Goose with bum leg and curled toes.

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Tivona

Tivona

Songster
8 Years
Jun 2, 2011
601
77
181
Oregon
I have a neighbor who is moving due to health and being less mobile and he just gave me his two geese. The female has been limping badly for the last week according to him. When I have seen her in the past she looked and walked fine. Here is some info:

She can get around by hopping on her good leg and using her wings to balance. I haven't had a chance yet to examine her but just looking at her I can say that her toes are curled up and the leg won't take any weight. He did have a pond for her which she has been soaking in according to him. She is eating. The foot didn't look swollen from a quick glance so I don't think its bumble foot. She is an "older" goose. She is of unknown breed but looks possibly Embden to me. I haven't seen her up real close yet so can't say on a lot of it.

For tonight I was thinking starting her off on aspirin then checking her leg tomorrow when she should be in less pain. What should I be checking for other then heat and bumble foot? I do have some Terra Vet if she is actually sick from something like infection. I am hoping rest and soaking and aspirin will do the most till I can figure out what is really wrong. Sort of short on money and don't know of any avian vets here anyway so that is out. I will have her and her gander confined pretty well tonight fenced off from my geese. The coop she will be in will have feed and a kiddie pond for her with the aspirin.

Anything I am missing? Suggestions? What to check tomorrow?
 
Tivona said:
I have a neighbor who is moving due to health and being less mobile and he just gave me his two geese. The female has been limping badly for the last week according to him. When I have seen her in the past she looked and walked fine. Here is some info:

She can get around by hopping on her good leg and using her wings to balance. I haven't had a chance yet to examine her but just looking at her I can say that her toes are curled up and the leg won't take any weight. He did have a pond for her which she has been soaking in according to him. She is eating. The foot didn't look swollen from a quick glance so I don't think its bumble foot. She is an "older" goose. She is of unknown breed but looks possibly Embden to me. I haven't seen her up real close yet so can't say on a lot of it.

For tonight I was thinking starting her off on aspirin then checking her leg tomorrow when she should be in less pain. What should I be checking for other then heat and bumble foot? I do have some Terra Vet if she is actually sick from something like infection. I am hoping rest and soaking and aspirin will do the most till I can figure out what is really wrong. Sort of short on money and don't know of any avian vets here anyway so that is out. I will have her and her gander confined pretty well tonight fenced off from my geese. The coop she will be in will have feed and a kiddie pond for her with the aspirin.

Anything I am missing? Suggestions? What to check tomorrow?
Click to expand...
I wasn't sure if we could even give aspirin to geese but i went and googled it and found the dosage if you interested. and that is so sweet of you to take your neighbors geese, i hope you can find out what it is and help her. http://www.justanswer.com/bird-vet/6r1ec-11year-old-female-canadian-goose-i-ve-noticed-shes.html this link gives the dosage of aspirin to water.
 
Miss Lydia said:
I wasn't sure if we could even give aspirin to geese but i went and googled it and found the dosage if you interested. and that is so sweet of you to take your neighbors geese, i hope you can find out what it is and help her. http://www.justanswer.com/bird-vet/6r1ec-11year-old-female-canadian-goose-i-ve-noticed-shes.html this link gives the dosage of aspirin to water.
Click to expand...

Already had used the aspirin for another goose before so I knew it was okay. Thanks for the dosage though, nice to be able to double check just to be on the safe side.
 
So I just got her home about 3 hours ago and she is very sweet. I am thinking either a break or a slipped tendon. I haven't seen either in a bird before so please let me know what you think.

Symptoms:
Pain, I can see it in her eyes.
hit.gif

She won't put any weight on it at all.
Leg sticks out at a bit of an angle. Perhaps due to her holding it that way so she doesn't have it on the ground?
Knee joint looks swollen.
No heat in any of the leg as far as I could tell, including up to the hip area. (wouldn't there be heat if it was a break?)
She curls her toes up part of the time but not always.
She did allow me to gently pull her leg back a little (I was afraid to pull too far back so not to a full stretch like they normally do. Just a little ways back.)
She allowed me to put her leg under her before I left. So it can be in a natural position.
No bumble foot really. There are a couple of small bumps but they look fine. No head, heat, odd coloring, etc. I really don't think that they are the problem.
She is eating.
She is drinking.
She is pooping.
She is able to get around by hopping on the good leg and using her wings.
She is an "older" goose. (I did read that slipped tendons are usually in young birds. Perhaps this is from an injury I am thinking)
The other leg is unremarkable but that knee does look a bit large to me as well. Perhaps due to her hopping on it for the last week. She uses that one fine but it must be getting tired.

I do have vet wrap I could use to bandage the bad leg close to her body in a natural position... Taking it off to do gentle stretches each day. Just not sure what to do here. She is really sweet and the gander she came with is really in love with her. Any ideas on what to try other then the aspirin and rest and soaks? I also have antibiotics but unless she is fighting an infection I hate to give it to her. I will be checking her more carefully tomorrow. I want some pain killer in her first.
 
Tivona said:
So I just got her home about 3 hours ago and she is very sweet. I am thinking either a break or a slipped tendon. I haven't seen either in a bird before so please let me know what you think.

Symptoms:
Pain, I can see it in her eyes.
hit.gif

She won't put any weight on it at all.
Leg sticks out at a bit of an angle. Perhaps due to her holding it that way so she doesn't have it on the ground?
Knee joint looks swollen.
No heat in any of the leg as far as I could tell, including up to the hip area. (wouldn't there be heat if it was a break?)
She curls her toes up part of the time but not always.
She did allow me to gently pull her leg back a little (I was afraid to pull too far back so not to a full stretch like they normally do. Just a little ways back.)
She allowed me to put her leg under her before I left. So it can be in a natural position.
No bumble foot really. There are a couple of small bumps but they look fine. No head, heat, odd coloring, etc. I really don't think that they are the problem.
She is eating.
She is drinking.
She is pooping.
She is able to get around by hopping on the good leg and using her wings.
She is an "older" goose. (I did read that slipped tendons are usually in young birds. Perhaps this is from an injury I am thinking)
The other leg is unremarkable but that knee does look a bit large to me as well. Perhaps due to her hopping on it for the last week. She uses that one fine but it must be getting tired.

