a dog, but it has been awhile ago. We think it has been longer than a few weeks, and this injury is probably what caused the damage to Lester’s legs, if it is in fact nerve damage.
This video below is tough to watch, but it shows just how bad Lester’s legs are.
Lester Leroy loves to be near Flapper, but since they are both boys, they also love to talk tough. When I broke them up, Lester had latched on to Flapper’s face and Flapper had latched on to Lester’s chest. Silly boys. Both were of course fine, and they really do like each others company.
As you can see, Lester’s legs are a real mess. He is still on antibiotics for the bone marrow infection (osteomyelitis) and both legs do have motion, but I am really doubtful that he’ll ever walk again. This means that as long as he is happy and hanging out with Flapper, he has a life and a home here. It is very tough to euthanize a duck like Lester, because even though his legs are terrible, his body is fine and his will to live is very, very strong. If you remember a few years ago we had another handicapped duck, Sunny, who we decided to euthanize after awhile. She had declined and did not have a strong will to live anymore. She would have hated being in the house alone. She was not happy or content, and not at all people friendly. Lester comes to us at a time when Flapper is already living inside due to his severe arthritis and congestive heart failure. He is doing well now, but he can’t walk much. He seems happy inside and having Lester around actually keeps him occupied while I’m at work. Lester having Flapper around is great as well. Lester seems happy and content, even though he does not care to be picked up and treated by me. So for now, he will do fine here, but his long-term prognosis is not likely to be a full recovery or a normal outdoor life.
After hanging out in the sunshine, Lester and Flapper came in and took over the bed while I cleaned up their playpens and wiped duck poop off my bedroom wall. Lester really seemed to enjoy the bed and made himself right at home on my pillow.
Because of Flapper’s arthritis, he has had to get resourceful to reach his tail feathers and preen his belly.
Here he shows his extreme near somersault preening move. I’m thinking of helping him over and giving him a french fry to see if he’ll do it again. A somersaulting duck would be even better than an arthritic duck with congestive heart failure, don’t you think?
In other news, the most awesome blog, Seattle Vegan Score, named me VEGAN OF THE WEEK!
Thanks to Anika, Rebecca and Rex for coming over to interview me and take photos and video of the feathered family. It is an honor to be in such great company and I’m so happy to be a part of the active animal rights community in Seattle.
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.
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.
Lester Leroy sat on the couch with me for awhile tonight so we could stretch his leg and see how he was feeling. He doesn’t seem to be in too much pain, and he gets anti-inflammatories/pain medication every day (metacam). He is also still on antibiotics for his bone marrow infection (osteomyelitis).
He tolerates the stretching pretty well, as you can see. I’m thinking right now that he has nerve damage, probably in his back.
