Independent, curious, loves her mom, sweet, and chatty.
The Rescue
On February 3rd, 2025, we picked up Brie from a family who rescued him from a local pond. He was being picked on, and he had an obvious limp and foot wound. His rescuers reached out to ask if we could give him the home and medical care he needed. They showed pictures of his feet, as he was not able to walk well. Our first thought was Bumblefoot, a serious infection that causes pain and needs antibiotics. We called the only local vet that sees and has experience with birds. We also called the WSU Vet hospital, as we suspected his foot would need more care than the local vet would be able to do.
Vet visits and foot surgery
We brought Brie to the local vet the day after we picked him up. The vet prescribed him pain meds and antibiotics. The morning after Brie started pain meds, we found out Brie was a girl! She made herself a beautiful, deep nest and laid an egg. A couple of days later, we also brought her to WSU Vet school as the WSU vet suspected she might have a more serious issue, and they were correct. Brie did have Bumblefoot, and they suspected necrotic tissue in the wound. Her x-rays showed clear swelling around her joints, but thankfully, no broken bones. The vet did foot surgery later that day and cleaned out the dead tissue and puss. Given the surgical wound was on the top of her foot, she did not require bandaging, and we were able to bring her back to the sanctuary that evening.
Recovery
While we waited for Brie’s foot to heal and get the results of her fecal exam, she stayed in quarantine. But just because you are in quarantine does not mean you cannot have fun! We brought a pool into the quarantine area so Brie could swim, an activity vitally important to the well-being of ducks. She loved the pool and zoomed as much as she could in the water. We also learned her feathers lost their water proofing, making her look like a soggy duck. But after a few weeks of swimming, her waterproofing came back, and after about 6 weeks, she was no longer limping.
Spunk and sweetness
Brie has a sweet spunk about her. She is chatty, calls out for lunch in a booming voice, she gets nervous around others, and has deemed all boys not worth her time. She is bonded to her human mom (Jennifer), helping her every day with morning chores. Brie tells all the boys what is on her mind, from the safety of being within an arms reach of her mom. Although she is not a fan of boys, she has deemed Freddie a duck who is safe to be around and his food worthy of eating. Freddie is now a geriatric duck with mobility issues who loves his new companion.
