The Quack House

If love could have saved her, she would’ve lived forever💔 Fly high Munchkin🕊️ 5/8/17-4/1/24 Unfortunately I write this post with more questions than answers. Munchkin passed away at the vet today. We tried our best. I don’t think there are words to accurately describe the sadness I am experiencing. I feel numb.

Munchkin has 2 appointments on Monday. The 1st is to meet with the exotic internal medicine specialist & go over everything we know so far, and the 2nd is for the CT scan. Please keep her in your thoughts, I’m really hoping this is a simple fix and we she doesn’t have to go through surgery🪿 #DunkinDucks #MunchkinTheDuck #PetDucks #CallDuck #FarmAnimals #PetsOfTikTok #Ducks #BackyardDucks

Thank you for being here🥹💗 #DunkinDucks #MunchkinTheDuck #Ducks

One day at a time right now🪿💗 #DunkinDucks #Ducks #MunchkinTheDuck #PetDuck #BackyardDucks #PetsOfTikTok #FarmAnimals

Munchkin found them all🥰🪿 Happy Easter everyone! 🐣 #DunkinDucks #Ducks #Easter #PetDucks #PetsOfTikTok #EggHunt #BackyardDucks

Munchkin & Maple were so bonded. They slept next to each other every night, and I almost never saw one without the other while they waddled around the yard. Maple kept watch for predators while Munchkin would hunt for worms. Even though Maple may have been unfaithful to Munchkin during mating season, he never actually “bonded” with anyone but her. So I worry about how losing Munchkin might affect him. You see, ducks absolutely grieve the loss of their flock members. Sometimes (especially when they knew their friend was sick) they don’t seem to miss a beat- but other times they get depressed. They won’t leave the coop, or eat for days. I witnessed this happen to Raven when she lost her mom, Oreo. With the loss of Brownie, I didn’t expect to see any depressed behaviors from the flock because they all knew she was sick, and she wasn’t really bonded to anyone in particular or integrated into the flock for a very long time. Munchkin on the other hand, was a member of this flock for longer than anyone else. She was bonded with Maple, but also had a very particular dynamic with her close friends and children. My flock could really be split into two separate groups, Munchkins friends and Sugars friends. So I do worry that there will be some sadness from Munchkins group. The thing is, all the ducks are used to Munchkin going away for short periods. I would take her out for ice water or on a hike and she’d would waddle so fast when she got back & Maple would call out and greet her at the fence. We went on some longer trips too, and they never seemed to skip a beat. So I’m left to wonder if the flock, particularly Maple, will ever realize she’s not coming back this time. I really hope they’ll be okay. The last two days poured rain, so they were very distracted all day while they hunted for worms and swam in the stream. As for me, I thought a little distraction would be nice for me too. I deep cleaned my house, and even painted a closet today. The closet has been on the list of things to do since we moved in, so I’m glad I finally got around to it. I had Hannah Montana on full blast for the nostalgia & to keep my mind somewhere other than the sadness🪿💗#DunkinDucks #Ducks #PetDucks #PetLoss

I hope everyone who was in the radius of the earthquake is okay. Beep-Beep & my cockatiel don’t have great balance so they both looked a little mad, but they’re okay too💗 #DunkinDucks #Ducks #Earthquake

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: brownie batter season ✨ 🪿 #DunkinDucks #Ducks #CallDuck #IceWater #ASMR #Dunkin #CapCut #FarmAnimals

I miss her🥹🪿 #DunkinDucks #Ducks #PetDucks #CallDucks #MunchkinTheDuck #FarmAnimals #PetsOfTikTok #Petfluencer

