Pipke on TV

It was begin August 2000. 

Pipke was still in good shape and healthy.

Only one week before she got ill for the very first time in her life.

But then suddenly mid August we could see that she wasn't doing so well, her health started to deteriorate.

It was very obvious to see that she was once again in the moult.

She had the same problems as the previous years, but this time it seemed much worse.

She began to eat less and less when at a given moment – after approximately one week – she just stopped eating completely. We were very worried about her well-being. Now she hadn't been eating for almost a fortnight and she became far too skinny. Therefore we started to weigh her every day and the scale told nothing good!

Every day she lost almost 25 to 40 grams, and measured to her total body weight – that was very much. 

At the start of the moult.

It was Sunday, August the twentieth, and we trusted it no longer.

We were afraid that we might lose her.

One week earlier, one of our neighbors (who knew about Pipke's situation) had given us the name of a veterinarian who lives in our neighborhood.

And did we have luck. Quite by chance – he was a bird-specialist.

So we phoned him and described her situation.

He was so kind to receive us although it was his day off.

He examined Pipke superficial, but he couldn't find anything at that moment and therefore he gave her a vitamins injection. If it wouldn't be better the next day then we had to come back.

It wasn't better the next day – only worse!

She sat there lifeless in her little water tub. 

We even couldn't lure her to eat an earthworm, and that had always been her favorite treat. 

She even refused to nibble on the roots of dandelions.

 

Therefore we made a new appointment with the vet the next day on Monday, August 21.

Before we left, I washed my face with cold water to hide that I'd been crying. My eyes were all red and puffed up – I really looked awful.

When we arrived at the vet we were very surprised to see that there stood a large truck of the Belgian Dutch-language television station parked at his practice.

There was a TV crew recording film images for an animal program called 'Animal Clinic'.

We had seen that program very often on the *Belgian Dutch speaking broadcaster (*BRT at that time) and now they were here – filming!

Already on the parking lot two members of the TV crew came to us to see which animal needed the vet's help.

They were very surprised when they saw Pipke.

Of course – they didn't expect to see a duck, but rather a dog.

They also could see that she wasn't an 'ordinary duck'!

So we went inside and while we were waiting in the waiting room they asked us many questions about her. So we had to tell them her story (in short of course)!

How her life started – how our bond grew and so on.

They also asked us what Pipke's problem was – so we told them what was going on at that moment. Of course now that they came to know more about her situation, they were eager to film her during the consultation at the vet's examination room.

First I refused. I was a little embarrassed because I looked so dreadful. This wasn't the appropriate moment to appear on TV – not for me – but surely not for her!

Actually – we both looked terribly – but the manager of the film crew insisted, and after hesitating a while I agreed. I did it in fact for Pipke. It was about her, and now she could be seen by so many viewers of the program. (At that time there were about “one million” viewers and believe me – that's a lot for such a small country like Belgium.)

A member of the film crew installed a little microphone on my shirt and so we could enter the vet's examination room.

I suppose you know a little how the filming of such scenes goes and because I can't show you the scene I'm going to describe you how it went.

(Sorry but I can't show the film scene. Why – I will explain later at the end of this chapter.)

The host of the program asked us which animal was sitting in the container.

Then I had to come in action, and while I took away the lid of the container where Pipke was sitting in I said: 

"this is Pipke our pet duck".

 Our little jack -in- the- box

Actually, although she was in such a thorny delicate situation, it was funny to see that, when I lifted up the lid, as a jack -in- the- box, Pipke's head came peeking up just above the edge – very anxious quaking and looking around.

She was so afraid that she tried to jump out the container on herself. Therefore I took her out the box, put her on the examination table and embraced her to reassure her that she was safe with me.

Actually – we both were not at all at ease with the camera aimed at us.

The vet examined her again and this time more thoroughly. This time he also took a sample of her feces and held it under the microscope.

So while the vet was busy with looking in the microscope, the host asked me to tell him how it came that we had a duck as pet. So you can guess it: once again I had to tell her story in short.

In between we could follow the examination on a screen – and there appeared two evildoers!

She had not only an infestation of *flagellates but she also had worms.

We could see something very small moving. It were the flagellates – (cells with one or more whip-like organelles).

