Gosling with a severed foot.

Oh man.

yesterday someone dumped this gosling at our local lake. He has a severed foot! The wound is basically healed over, but it will need serious maintenance for a while. I brought him home gave him a clean bath, and dry bedding and he is resting quite comfortably.

I would like some advice on treating this wound. It doesn't seem to be infected, and it's not warm to the touch. My aunt is a vet, and yes I am going to be following her advice... but she doesn't specialize in poultry so I would like some goose people to chime in too! I am a duck person so this guy is a first for me.. not to mention the injury!

I'd guess all you can do is keep it from getting infected. Don't clean off the scab more than once, I would recommend, obviously his body needs it to heal. He's got a good lump left, the heel of the foot and a bit more, once it's healed over I think he'll be fine, though he'll probably be a terrible swimmer.

Best wishes.

What an awful injury!
He's lucky he has you

He looks only 4 1/2 or 5 weeks old. How can anyone just dump an injured baby like that? It looks like someone tried to barbecue his foot. I'm so glad you found him and took care of him!

Thankfully, I have no experience with injuries like that. Your approach seems very reasonable with the clean water baths, the dry bedding, and giving him opportunity to rest. Only other things I can think of is plenty of good food, probably starter food since he's growing fast, and company so he won't stress himself out looking for it.

Vickers58 said:

Oh man. yesterday someone dumped this gosling at our local lake. He has a severed foot! The wound is basically healed over, but it will need serious maintenance for a while. I brought him home gave him a clean bath, and dry bedding and he is resting quite comfortably. I would like some advice on treating this wound. It doesn't seem to be infected, and it's not warm to the touch. My aunt is a vet, and yes I am going to be following her advice... but she doesn't specialize in poultry so I would like some goose people to chime in too! I am a duck person so this guy is a first for me.. not to mention the injury!

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That poor baby! Who could do something like that. I am so glad you found him and rescued him. Please keep us updated on how he does?

Doing great so far. Foot seems to be healing fine but the vet wants to keep a close eye on it!

We have already had offers to have a prosthetic foot designed to help her once it's healed! 3d printers are incredible!



Hobart is desperate for company so I caved in and let him spend time with two of my runner girls. They are all afraid of him when he walks because of his hobble! But in the pool they are none the wiser!

I'd suggest you keep the wound dry to let it heal, not let him soak the scab off. If it gets infected now there's a good chance it could rapidly progress from manageable/survivable to fatal.

Best wishes.

RURU said:

Who ever dropped that baby off did burn that foot! It looks just like a burn.... Bumblefoot looks entirely different. People who do such things is shameful.. I suggest you take that baby to a vet just so they can look at it and if it needs antibiotics to help heal that foot. If you had vetericyn on hand I would say start putting that on it. Try to keep it clean and dry....
So glad you rescued that poor baby....

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I thought I´d posted on here, but I must have typed stuff, then moved on to another thread without hitting "submit"! DER... I also thought it looked like a burn. I thought maybe someone had used one of those disposable bbqs and the gozzie walked on top?

Vickers58 said:

Doing great so far. Foot seems to be healing fine but the vet wants to keep a close eye on it!

We have already had offers to have a prosthetic foot designed to help her once it's healed! 3d printers are incredible!



Hobart is desperate for company so I caved in and let him spend time with two of my runner girls. They are all afraid of him when he walks because of his hobble! But in the pool they are none the wiser!

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He looks very happy, but I´d say (don´t know what your aunt said) keep it dry, well padded with cotton or muslin inside the bandage. Well done, you´ve done a wonderful thing in helping him. Very honourable.