It’s not fair. We did everything we could to help her. When she started eating again I thought she was going to get better soon, but this morning I found her dead💔 Last night when I put the flock to bed, I could see it in her eyes that she was going to die. And I can’t explain it. It’s not like she was showing any signs of getting worse, it’s just that she looked at me the same way HashBrown Montana did before she died in my arms. I told myself that it was just in my head, and I put her into bed with the flock. To be honest with you, I’m positive she would have preferred to go surrounded by her flock rather than with me. She wasn’t much of a “people” duck after all. I only had the opportunity to care for her for a few months, and I just wish I had more time to show her how not all people are bad. Brownie was sick since the day I got her. She came to me underweight and with an abscess under her eye. My veterinarian and the vet techs all worked so hard for her. The infection she had was an environmental bacteria and I think in most cases it would have been easy to treat. I believe that ultimately being underweight to begin with made this much harder for her to fight, and when she stopped eating even just for a few days it was just too much for her body to recover from. I appreciate everything the vet staff did for her. She had so many appointments just in her 3 months here, and I always felt like she was in the best hands possible when we were there. Hug your pets for me tonight. I’ll be watching trashy reality TV in her honor❤️🪿 #DunkinDucks #PetLoss #Ducks #PetDucks #FarmAnimals #PetGrief #CallDucks

Munchkin had a good day today, she was quite exciting about this water…. Even though 1/4 of it ended up spilled in my car🪿🫗#DunkinDucks #ASMR #PetDucks #CallDucks #FarmAnimals #Sonic #IceWater @SONIC Drive-In #CapCut

Munchkin update: I can’t even speak clearly about whats going on with her to be honest. We don’t have answers right now. It’s possibly heart failure but we just don’t know yet. Right now there’s nothing we can do for her until we get more information & results back. I will keep you all updated as I learn more 🪿 Just the last two vet visits have cost almost $1,000 (not including the previous visits) so if you would like duck t-shirts or stickers I have them available! I also have a “buy me a coffee” donation area at the very bottom of my b!0 for anyone who would like to contribute to their care. #DunkinDucks #Ducks #PetDucks #CallDucks #BackyardDucks #FarmAnimals

Replying to @The Quack House Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your kind comments and messages. It means the world to me that so many of you care about Munchkin as much as I do🥹 I appreciate all of the recent shirt & sticker orders and contributions to her vet care more than you can even imagine. I’m taking this one step at a time and will update as we learn more🪿 #DunkinDucks #Ducks #PetDucks #CallDucks

Sugar is determined to stay in that spot, but the stream is just too powerful for this little duck🦆 🌊 #DunkinDucks #Ducks #PetDucks #FarmAnimals #CallDucks #SugarTheDuck #Animals

Don’t get me wrong, I think ducks are the best pet for *me*, but that doesn’t mean they’re a great pet for everyone! 🦆 🪿 #DunkinDucks #Ducklings #Easter #Ducks #PetDucks #CallDucks #BackyardDucks

She was also trying to lay an egg in the water bowl when I filmed this😅🪿#DunkinDucks #Ducks #PetDucks #CallDucks #FarmAnimals #PetsOfTikTok #BackyardDucks

I hope everyone who can view the eclipse today enjoys the experience! We experienced another partial one in 2017 & I was at work but I don’t recall anything weird happening with the ducks 🦆 🪿 #DunkinDucks #Ducks #PetDucks #CallDucks #SolarEclipse

Munchkin weighted exactly 2 pounds today, and last I remember she was 1.7 which isn’t a lot but it kinda is when you’re such a small animal. She just felt SO much heavier than normal though 🪿 #DunkinDucks #Ducks #PetDucks #CallDucks #MunchkinTheDuck #Dunkin #IceWater #ASMR

Being prepared in advance is key to helping your ducks through illness or injury. Don’t forget to pre order my book “Raising Ducks for Beginners & Beyond” so you can read about everything I keep in my emergency duck first aid kit too 🪿💗 #DunkinDucks #Ducks #PetDucks #BackyardDucks #AvianVet #ExoticVet #PetChickens

I should have known Sugar would pull something like this during the eclipse😭🪿 #DunkinDucks #Ducks #SugarTheDuck #FarmAnimals #Pets #Animals #PetsOfTikTok #SolarEclipse