A New Plymouth family love their disabled pet duck so much they made it a wheelchair.

Both of Abner the peking duck's legs are malformed and she relies heavily on her owner, Adele Gichard , for help to get around.

One day Adele was doing research on the internet about disabled ducks and got the idea of creating a wheelchair.

"I went around all the hardware stores and found a square trolley," she said.

Her mother Gail cut the shape into the trolley and created several canvas slings for the wheelchair. Abner took to it like a duck to water.

"She was obviously used to being handled and carried around. Now, once she's in it, she's quite happy," Adele said.

"She can't really move too much in the wheelchair but it does get her up off her feet."

While on her new wheels Abner has been known to get caught under chairs and the clothes rack. "It's not ideal because then she pulls the clothes."

Four German backpackers brought Abner into the North Taranaki SPCA shelter in January, SPCA spokeswoman Jackie Poles Smith said.

"They found her as a wee ducking while they were travelling. They travelled with her, looked after her, absolutely adored her but they were heading away and couldn't take her with them any more ."

Poles Smith suspected Abner's leg disabilities may have been caused by eels. Adele is a bird enthusiast and had volunteered rehabilitating feathery creatures for the shelter before.

"I just feel so sorry for her," Adele said. "People keep saying 'she's just a duck', but it's not like she can survive outside so she's not just a duck. She's quite different to a normal duck."

Her favourite position is sitting against Adele's chest with her long neck draped over her shoulder while watching Shortland Street.

"She loves cuddles. She definitely thinks she's the boss. If she's in the wheelchair and one of the dogs or cats tries to get too close she bites them, which is pretty hard for the blind dog."

One of Adele's pet dogs is blind.

Abner has bonded with Adele's daughter Molly. "In the evenings she loves being tucked in a towel and put in my daughter's bed for story time. If my daughter's reading she'll sometimes try to eat the book."

As Abner can't lift herself properly she prefers to be hand-fed while being held. "She doesn't like eating flat on her chest."

Abner loves swimming too, even though she can't sit upright like other ducks. "Quite often, if it's a wet day, I'll say to my daughter when she's had a bath, 'don't let the plug out the duck's going in next.'"

The next piece of equipment on the way from the United States for Abner is a diaper harness that catches poop.

"At the moment I do a load of washing a day," Adele said. "Winter's going to be fun with all the washing so I thought we'd get a diaper."

Outside, Abner has a pen but she spends most of her time inside.

"Now we've modified the rabbit hutch so she can go in that. It all keeps her pretty safe. In saying that if it's really wet or windy then she tends to stay inside," Adele said.