Sometimes the right thing to do breaks your heart

Keelyn ...Sick again ...Re-injured again.....


This is no life for a duck - always hurt, separated from the flock, and often sick. All we are doing now is prolonging her suffering. Her passing is inevitable but will be slow and painful if we don't do something. She can not stay active enough to be healthy and she always has to be protected from the rest of the ducks (she is too fragile to be mated or even walked over), and even in times of improvement she re-injures herself. Saturday morning her breathing was slow and labored. Medication and a warm bath inside in the human bath-tub helped, but she is weak, tired, and losing weight AND Kouta (big white male Pekin) jumped over her fence and got in her dog house nest box so now her legs are re-injured too. The kindest thing to do for her is to put her to sleep, but it is really hard. We have cared for her and worked hard to give her a happy life and to manage her pain and injuries ... but now it is time to say good-bye. We love her too much to do anything else.   We just want her to go sleep in peace and be free from her suffering.

**written 1/16/2012 .... our emotions are/were too raw to post publicly
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We waited to post this until we were ready to share, we will likely not be responsive to any one's suggestions or questions about how we could have / should have done things differently.  This is not YOUR feathered loved one it is ours - please respect our grief and decision(s).

I (MamaDuck) truly believe that God had His hand in the situation.  On her last day we were supposed to get rain all day, but we were praying for sunshine so she could have some pool time without getting too cold.  This of course did happen, she had one last "good" (considering her condition) day with sunshine, fun with the girls, foraging and lots of one-on-one attention from GmaDuck.  We know she knew what was happening and that she trusted us, we both felt her say good-bye and that she loves us.  I told her to have fun with Alex and Bianca up in Heaven and don't give Bianca too hard of a time.
It has been a week, and I still ache with how much I miss her, but I know it was the right decision, and I am thankful that she is pain free and sickness free.

Rest in peace our Little One, my Sweet Baby Girl, Keelyn.  We love you dearly.

RIP Keelyn   10/12/10 - 1/17/12