An unwell goose, anyone with advice welcome

[Darlingoo]

So I have 8, 6 to 7 week old goslings, about 36 hours ago I noticed The big one I named Ryan wasn't quite right. He's not eating, no appitite what he does eat he delicately nibbles then spits it out or vomits, when he poos it's just clear water with some white mucus, shaking his head a lot and cleaning his vents a lot and sleeping or siting down a lot to.

Took him to the vet she noticed a part of the intestine that's slightly firmer then usual and he seemed to react to it. She gave me a course of antibiotics to put him on and some wormer. And if he doesn't get better I may have to consider the option of putting him down.

Now I'm thinking it must be a blockage of some kind as none of the others show any symptoms like Ryan. there all very high energy and eating like its there last meal. If he ate a poisonous plant surly he would have convulsions,
I remember a week ago I found them playing with some polystyrene that must of floated in or hidden in the ground, but I don't think it was Ryan playing with it and like I said it was over a week ago.
If it were a worming problem or anything like that then wouldn't they all be showing some kind of symptom?
I made some marmite tea for b vitamins the morning before I noticed Ryan's symptoms.

Anyway there all the details that come to mind, I'm just wondering if anyone had some suggestions? I've syringes him some sugar water and had the wonderful suggestion of moistening his feed with warm water and apple cider vinegar,

I'm just really paranoid of loosing him as this years been rubbish and could really do with a win any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[Darlingoo]

An update:
he's looking a lot better since my last post started grazing more and saw him do a normalish poo though still lethargic and sat a lot he's not bringing up his food and drink anymore and looks a little more on track

 

[gooselove]

Glad to hear Ryan is doing better. The best advice would be to follow your vet's advice, continue the antibiotics as directed and follow up with probiotics. My gander seemed to have something similar-but after five days on an antibiotic, he was much better and after another week, totally normal, eating and grazing as usual.

 

[Darlingoo]

Thank you put him in a little pen outside with some lettuce in his feed and he started eating a few slices and grazing more were as yesterday he wouldnt touch the lettuce.
Yeah you are right it's just difficult waiting to see if he gets better.
Did you ever find out what was wrong with ur gander?

 

[gooselove]

There was never a clear diagnosis-the vet did a fecal test, Gary was clear of parasites, but seemed to have an abnormal amount of bacteria in him. So I'm guessing some sort of bacterial infection? We don't have an avian vet in this area, so I took him to a vet who had general experience with chickens, ducks, geese, and other barnyard animals.

So good to hear that Ryan is eating a little better, that must mean the antibiotic is working!

 

[Darlingoo]

Deffinitly somethings working thank god, he seems a little more on track, will be putting them in soon see what he's like in the morning.

Hmm that's interesting, the vet situation is the same as me but better then nothing. Maybe that's what's been up with Ryan aswell, hopefully he'll be back to normal in a week aswell.

Thank you very much for the feed back it's greatly appreciated

 

[gooselove]

Backyard Chickens is really great for things like this-you can post a question and you'll get some good advice! I'm pretty new to the forum, so I've been doing a lot of reading on geese. I've had chickens for years, but this is my first pair of geese and they are just over a year old.

Keep us updated on Ryan's progress please!

 

[Darlingoo]

Was just saying to someone else on here how nice the community looks, havnt seen one negative post and it's amazing how much knowledge is on here compared to the rest of the Internet.

If you don't mind me asking which would you say is easier to keep?

Ryan looks a lot better, saw a fully formed poo and even him running and swimming all hyped up with the others, plus he's been grazing even more and eating a lot of the apple cider vinegar feed compared to the others. He still seems a little delicate at times so am still keeping a close eye on him but compared to three days ago the difference is amazing.

I'm looking after my sisters puppy at the moment aswell, all the goslings hate him. Ryan is running to the fence hissing and trying to bite him through the fence when he's to close which a few days ago he would just sit and look at him.

 

[gooselove]

For me, the chickens are virtually stress and worry-free for me. I buy day old pullets at the local feed store, then raise them under a light until they are mostly feathered out, then they go out to their coop-they stay in their area until I know they've laid their eggs, then come out to "free range" for the rest of the day. They go back into their coop at night by themselves too, which is nice. The geese, up until this summer, were pretty easy too. In early July, my goose developed a bad limp (took 3 weeks of taking it easy to get better), then Gary the gander got sick. So now that they are both better, I'm looking forward to smooth sailing again!

So good to hear that Ryan is taking an interest in the puppy, yes, sounds like he is on the road to a speedy recovery!