Our Final Majestic Photo Contest is Closed!

Thank you to all of our photo contest participants! The judges will gather this month to decide whose ducks and geese are the Most Photogenic, who has the best Poker Face and who best utilized Special Effects to show off their pet! Good Luck! Winners will be announced in our July newsletter!

Kensington Bird & Animal Hospital

The inherently random nature of our sanctuary's veterinary needs has motivated us to find a vet practice with hours more compatible with the needs of our rescued ducks and geese. This in mind, we've started taking our rescues to a new vet!

Kensington Bird & Animal Hospital is located at 977 Farmington Avenue, Berlin CT and they have a whole team of avian vets who include:  Dr. Kelley, Dr. Sinclair and Dr. Cianciolo.

Norwichtown Vet Hospital is still our go-to vet for basic emergencies, including end-of-life care. For those of you following us on social media, their on-staff vet, Dr. Pacheco, is responsible for saving our Evie! (More on this later...)

Noank-Mystic Vet Hospital is now our back-up vet with waterfowl care usually available on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Sheena's Gizzard Staple

One year-old Sheena arrived at our sanctuary as an owner surrender March 30th of this year. Aside from her purple Blue-Kote feathers (see previous newsletters), we thought she was generally healthy. Soon after settling in, however, Kim noticed that she had an odd gait, with a slightly inward-twisting foot. Prior owners had raised her on TSC Dumor brand duckling food and told us that one of their other ducklings had also not thrived on it. Before placing Sheena up for adoption, Kim opted to have a baseline x-ray done to make sure all was well in her leg bones and joints.

Dr. Sinclair reviewed the x-ray and let us know that aside from some slight bone bowing, Sheena's joints and bones looked pretty good. That was the good news. The bad news was the x-ray also revealed a small hardware staple in Sheena's gizzard. We only use large roofing staples and nails on our pens, so we were sure she arrived with this piece of metal inside of her (and confirmed it after comparing it to the vet-removed metal).

We had to make the decision of either leaving the staple inside her or surgically removing it. Leaving it inside of her came with the risk of it eventually traveling further down her digestive tract at some point; once there, it might pierce her intestines and cause a rapid and fatal septic infection. On the other hand, removing the staple also comes with risks. As many duck and goose Mommas and Poppas understand, waterfowl medical decisions often boil down to selecting the best of the worst available options.

We decided that Sheena's best chance at a long and healthy life, was to have the staple removed. A few days after her x-ray appointment, Sheena returned to Kensington Bird & Animal Hospital for her emergency surgery, to remove the staple from her gizzard. To accomplish this, Dr. Kelley made a small incision on the inner side of Sheena's left leg (which she later closed with an internal stitch to prevent Sheena from tugging on it while preening). The gizzard was moved over to the abdominal wall for access and then another incision was made to retreive any metal.

Dr. Kelley discovered that 2/3 of the staple (the top and one prong) were completely embedded within the gizzard wall and unretreavable. The second prong had broken off and was successfully retreaved.

Sheena came home early that evening. It was vital to keep her very still, so she remained in her pet carrier all night and then went back to see Dr. Kelley in the morning for a check up. Sheena looked great! She came back home to our infirmary and will remain here for a total of fourteen days. It's vital to control what Sheena is consuming during her healing phase. Safely inside our basement infirmary, she can't ingest any hard to digest plants, or small pebbles for her gizzard.

Because it takes a full two weeks for gizzard stitches to heal, we have slowly increased her Mazuri feed rations during the day up to 2 tablespoons of Mazuri Waterfowl Breeder pellets every two hours. Food is pre-soaked for 20 minutes and then served floating in a bowl of water. This process of pre-softening her meals helps reduce digestive stress. Many small meals, rather than a handful of larger meals, also reduces gizzard fullness and stress. We don't want anything putting pressure on those stitches!

Because Sheena lays a daily egg (which has to be discarded due to Blue-Kote exposure and current medications), she needs an additional calcium source. With a healing gizzard, we substituted her normal oyster shells with a powdered hip & joint, calcium supplement. We just sprinkle it over her floating food once a day and she's all set.

Aside from this, we admininster an anti-inflammatory/pain pill and an antibiotic pill (combined into one capsule) every 12 hours for a total of seven days. A zinc test confirmed that the galvanized plating on the staple, which had leached into her system, was minor. Very low levels of zinc meant that no medical intervention was required on that front.

As of June 1st, we are 7 days into Sheena's recovery and so far, she's doing great! LIVE videos of her pop up and are stored on Instagram where you can see us reading books and visiting with her PLUS... she has her very own portable DVD player coming tomorrow, so she can watch her favorite ducky movies! As with all animals, it's very important for ducks in a solitary situation to have plenty of visual and auditary stimulation. In fact, since ducks are flock animals, it's even more important that they have companionship, which is why Sheena also has her very own mirror.

Sheena's mirror reflection also keeps her company

Sheena returns to the vet at the end of the month to have a follow-up x-ray performed. It's likely that the staple will remain lodged in her muscular gizzard wall for the remainder of her life, but we want to check it one more time, post-surgically, to confirm this information before going back to our search for her a new and forever, safe and loving home.

Every Momma Duck & Poppa Goose Should Have One (or both!)

For more thorough information on pet ducks and geese, check out The Ultimate Pet Duck Guidebook and The Ultimate Pet Goose Guidebook, which are both available in b&w and color versions on AmazonSmile. Each is over 400 pages and contains hundreds of helpful (and fun!) photos and diagrams.

The Ultimate Pet Goose Guidebook (b&w):  $24.99
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1517238951/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

The Ultimate Pet Goose Guidebook (color):  $64.99
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1508497621/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

The Ultimate Pet Duck Guidebook (b&w):  $26.99
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1517238951/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

The Ultimate Pet Duck Guidebook (color):  $64.99
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1501043803/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Majestic Waterfowl Sanctuary makes no representation, warranty, or guarantee in connection with any guidance provided on this website. Majestic Waterfowl Sanctuary expressly disclaims any liability or responsibility for loss or damage resulting from its use or for the violation of any federal, state or municipal law or regulation with which such guidance may conflict. Any guidance is general in nature. In addition, the assistance of a qualified professional should be enlisted to address any specific circumstances.

© Majestic Waterfowl Sanctuary 2021