What should a dewlap feel like?

[Lamar Estate]

I have a Sebastopol gander, named Sebastian. I ordered eggs off of eBay last spring and he hatched in March 2011. He has a tuft. The woman who sold me the eggs swears to me that he's 100% Sebastopol (she doesn't have Tufted Romans).

For the past few months, a little lump has started forming under his "chin." It looks like a small dewlap. Inside of it feels like a firm lump, about the size of a marble. He acts and looks healthy.

Should I bring him to a veterinarian?

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

YES to the vet.............. dewlaps are not lumps they are elongated droopy skin, nothing solid about them at all. Picture below of young buff dewlap toulouse in various stages of development. Front rear of the group you can see the dewlap hanging from the birds chin.




Close up of another just starting to develop

 

[Iain Utah]

It is not uncommon for a foxtail or some such similar foreign item to get under skin under chin. It will then develop bacteria and/or fungus and appears as a hard lump, which needs to be removed.

 

[pete55]

It does appear as a localised cyst that may well have been previously infected. Im sure a Vet could remove it easily if it get larger.

 

[Lamar Estate]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I truly appreciate it!

I'm hoping it's nothing more serious than a harmless cyst. I have a vet coming out to my house on Friday.

There are not a lot of vets around us that know very much about waterfowl. The vet that's coming over is an avian and exotic animals vet. I'm worried that she's not going to know a lot about geese.

I'll let you know what happens after Sebastian's appointment.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

if she is avian, then she should be versed in at least the basics of most common birds. Some specialize but school blanket covers dogs, birds ect like a GP/Family human medical doctor verses a specialist.

 

[Lamar Estate]

Dr. Jaime Nalezny and her vet assistant just left our house. They were great!

They took a sample of the mass under Sebastian's chin. They think it might be an abscess, since it looked like puss came out. We'll know for sure when she looks at the sample at her lab. In the meantime, he's on an antibiotic. Giving him pills 2 times a day will be a big challenge.

They also looked at my duck Penny's feet. She has bumblefoot on both feet. She suggested making her foam shoes out of swimming fun noodles (scooping out a hole where the swelling is) (along with using her booties made by Nettie Kossart) and putting Bag Balm on the swollen areas.

I feel so much better knowing that there's a good waterfowl vet that's in my area. I highly recommend her to anyone in Twin Cities area of Minnesota!

Jaime Nalezny, DVM
http://www.aevhs.com
[email protected]
612-520-1386

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

So great they were willing to come to you too. Glad you got them both taken care of. Good luck with the continued treatments.

 

[pete55]

Pleased to hear treatment started and the course of antibitotics should do the trick. A good thing that the bulk of the pus has come out too

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hoping for full recovery for both..