Life story of Pipke the duck

Sunday, March 1, 2015

On the Roller Coaster & Mating season 2003

Many question marks – many worries.

Because Pipke had already so many health problems the previous years,

to make the winters more comfortable for her, my hubby made her a new little cottage.

This time, it became a luxurious place: one with a heat lamp on the ceiling.

On the floor we installed her food tray and a small bowl with her drinking water.

From the moment it got cold, we switched on the lamp.

^
Her new cubby-hole.

You could see she really enjoyed the warmth.
She always remained underneath it until … one day … one of our neighbors their cat had discovered the warm place. On a very cold freezing morning we found Pipke in her half frozen pond – while the cat slept under the warmth lamp!

The rascal! Why did she not sleep at her home!

Now we had to do something to prevent this. This wasn't the cat's sleeping place but Pipke's. So we took action.

The very same day we went to the garden center to buy nets (those that are used for covering fruit trees) and we covered the whole pen with it.

Now she could be at ease and sleep where she wanted.

It was now end December 2002, and for the third year in a row we were visiting the vet again.

He still couldn't find out what caused her problem.

We asked him: “what do you think will happen in the next mating season” and he told us: “that she would no longer lay eggs”. The hormonal treatment had made this irreversible.

Actually – we were very surprised to hear this!

We were in the assumption that the injection was only effective for one year.

In fact, we'd misunderstood this and only now we realized that she would never lay eggs again.

We were now very worried. How would she behave now that she couldn't lay eggs anymore.

We hoped this would not change her attitude towards us.

*****

Mating Season 2003.

It was Spring now and although, this new season, her situation was completely different, we were very surprised to discover that it seemed as if nothing had changed.

Already from the beginning – she started to make nests like she had done before. She wanted to mate, so – I had to cuddle her a lot.

We were wondering if an egg would follow now.

And just like all the years before, we made nests together and she went to breed on it.

We made many nests – and while she sat there brooding – you could hear her chatter away. It seemed as if she was trying to lay an egg – we even saw her pressing.

Our heart ached when we saw and heard this. She tried so hard – but without result.

Afterwards, you could see that she'd become really disappointed and even discouraged.

I tried to comfort her then. I spent as much time with her as I could – but at the end of this mating season she really became almost apathetic.

Ho … we felt so guilty now. We almost regretted that we had agreed with the hormonal treatment.

Now she was no longer “exhausted” from laying eggs – but she'd become “frustrated” that she could no longer lay eggs.

On top of that there was also the moult who followed each time shortly afterwards the breeding season.

Moult: tough time!
It came all in such a short period of time.

We couldn't have foreseen this. We had only done what we thought would be in her interest!

That August … the same thing happened ... and for the rest of her life – August and January - would become very stressful months for the three of us.

Every time around the same date – the same thing happened, we almost lost count of the visits to the vet, but we could follow it very well with the vet's bills.

Better times

When (a few years later) acquaintances of ours heard the amount of the bills they said: “but - you could have made a beautiful journey with that sum!” Oh, they would rather have done that, than having to spend so much money on a silly duck!

We didn't react to this comment – we said nothing – we just had our own thoughts about it!

Of course they didn't know Pipke, and surely, not everyone loves animals as much as we do.

Now I know one thing: the attitude of people towards animals shows “who” they really are, and believe me, there exist very selfish people.

In this respect James Herriot could not put it more beautiful and better into words. I quote:

“If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of people”.

With these words he hit the nail on the head!

(From now on, I am going to try to skip as much as possible all the next illness periods, I don't want them to predominate her story. Maybe it was already too much. There were also good periods and happy times in her life.)

Luckily Pipke was healthy again, but then - suddenly a new problem of a whole different magnitude appeared on the horizon.

It became one of an enormous magnitude, it would have the whole world in its grip.

What that problem was I will tell you in the next chapter.
Then I continue with: A Dangerous Invasion on Top.

Thanks for reading

Bye, bye!

PS: message to Terry.

Click on this link above please?

Monday, October 6, 2014

A Dissolution & Hormonal Problems

A Dissolution

After surviving this first food crisis we thought that she now would be safe. She had regained her weight before the first cold days of Winter 2000 – 2001.

We were almost sure that we wouldn't have to worry now, but … this positive outlook didn't last long.

On December 28 – she got again the same problem! Suddenly she stopped eating again, and after five days of loosing weight, we had to consult the vet again.

For us, this became the most dreadful New Year's eve we had experienced in her life so far.

We were so worried. It was cold and freezing now – and in that time she had no warmth lamp outside – only a cubby-hole. She had now also lost so much weight, that we sometimes had to consult the vet for tube feeding twice a day!

The vet tried to figure out was going wrong but he couldn't find out what the cause of her problem was. So - after nearly one whole month of tube feeding he suggested to take x-rays, maybe he could find an abnormality on it.

To take this x-rays he needed to put her under general anesthesia.

This became really a stressful situation!

Narcosis for birds is very risky!