*This a very common infestation for all kind of birds.

Although these flagellates are such microscopic small things – they can cause much problems. A heavy flagellate infection can even be fatal.

Flagellates affects and destroys the intestinal wall and so the animal can not digest food anymore.

The symptoms of flagellates are, a loss of appetite, and loose and dark stools.
Also vomiting can occur. 
(Actually - on the one hand: Pipke had 'bad luck'!

She now had to defeat two strong enemies – while she was totally weakened.

But on the other hand: she also had 'much luck' because – without the help of the vet she had never been able to win the fight.)

Then the vet gave Pipke two pills to kill the worms.

Thereafter – to give Pipke the necessary injections the vet turned her upside down. (Oh, she was so afraid when he did that!)

By doing this, the tiny feathers which Pipke was losing flew all over the place.

By manner of speaking: 'it was snowing fuzz'.

The result was that now the table was covered with her white fuzz.

He gave her then, one injection against the flagellates, and yet another one with vitamins to support her. Thereafter he gave her tube feeding which he had prepared for her.

He took her beak to open it but she opposed it, so he had to force her to open it.

Then– very carefully he brought in the long tube. This is a very delicate action because the trachea and the esophagus are located so close to each other. You can imagine what would happen if you did this wrong.

Actually he gave her a kind of parrot food because there exists no liquid tube feeding especially for ducks.

Bah, she didn't like that at all! 
Comprehensible – she also wasn't a parrot!

She even shook her head repeatedly – trying to spit out the food, luckily without success otherwise the calories which she needed so desperately would have been lost.

Parrot food is in fact the only bird food with so much calories, and she needed as much calories as she could get.

After all this 'abuse' she had become so frightened that 

she jumped up straight into my arms – afraid that there would follow other maltreatments.

Of course in her eyes this was maltreatment, no one had done this to her before.

(It's really so unfortunately that I can't show you this particular scene. It's so touching to watch how – after she jumped into my arms – she hugs me and hides her head in my hair. I can't get enough of this scene!)

When the examination was finished we went outside to the waiting room while the host followed us.

He thanked us for our cooperation on their program and wished that Pipke would get better very soon.

So we went home with the hope that Pipke's problems would be over now, but this hope became a great disillusionment.

Even several days after this second visit to the vet – and being filmed to appear on TV later that year – Pipke still wasn't getting better.

She'd lost now more than half her weight and it still went downwards.

A terrible time for us all followed – interspersed by concern about her wellbeing – and sleepless nights by fear of losing her. 
At a given time we were even close to despair.

Seeing her suffering – not being able to alleviate her pain it was really heartbreaking.

Going to the vet so many times and watching her – to undergo the torture of the tube feeding. When I think back at these periods then my heart still bleeds, but it was for her own good that we went on with it, otherwise she wouldn't have survived it.

So, we had to revisit the vet for tube feeding – in total *19 times (*and this only that year) – before she started to eat again by herself.

Fortunately – after more than one month she started to recover.

In total it took nearly two months to return the 'lively Pipke' as we previously knew her.

In fact, Pipke was a real riddle for the vet. He never had experienced such a case before, although he is a well-known eminent veterinarian. He gives lectures all over the world.

During all the years (ten) that we consulted him we saw there people who came from Holland, Luxembourg, Germany and even England with their birds, birds of all species like: Cranes, Owls, Eagles, Falcons, Hawks, Parrots, Pigeons and all other kinds of small birds.

We saw only a few ordinary mallards, but – Pipke was of course not an ordinary duck!

She was a duck with a tuft on her head: a crested duck – and a special lovely one.

Also for the vet she became a special case. She had captured his heart too. He would treat her for the rest of her life.

 

Now we still say that we really have had much luck to find him at that very moment that Pipke went ill for the first time, otherwise she wouldn't have survived it.

We also were lucky that he lived so close to our home, only approx. three km away.

Now that she had survived the ordeal and was fully recovered we pampered her more than ever before.

After such a long period of worry and fear of losing her we discovered what and how much she meant to us.

She made my life complete!

We couldn't imagine our life without  her.

From that moment on, I started to write about her in my diary, and this time, it became a real diary.

