Goose on Lettuce Diet

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Allears

Allears

Songster
8 Years
Jul 4, 2015
420
50
176
South Africa
My embden girl is moulting. It's the second month of the moult. The first moult was a quick moult, but this one is taking long, maybe because her diet consists of lettuce and more lettuce. She's a mature bird and must be around 3 years or older. The problem is that she has gone off her food and the only thing she will eat is lettuce. She drinks water and nibbles here and there at the grass, but I'm concerned because she used to eat laying mash, corn, apples, watermelon and plenty of grass. She has lost weight too. The flock was dosed for worms about two months ago and neither the duck, nor the 4 EG goslings have gone off their food.

The photos show, in my opinion, how hollow her keel bone (sternum) has become. I'd love to hear what advice the goose guru's can provide.






 
Allears said:
My embden girl is moulting. It's the second month of the moult. The first moult was a quick moult, but this one is taking long, maybe because her diet consists of lettuce and more lettuce. She's a mature bird and must be around 3 years or older. The problem is that she has gone off her food and the only thing she will eat is lettuce. She drinks water and nibbles here and there at the grass, but I'm concerned because she used to eat laying mash, corn, apples, watermelon and plenty of grass. She has lost weight too. The flock was dosed for worms about two months ago and neither the duck, nor the 4 EG goslings have gone off their food.

The photos show, in my opinion, how hollow her keel bone (sternum) has become. I'd love to hear what advice the goose guru's can provide.






Click to expand...
When did she finish up laying? and is a vet an option? Another one for @casportpony since she is better at explaining other worms that geese can get. Possibility she may have a parasite your owrmer did get. Just throwing things out though. Other than off her feed what else do you notice?
 
I was going to suggest de-worming with something like Safeguard, but Safeguard shouldn't be used during molt since it can cause fret marks in the feathers. Me, I don't worry about their feather when I think they're sick, 'cause they'll molt them out eventually.

Not eating = tube feeding. Let me know if you want to learn. Would also be helpful if you could post some poop pictures.

-Kathy
 
Miss Lydia said:
When did she finish up laying? and is a vet an option? Another one for @casportpony since she is better at explaining other worms that geese can get. Possibility she may have a parasite your owrmer did get. Just throwing things out though. Other than off her feed what else do you notice?
Click to expand...
She finished laying 3 months ago. Other than the feed she seems pretty normal, she's alert and sassing the EG goslings. She runs to come get lettuce and is still alert. Goose is still pretty strong and our weather is very hot, so crating and transporting her would be risky due to the chance of heat exhaustion. Our vet is quite a distance out and he would have to do a house call (scared) I'll phone and hear what vet would charge to visit (very scared). Thank you for your input Miss Lydia, Kathy has made contact.
 
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Allears said:
She finished laying 3 months ago. Other than the feed she seems pretty normal, she's alert and sassing the EG goslings. She runs to come get lettuce and is still alert. Goose is still pretty strong and our weather is very hot, so crating and transporting her would be risky due to the chance of heat exhaustion. Our vet is quite a distance out and he would have to do a house call (scared) I'll phone and hear what vet would charge to visit (very scared). Thank you for your input Miss Lydia, Kathy has made contact.
Click to expand...
The vet agreed to let me pay a deposit and then pay off the remaining balance. Please G-d the rest of my animals must remain healthy for the next year!

There was no obstruction in her throat, no redness in the mouth, no wounds, no swelling anywhere. Goose got a baytril shot and we managed to get a faecal sample. I'll get results back tomorrow... When I caught her to be examined I felt how light she is and how boney. With the moult it became more obvious, but I didn't see it before because she is so fluffy. I was so shocked when I realised just how thin she has gotten! She's lost 6kg over four months!
 
Allears said:
Could she be depressed? She has Duck-Duck for company....
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@Allears I really wouldn't think so not with all you described about how she is acting. I hope what ever is going on it's an easy fix. Keep us updated, and glad you were able to work with the vet on the money part. Oh and my gander lived with Muscovy's his first 5 yrs of life and loved them. Since he has had 3 geese added to his life he forgot all about the days when he was a giant Muscovy. So I think your goose is probably doing fine in the company department especially if she has goslings to sass around.
 
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