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This is sooooo Cool!
Mama Cat adopts Ducklings! You gotta see this…. 😀https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=347703412051161
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Excellent!
Aw! Everything turned out well, and this was super cute! So I hate to be a party pooper, but gosh, there is a little bit wrong with this.
I don’t know what was going at the farm, but I surprises me that these folks would leave newly hatched ducklings in a barn with no mother hen (duck or even surrogate chicken hen). When raising chicks without a momma, one needs to brood them somehow, which in modern times is usually done with a heat lamp in a brooder/box/tote/etc. Getting chilled is a fast way to lose chicks. So in that way they are lucky the cat found them to keep them warm, unless he was brooding them in the barn and the cat was able to get into the brooder. They could have just had a really unfortunate set of circumstance, it’s hard to know.
What makes me the most nervous, though– and happy that things turned out okay– is even if the cat had no intention of harming a single cell on the wee ducklings, she was carrying enough biological warfare to kill them within a day. A cat naturally carries saliva that is heavily populated with Pasteurella bacteria. This is of great advantage to cats historically, as they had to hunt for food to survive. The Pasteurella bacteria, once transferred to a small animal (but especially birds) usually multiplies rapidly, can become systemic quite quickly (cause a serious infection), and for some birds is commonly fatal (approximately 50-60% of the time) unless a course of antibiotics is administered quickly (within 24 hours).
Even grooming or holding a bird in its mouth can transfer the bacteria.
I suspect that these ducklings didn’t get sick because they don’t really groom their chick down the way adult birds groom (preen) their feathers. As such, they didn’t ingest the bacteria and were okay. They were probably only exposed to very small amounts by nibbling on the mother cat.
Adult birds, especially wild ones, would attempt to clean their feathers and thus ingest the bacteria, often enough. A bite that breaks the skin will transfer the bacteria for sure and quickly cause a systemic problem.(The Pasteurella bacteria is why some people have some bad reactions to cat bites/scratches as well. Many of us fight the bacteria off and see no ill effects, but those that do not can have symptoms ranging from mild swelling and pain to a serious infection. Infection is also more common in those with weakened immune systems).
So– very cute, but leaving the chicks with the mother cat was risky for hidden reasons.
I am not trying to ruin the fun, but just to share information in the event that someone finds a cat with a bird in its mouth… no matter if the cat is being kind or looking for dinner, the bacteria don’t understand intent.Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.comThat was good to know about the bacteria transfer and cat bites/scratches to us humans too – Thanks Jennifer!
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