I noticed every move she made in a manner of speaking. I hadn't done that before.

Later that year, the TV producers informed us that the program 'Animal Clinic' would appear on TV. We hadn't told our neighbors nor friends about it. We had kept it silent – so it became a real surprise for them.

They – we – and also approx. one million viewers saw the broadcast on TV on November 14, 2000.

I can assure you, seeing yourself on TV is odd.

For me it was a real disenchantment: 'was this my voice!' I disgusted my own voice.

Knowing that I was being filmed – it made ​​me a little uneasy to find the right words.

I must admit, I will never be a good actress. Although – actually you can't compare this with acting. I had no time to study and repeat a text. I also did not know which questions they would ask me.

No really – in this regard – you haven't missed a thing. Maybe it's even best that you also can't hear me talking, otherwise you would perhaps close the speaker:) !

It was also weird. I almost didn't recognize myself on the screen.

But – other people had recognized me. The next days when I went to town to do my shoppings, several people asked me: “aren't you the one with the duck on TV?”

Then – even several years later, those same people sometimes asked me how it went with my duck. 

Well, and how it went further with Pipke, that I will tell you in the next chapter. 

I'm going to close this one with the words the host used in the program: 

“and here's Pipke again – 

the most affectionate duck in the Western Hemisphere!”.

Yes, wasn't she a sweetie!

When the series ended later that year, at the end of the very last broadcast the host mentioned Pipke's name.

He expressed a special word of thanks to Pipke for her cooperation to the program.

Wasn't this a beautiful way to close the series!

That made our day!

Till next time – then I will go further with: A Dissolution. 

Bye, bye 
and thanks for reading my story.

I hope you enjoyed it!

PS: as promised I will explain why I can't show you the film images of the broadcast on TV.

Because I couldn't retrieve the images of the broadcast which we ever recorded on VHS, I have sent a mail to the manager of the image archive of the TV station with the request to send me a copy of the images on DVD.

I was very surprised that – before they would send me the film images I first had to sign a document in which I declare that I will use the footage only for private use.

Because I wanted to show the images on my blog, I sent them the request to allow me to show only a small part of the film images but it was denied.

So – I have received the film images on DVD, but because of the copyright I can't show them on my blog!

I hope you understand that I have to comply the agreement.

Here you can find more detailed information about the problem.  

'Pipke on TV' Almost Finished

Dear readers ,

hereby I want to let you know that the next chapter 'Pipke on TV' will follow one of these days. 

It took so long before I could announce this message because I have rewritten the whole chapter. 
It became finally approx. 5 A 4 pages long, much longer than I expected – but when you're telling a story, and certainly a love story such as this one, the memories come back easily.

By rewriting this part I relived this part very intense and 
deep, it all became so vivid, it seemed almost as though it happened yesterday.

So I hope that you don't mind that this chapter became so long, I really did my best to keep it enthralling.

It also took so long because I had problems with the archive of the TV station which took the film images of Pipke.

I will explain it at the end of the relevant chapter. 

Till soon. 

Bye, bye!

Message to my Readers!

Dear readers and followers!

On my blogger in draft 'Stats Overview' I can see that many of you're visiting my blog.

Therefore I want to say - sorry for the delay.

I'm still working on the next chapter.

It will follow soon.

Thanks for your patience and keeping in touch! 

Till soon.

Fran 

Help... Robbers! & Making Nests

The next two years went as usual.

She was a cheerful and lively little creature. In the mating season she laid her eggs and together we made nests.  She had several nests at the same time, with many eggs, in fact … too many.

Sometimes there were so many eggs that I had to take the oldest ones away to avoid that they would *explode - and a few times - *that happened.

The stench of the rotting eggs was really disgusting! 
Then we had to clean the whole nest place thoroughly because the stench was really not to bear.

From then on we let her keep only one nest.

On the way to one of her nests among the reeds

Actually that was no problem for her because in fact, she was also no longer interested in the older nest.

In the late evening, at sunset, after she had covered her eggs careful she went to her pond to spend the night.

On a certain morning my hubby released her out of her pen and as usual she ran immediately to her nest.

Not half a minute later she came running back to us – quacking loudly and a little in panic.

We wondered what had happened.

