Tennessee veterinarian creates special shoes for unlikely patient

GREENE COUNTY, Tenn. (WCYB) -- Rocky Top Veterinary Hospital usually deals with cats and dogs, but a special patient arrived in a cage on Wednesday, Aug. 28th.

Jenny the Duck is dealing with a condition called "bumblefoot," which can be caused by walking on rough surfaces.

"Couple of weeks ago, we started noticing her kind of walking with her legs turned inside a little bit," said Jenny's owner, John Dixon. John and his wife brought Jenny to Rocky Top Veterinary Hospital for treatment.

"She was having a lot of pressure on those feet and developed some really large sores.," said Dr. Matt Quillen. Quillen said normal treatment just wouldn't fit the bill. "Sometimes, in exotic medicine, you have to get pretty inventive.," he said.

Quillen made Jenny some new shoes out of kitchen mats he found at the local hardware store.

"We made a quick trip to the hardware store and pieced together what we could use to accomplish what we needed to do," he said.

The shoes turned out to be the perfect fit with an even better name. "I wear Crocs, those are my shoes of choice and they always aggravate me around here," he said. "So I said, 'I'm going to make Jenny like me and we will put her in some 'Quacks'."

The owners said they are thankful Dr. Quillen helped Jenny get back on her feet. "He definitely went above and beyond," said Dixon.