O’Malley to the vet
Yesterday as I was snuggling with O’Malley, I told him that today we would be going to the vet. He does not like the vet’s office and tends to get really stressed out, which in turn stresses me out. So I hate taking him to the vet.
But unfortunately he has a lump on his backside. It is not a small lump. He’s missing some feathers around his vent because he sits in the same spot all night, which means by morning he is sitting in poo. He gets clean shavings every night but he’s just a poo monster. So sorry for the graphic butt photo, but that’s his backside and that’s his lump. I noticed the lump right before I left for vacation, so we made an appointment for this week to get it checked out.
O’Malley was scared in the car, but calm. It’s hard to say who is the bigger baby about going to the vet: O’Malley or me. He did great in the car though, and stayed really calm.
Billy, the vet’s office mascot, was there to greet us. He may or may not have been eating some hot pink post-it notes before we arrived.
“If I did something bad, I’m really sorry.”
Poor O’Malley was pretty concerned by the time we were in the lobby, and trying to figure out if he had done something wrong. I told him he was a very good boy and I’d protect him and keep him safe.
“Let’s make a run for it!”
He decided that we were in danger so he tried to make a run for it, but didn’t get too far. The vet examined O’Malley and he was really calm and good. They even aspirated his lump and picked out the feathers stuck in it and he stayed calm and quiet.
But when they tried to lift him up to get blood out of his leg vein, he was not having it.
“No way, lady! Put me down, you mashers!”
That’s when I turned into a giant baby and said “Just forget it. Don’t draw blood. He’s too stressed, just put him down.” I don’t like to see him panting and upset, but really he was just fine.
“No! Make them stop, Mom!”
Thankfully they decided to take blood from the top of his webbed foot instead. That meant he could stand up on his own and he did much better with that. So did I.
But with three people holding and poking and touching and squishing him, he was not a happy camper. They were really good to him though, and took great care of him.
While the vet checked his slides to see what the lump was made of, he preened all the people cooties off of his feathers. So many cooties… so many.
“How do I get down from here? Let’s go home!”
O’Malley’s lump did not show any cancer cells, so that is good. The vet hopes it is just a lipoma, or benign fatty tumor. They did find some white blood cells though, so that’s why we did blood work to see if he has an infection. For now, the lump is just watch-and-wait. We’ll know tomorrow if he needs antibiotics, but overall he is a really healthy duck.
So that’s our day at the vet. He was VERY happy to be home and he even forgave me for taking him to the scary place with the grabby people. We’ll keep you posted on what’s next, but he’s likely fine.
In other news, we were looking through our chart at the vet’s office and noticed that Olivia hen’s birthday is listed as 2001. That means she is over 12-years-old now! I’ve been saying for a while “she’s over 10-years-old now” but I guess I’ve been saying that for years. She is old for a chicken, but still going strong. Petunia’s chart says she’s probably 9-years-old now, though it’s tough to get an exact birth date for any of them since they’re all rescues. Even O’Malley will be 8-years-old this September. We’re thankful that the crew is all doing well for now, and happy that O’Malley did well at the vet today.
Hope you all have a good week.
Quacks and clucks,
Tiff and the flock
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