[dkelly]

:cry: Hello i am hoping for advice, i am really upset as my Muscovy duck age 7 months died on Saturday.  I found him face down in the rain.  I feel so guilty in case i could have done something to avoid it.  I hand reared him and he has lived outside for many months now with 3 other ducks (his mum & dad included).  There were no marks on him so it wasnt an attack.  They are kept in a pen at night but the pen was closed to stop the rain getting in.  I did the usual ringing to let the authorites know in case it was anything to do with bird flu but they said not to worry unless sall get poorly.  I am just looking for a reason as to why such a young duck would die?

help much appreciated thanks Deana

[Aunt Sally]

That's very sad Deana  :cry:

Did the duck have any other symptoms before he died  :?:

Birds have very high blood pressure and some do just drop dead from heart attack or stroke  

[WG.]

Beats me - once they are fully feathered, a duck seems to positively relish rain.  Like Aunty says, it could just have been an heart attack.

Very sorry to hear it.

[wildeone]

:cry: you poor thing! You sound lovely though and i'm sure it was nothing you did but just a sad fact of nature..... no help i know! sorry x

You said that you hand rear'd him does that mean he was rejected for some reason?

[WG.]

with 3 other ducks (his mum & dad included).  There were no marks on him so it wasnt an attack.  

Sorry, I missed this part of your post.

It is just possible that another drake/duck attacked him.  I have known them to drown young males to keep their harem intact.  Was there any water around - even an 1" or so is enough?

[Selkie]

i'm so sorry xxx

[Foxy]

So sorry Deana  
I don't know anything about ducks - but lots of "ducky" people to give you some help. Mind you as it seems sudden - I doubt that it could have been prevented.

[Selkie]

i agree, he could have been born with a condition that you couldn't possibly have known about; it's so sad when an animal dies and especially when it's so young but i would have thought that there would have been nothing you could have done

[mashauk]

Sorry to hear your sad news, is it worth getting an autopsy in case it's something catching?

[Aunt Sally]

Sorry to hear your sad news, is it worth getting an autopsy in case it's something catching?

That would be very expensive, if you could find a vet willing to do it.

I'd just kep an eye on the rest.

[mashauk]

Sorry, didn't realise.  Surely if it's expensive a vet would be happy to do it?

[DeadlyNightshade]

In all fairness, u'll find very few vets, that would take on a post mortem on a duck, given that muot of us don't even know much about the living ones

It's horrible, when a pet dies and even worse, when u think it could be your very own fault I nearly lost my ewe one time because i had stupidly tied her.. the other ones managed to break losse and as she tried to struggle after them she had herself nearly strangled, the whole head sewelled and her hardly fit to breath when I got her...  I felt sooo bad

I know it doesn't help with the pain of the loss, but an old irish farmer's saying goes: If you have live stock, you'll have dead stock... sad but true


Bell

[Selkie]

our vet in england did a post mortem on one of our pet rats; but i could imagine the reaction of our local vets if i'd asked them...

[mashauk]

My old vet used homeopathy!  I won't tell you what my current one has suggested for my cat, let's just say I wouldn't get much change out of a grand, and I'm not sure the insurance will pay for it, so I have a dilemma.

[Selkie]

why wouldn't the insurance cover it masha?