Together we went to watch her nest, and there we found a few broken and empty eggs "beside" her nest and one egg broken in her nest.

How could an egg ended up beside the nest, how could that happen!

Our garden was secured with a fence. Could there have been an intruder?

So we removed the empty eggshells, cleansed her nest and without hesitation Pipke went back brooding on her eggs.

Then the next morning before my hubby went to Pipke's pen he first went to watch her nest to be sure that everything was OK there.

Unsuspectingly he grabbed inside the nest to count the eggs when - suddenly he felt a sharp stabbing pain. 
I heard him yelling – ai! 
Of course - I was curious and so I went to see what was going on there!

When he looked inside the nest he discovered he had hurt himself on the prickles of an Hedgehog!

Now we knew who the “evildoer” was!

The little rascal had rotated himself around an egg to squeeze it and so to break it.

Unfortunately for him: despite all his efforts - today - there would be no omelette for breakfast! :)

Of course - we couldn't leave him there and we also didn't want to kill him.

So my hubby put on a pair of leather garden gloves to pick up the little bandit – and even through the gloves he could feel his prickles. 
Then he took him to the nearest woodland and released him there.

Now we still wonder: had Pipke panicked because she had felt the nasty prickles of the hedgehog?

We will never know.

To prevent that more evil doers could enter the garden, we closed the small slit under the little garden gates. In case they were still inside, the evenings thereafter we also took her eggs away and in the morning we put them back .

Thereafter we saw only once another hedgehog and my hubby brought this one also to the woodland.

Quite at ease resting in her dog-bed on the *countertop of the laundry room -

(her *favorite spot for her early morning nap)
waiting for cuddles!

Making Nests

Now it was safe in the garden. We could leave the eggs in the nest and she could make nests wherever she wanted and, that was sometimes in the most odd places.

Once she had made a nest between the branches of the Cotoneaster. She had to wrench herself between the rigid twigs. it wasn't at all easy to get in or out the nesting place, she sometimes almost got stuck with her tiny feet between the twigs. To make it easier for her we clipped a few of the larger branches.

While we were cutting the branches she stood watching there. It almost seemed as if she was supervising our work: and yes, she approved it. From the moment the entrance was widened she went to sit on the nest. It was cute to see how sometimes, only her head or sometimes only a tiny piece of her crest came peeping through the sticks. This nesting place, with a good entrance (now there was a hole in the Cotoneaster) would become, for the rest of her life, a place to return to often. Therefor we always kept the entrance open.

Two chatter boxes at her nesting place between the cotoneaster. 

Look how dense these twigs grew. 

In between these stiff twigs she made nests. 

We often stood there together while she chatted and chatted – she loved that place – we had made it especially for her.

Another odd spot was: our muck heap. She'd chosen this place itself.

Of course: I would have taken her to another spot but probably she had chosen this place because it was warm there. She crawled then on top of the heap, and I presented her then some new twigs or Bamboo leaves. It was really beautiful to see with how much love and devotion she arranged them carefully around her body.

It was really beautiful to see with how much love and devotion she did this. The most obvious place for a nest was in a corner of her pen. We covered this nest with reed and so she had a sheltered nest.

 The best year of her life followed.

Our happy little princess!
Resting in her dog-bed outside the house besides our backdoor.

I call it the best year, because – at that time she was still very healthy. 
We didn't have to worry about her health: she weighed 2.400 kg. This was even maybe a little overweight. She was very vivid, made nests, laid eggs and she went through Winters with freezing temperatures of - 20° C (- 4 F) without problems, and even with this low temperature she stayed outside – without a warmth lamp.

The only bad periods in her life so far had been the molting periods, then you could really see her suffer, then she lost weight, and she wouldn't let you touch her, we really felt sorry for her then.                                        

She now had become five years old. 
She was in the prime of her life but – suddenly things changed dramatically!

I will tell you later what happened, then I will go further with:

Pipke on TV! (2000)   

 See you!

Work in Progress

I'm very sorry but I have a problem with the retrieval of the correct images that belong to the following chapter. The images are now almost 15 years old and they are stored somewhere in my iMovie program.  

As soon as I find them I will go on with the sequel. 

Thanks for your patience

Bye, bye!