We had seen birds being anesthetized on TV – birds that were healthy – and even some of them didn't survive.

Pipke wasn't healthy, but if the vet would find out what her problem was, then we had to take the risk.

The vet's co-assistant (a woman) would make the x-rays. She allowed us to join her to go with Pipke to the x-ray room. While I held Pipke in my arms the co-vet placed a hood on Pipke's beak. Pipke tried to shake the hood off, but - of course she didn't have enough strength to succeed in it.

Only a few seconds later Pipke fell in a deep sleep.

That was a very strange sight for us. She seemed now like a floppy rag doll. The co-vet now had to support her floppy long neck to avoid that her neck would get injured. Then she placed Pipke on the table and laid her in the correct position to take the x-rays.

After the x-rays were taken, the co-vet laid Pipke in my arms again. She was still in a deep sleep – and now, I was the one who had to support her floppy neck. The vet advised me to whisper very soft to Pipke while she awoke to put her mind at rest. If she could hear my voice then she would be less traumatized by the whole procedure.

While Pipke slowly awoke in my arms the vet showed us the x-rays.

(Unfortunately, I cannot show them to you. I asked a professional photographer to take digital photos of the x-rays, but that is not possible. One needs medical imaging equipment to do that. So I hope my description can give you more or less an image of the x-rays.)

It was amazing how detailed they were.

We could not only see Pipke's fine bone structures, but also the tiny ovaries with her very tiny egg cells – eggs in the making – which she carried in her body, and it were many!

(It seemed like a cluster of very tiny grapes.)

Those could have been her babies – the start of new life – but because she had chosen me as her partner there was no life possible.

Oh, I felt so sorry for her!

The x-rays showed no abnormalities.

On the one hand this was good – but on the other hand – now the vet still had 'no explanation' for what was happening to her.

Now we were completely puzzled.

During this illness period this season, we had to revisit the vet 26 times before she started to eat again.

Unfortunately, also this reassurance didn't last long.
Only one week after she was eating well, she suddenly started to lay eggs again.

The poor thing, she still was far below her normal weight – she had just survived her 'second' fight – and now this.

Of course, this first egg wasn't a good one.

The shell wasn't developed well and it was very soft.

She started to lay eggs that year on January 30,

and stopped laying eggs on August 9.

As a good mom, carefully rearranging her eggs.

Fortunately she continued to eat now and that made us less worried.

The total amount of eggs that year was 92, far too much for her health!

*****

Hormonal Problems

Summer of 2001.

This Summer, 'the same problems' as the year before!

(I know - it's maybe a bit annoying that I have to repeat this, but I want to give a true picture of the story. This is reality thus I can't change it.)

Again she was exhausted from laying eggs (83 this season), lost weight – stopped eating and: there we went to the vet for tube feeding again!

Now it had already came so far that we assumed that she would have the same problems the next year.

And yes - our assumption was right, but this time it was even worse than before.

Now - June 2002 - she had problems with 'all' her eggs!

The whole month she had laid eggs, but this time they were all soft – not one had a firm shell.

Therefore the vet assumed that she had an hormonal problem, and he suggested to give her an injection to stop her from laying eggs.

Because we thought that this would solve her problem, we agreed with the vet, that this was probably the best solution for her!

After she got this injection (on June 26, 2002) she only laid a few very tiny eggs.

The injection had prevented the eggs to develop. At the end they were even not larger than a small bean! They were even so brittle that, when I took them up very gentle they fell apart in miniscule pieces and pulverized in my hand.

'I have kept a few of these last 'potential offsprings' as a souvenir.

I keep them in a small old wooden chest,

together with all what once belonged to Pipke.'

One of her last under developed eggs with a soft shell.

A few of her last 'potential offsprings'.

For me this is now my treasure box of invaluable value.

(If my house would catch fire then I would enter my house and risk my own life to save this treasure from the fire.)

She laid her very last egg on August 28 of that year.

At that time we had consulted the vet already 105 times.

The vet's practice.

Would the injection stop the number of visits?

We wondered whether this would turn out in her favor.

If you want to know the answer to these questions, then I invite you to come again later for the continuation.

Bye, bye and thanks for reading !
Hope to see you again,
then I will take you for a ride
'On the Roller- Coaster'.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Loving Memory

Today, September 14, 2014 -

it's already five years ago since Pipke passed away.

I just cannot believe that it can be that long ago. Never thought that her absence would weigh so heavy.

I know - for the world she just might have been a silly duck, but to me,
she meant the world.

*****

My dear little loyal friend

Fate has brought us together.
I found you at the most precarious moment of your life.
You were only a few minutes old, so tiny, vulnerable and all alone struggling to stay alive.
Luckily I was there for you at the right moment so I could save you.
In return, you shared your little life with me; and what a life it was!
Beyond expression is my love for you; words fail to express my gratitude.
In my mind all memories are alive and deeply etched.
In my heart I've reserved the softest place for you.
For as long as I'm aware of myself … I will remember you.
Forever

Your
Oma