Pet duck swallowed more than 20 pieces of metal

Vicki Hicks thought her pet muscovy had been looking a little peaky for a few days, but it wasn’t until Ducka coughed up a nail that the she was sure that something wasn't right. After rushing the eight-month-old duck to the Avian Reptile and Exotic Animal Hospital at Brownlow Hill in south-west Sydney, Australia, Ms Hicks was told that Ducka had more than 20 pieces of metal, including nails, screws and washers inside her stomach and would require a series of operations.



“She was walking really lopsidedly, she couldn’t eat, she just wasn’t well,” Ms Hicks said. “She threw up a nail and I thought, ‘oh my god,’ I knew we had to take her to the vet straight away,” she said. With her condition deteriorating, Ducka was taken to the animal hospital, where senior veterinarian Hamish Baron, assessed her and ordered X-rays. It was then immediately clear what was causing her discomfort as the shocked staff and Ms Hicks could see a large ball of metal objects sitting in her stomach.



Dr Baron had an inkling that Ducka might have swallowed some metal but the sheer amount of objects took him by surprise. “We didn’t expect that much, that’s the most metal I’ve ever seen in an animal,” Dr Baron said. After consulting with a number of experts, Dr Baron recommended a series of operations. Over the next few days, Ducka underwent five hours of surgery to extract the painful metal, piece by piece, and was nursed in hospital for eight days. The cost of the treatment was more than $2000.



The Hicks family are delighted the much-loved bird is now at home and fully recovered. Dr Baron said owners needed to be more aware that birds were attracted to shiny objects like discarded nails and small pieces of metal. “We do see it relatively frequently and it’s something most owners don’t know about,” he said. “Most of the time birds will eat screws and shiny things, so people with poultry and other birds should not throw small metal objects into the grass.”