This neighborhood duck, named Dolphin, was almost a duck dinner. She missed the group message recently to come in to the coop for safety. There was a ruckus outside that alerted the neighbors that all was not well at 11pm and when she was found, she had been badly attacked – possibly by an owl. In any event, there was much damage that occurred to her neck. It was a bit of a shock to see the damage.

I was called the next day in the morning with an herbal first aid kit and Reiki for the traumatized girl. She was very receptive to the Reiki. Afterwards, we put her in a bath of tumeric and aloe to clean her up and work on maggots that had started to appear. Gross right? Maggots were used in the past to clean dead and infected skin on humans. We could only handle a bit of that therapy — I actually stepped back and watched my friend take care of that. Dolphin’s wounds were cleaned in an epsom salt bath and washed with a lavender spray. Later some comfrey and lavender infused olive oil were applied. We gave her rescue remedy and wrapped up her neck with clean bandages. We were trying everything, and we had nothing to lose at that moment. She was in a critical place.

I am told that she is recovering slowly. She has been reintroduced into the flock of fellow ducks and she doesn’t have much of an appetite. She is lucky. Mostly she is lucky to have a caretaker who has a deep love for animals and was able to give her the round-the-clock attention that she needed. Without her, it could easily have had a different ending. I felt honored to be called to be part of this team of caregivers.

Actually, this is the 2nd duck that I got to practice Reiki on. And it is my 2nd time working on a duck with herbs–the first duck had been attacked by a coyote during the day and had deep puncture woulds to the belly. Her movement had been severely comprimised–she couldn’t stand. We gave the duck Reiki and and epsom salt bath. I packed its wounds with plantain and honey and watched as it regained its health. It is hard to tell that anything happened to her if you saw her today.

Reiki is a powerful tool for people and animals and it felt very empowering to be able to brainstorm together and try these different folk remedies with success.

We live in an area with lots of wildlife and it is not uncommon to have animal encounters with raccoons, skunks, birds of prey and the occasional bear, mountain lion, fox and coyotes. So, although it is not common–these incidences can and do happen despite out best intentions to protect our loved and named pets.