We came home one day to find Daphne in the orchard as usual but she seemed unwell, as she wasn't running off when you approached which was unusual. She then had some sort of "fit" where she was doing back flips, and flapping madly. I had no idea what on earth was happening, and went to grab a towel to throw over her, when I returned she had stopped. I knew she must have been really ill, when I could easily pick her up and carry her to the car.
I could see she was very ill, and this wasn't a time for Google, it was time for an expert opinion, i.e the local vet. Now our vet is lovely, friendly helpful, however, as I discovered has no knowledge of any animal other than a domestic pet. As we rushed into the vet with Daphne in a box, the vets face sunk as he realised I didn't have a puppy in the box.
His diagnosis was vague, and the poor man had never been this close to a duck, let alone had to examine one and tell the distressed owners what to do. As we all stood there staring at each other, not knowing what to suggest, as I'm no duck expert either, the assistant voiced her opinion of "orange sauce" this was not helpful!
The only diagnosis that the vet could suggest was that she had something wrong with her brain, and as we didn't know how old she was it could be simply old age. In typical vet style he told me to take the duck home and simply let her die. This is always an easy suggestion, until it is your pet/animal/duck that you are being told to simply let die! I hate seeing animals suffer, and would rather they were put out of their misery, however, the vet had no intention of assisting in this task, and Daphne was put back in her box.
Somewhere on the journey home Daphne decided that it was her time to go, and she died......it never gets any easier seeing the animals die, whether it be a chick, or a beloved pet. This part of Casa Chaos is hard, however, it is part of farm life! RIP Daphne.....
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