Being Separated (January 1998)

For Pipke - November 1997 started off very well. 

We had a beautiful Autumn and it was already freezing. She had no problem with the cold. She had developed a good fat layer and - if she wasn't sleeping in her dogs nest/bed she spent most of her time swimming in her little pond. 

In between she enjoyed walking through the garden together with us to search after spiders and earthworms.

She now weighed almost two kg.

 

It was at the end of December, and the last few months I hadn't been feeling so good.

I always felt exhausted and I had become very skinny. (I barely weighed 49 kg!) Normally I ran every other day *9 km (*at that time) and now suddenly I even couldn't run one km. 
I got so bad, that I almost couldn't stay awake, I slept the whole day.

The week before, I had consulted my doctor and she had taken blood samples to find out what my problem was.

Very late on New Year's eve, she phoned me with the urgent message that I had to go immediately to the hospital the next morning.

My blood samples showed that I had probably had an internal bleeding.

 

My first thought was: “oh, and what about Pipke”!

I didn't think about myself! I was only worried for what an impact my absence would have on Pipke and, my doctor couldn't estimate how long I had to stay there.

With pain in my heart I left home to go to the hospital in the early morning that New Years day.

On the way to the hospital I couldn't stop crying because I had to leave Pipke behind.

Although I had not much time - the first thing I did when I entered my hospital room was to install  Pipke's picture on my night table. 

Thereafter - without delay - they took me immediately to the examination room.

I had to undergo many tests and the doctors gave me a full examination, but after a full day of examinations they couldn't find out what was wrong with me. 
The only thing that they could say was - that my blood results were very bad.  
They were sure that I must have had an internal bleeding – but they couldn't find out “where” it happened .

 

I stayed at the hospital for a whole month, I was only allowed to spend just one weekend home and that only after fourteen days.

When I then came back home after a fourth night - Pipke ignored me completely when she saw me again - it seemed like, to her, I didn't exist anymore.

She even didn't answer when I called for her – she wanted no more snuggles – it seemed as if she was angry with me. She remained cool and impassive.

In fact, this event touched me more than the fact that I was sick.

It even made me feel much worse.

When I had to leave her to go to the hospital again, I was really gloomy: would she forget about me now – was she angry with me because I had left her against my own will?

 

That same day I had to undergo once more several examinations at the hospital. 
I went through all kind of scanners – I became a real Guinea pig – my body was turned inside out in a manner of speaking.

Now – they had discovered that my blood results had even deteriorated after that weekend that I was at home, and behind my back they had asked my husband: 

"maybe your wife mutilates herself” ? That would declare the blood loss.

(This shows how medical science works these days.) 

If they can't find anything, then it's all in your head.

In fact, this shows rather their inability to cure “everything” and then they come up with the easiest – but not proven – explanation.

My husband was really furious, and I – I knew now “why” they had inspected my arms, my legs and every single spot on my body so thoroughly. 

They were actually looking for “cut wounds”, but of course - they couldn't find even one tiny scar! I didn't cut myself.

Maybe it was good that my blood results were bad, otherwise – they had maybe said that I was a "hypochondriac".

After one whole month being hospitalized I was allowed to go home without an explanation for my blood loss, and until this moment it's still a mystery!

(I had to take very strong iron pills for almost 6 months and it took me also that long to recover before I was able to function normally.)

 

It felt so good to be back home now. I had missed Pipke so much – but she still ignored me a little. I spent as much time with her as I could  to regain her love for me – and little by little – our bond grew again - even closer than ever before.

I knew now – how it had felt “to have no choice but to miss her”.

Now I knew that she made my life complete.

Due to my illness we didn't take pictures that year! 
Even no picture of Pipke - and that's something that I now still regret.

So - I can't show you much - only these two snapshots taken out the 
*film (*see below) which was taken in December 1998. 

It are the only images of us both that were taken that year - 
the year that I came to the conclusion that 
she was 

"My True Love"!

Wasn't she a sweetie!

I want to close this chapter with this love scene of us both!

I hope you will enjoy it.

Next time we will go further with: Help....Robbers!

We hope you will be there to discover who the rascals are.

Bye, bye!

Till soon.

PS: click on the link above to watch the film images.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for watching!