I do have vet wrap I could use to bandage the bad leg close to her body in a natural position... Taking it off to do gentle stretches each day. Just not sure what to do here. She is really sweet and the gander she came with is really in love with her. Any ideas on what to try other then the aspirin and rest and soaks? I also have antibiotics but unless she is fighting an infection I hate to give it to her. I will be checking her more carefully tomorrow. I want some pain killer in her first.
Click to expand...
Other than keeping her in water to take the stress of the good leg till you can figure out whats going on with the other I have no idea, Only a vet could give you an accurate diagnosis. examine it again today in good light if a brake or injury then rest and lots of soaks and good vitamins like Poultry Nutri Drench to help with any secondary. might be all she needs. Other than the obvious problem with her leg sounds like everything else is working normal. I hope you can figure it out. What kind of setup were they in? that may give you some ideas. Plus what kind of life style in general, feed grazing etc.
 
A very small grass pen with pool to allow restricted movement will be a good start. Slipped tendons are more normal in young birds. If an injury it will be weeks of rest to recover, however you should see some improvements with rest after 10-14 days.
 
Miss Lydia said:
Other than keeping her in water to take the stress of the good leg till you can figure out whats going on with the other I have no idea, Only a vet could give you an accurate diagnosis. examine it again today in good light if a brake or injury then rest and lots of soaks and good vitamins like Poultry Nutri Drench to help with any secondary. might be all she needs. Other than the obvious problem with her leg sounds like everything else is working normal. I hope you can figure it out. What kind of setup were they in? that may give you some ideas. Plus what kind of life style in general, feed grazing etc.
Click to expand...
The set up is very similar to mine with letting them graze in the yard during the day and locking them up at night. The pen he locked them up in is safe as far as predators but it is just a chain link cage with hardware cloth at the bottom. Safe but no real shelter visually. That is why I am thinking a coon could have scared her during the night causing her to hurt herself. No shelter to hide in. My set up has the chain link but also I have a metal roofing strip surrounding the bottom making it impossible for coons to see in except a small section at the front door. Seems to make it feel more secure for my birds. They can hide, get out of the weather, etc instead of just being safe. I think it should be a good rest pen for her. I also have a small section of yard in front of her pen that will be easy to lock off for her maybe in a few days after she is more settled. They were very quiet last night so hopefully that means they rested well.

As far as feeding he had them graze and only provided chicken scratch. She is now getting a better diet which should help. She really loves the feed I gave her so that part is working out. I will make sure she has greens as well.

I will keep up the aspirin for awhile and also see how she looks today. Hopefully the rest and aspirin will make it less stressful when I check her today.

If I do need to wrap her leg to her does anyone know a link showing how? Just by the little I saw yesterday after getting her home I think it may be necessary. Her leg popped back to sticking out and the toes curled up maybe a half hour after I had done the gentle pull on the leg and then got it in a natural position under her. So its not staying in a good position. She isn't using it for weight at all so perhaps wrapping would keep it in a good position and help healing. I figure I would have to re-wrap once or twice every day so stretching the leg gently between re-wrappings. Have to see how she does today still but would like to get an idea of the wrapping technique if possible just in case.
 
Tivona said:
The set up is very similar to mine with letting them graze in the yard during the day and locking them up at night. The pen he locked them up in is safe as far as predators but it is just a chain link cage with hardware cloth at the bottom. Safe but no real shelter visually. That is why I am thinking a coon could have scared her during the night causing her to hurt herself. No shelter to hide in. My set up has the chain link but also I have a metal roofing strip surrounding the bottom making it impossible for coons to see in except a small section at the front door. Seems to make it feel more secure for my birds. They can hide, get out of the weather, etc instead of just being safe. I think it should be a good rest pen for her. I also have a small section of yard in front of her pen that will be easy to lock off for her maybe in a few days after she is more settled. They were very quiet last night so hopefully that means they rested well.

As far as feeding he had them graze and only provided chicken scratch. She is now getting a better diet which should help. She really loves the feed I gave her so that part is working out. I will make sure she has greens as well.

I will keep up the aspirin for awhile and also see how she looks today. Hopefully the rest and aspirin will make it less stressful when I check her today.

If I do need to wrap her leg to her does anyone know a link showing how? Just by the little I saw yesterday after getting her home I think it may be necessary. Her leg popped back to sticking out and the toes curled up maybe a half hour after I had done the gentle pull on the leg and then got it in a natural position under her. So its not staying in a good position. She isn't using it for weight at all so perhaps wrapping would keep it in a good position and help healing. I figure I would have to re-wrap once or twice every day so stretching the leg gently between re-wrappings. Have to see how she does today still but would like to get an idea of the wrapping technique if possible just in case.
Click to expand...
I have no idea on wrapping, hopefully Celtic will be able to help there since she has many geese. or Iain. I don't know about wrapping but if your going to do physical therapy on her maybe it won't matter. but I would think just letting her soak and swim time would be good therapy and rest not letting her walk around much.
 
The aspirin is helping. She looks to be in less pain and let me stretch the leg gently again. Her toes are a bit redder then I am used to seeing but its on both sides so perhaps its just her. She let me pet her for a few minutes after stretching the leg back and she munched on some kale angrily instead of trying to get me or get away. She is really quite sweet especially when you factor in all that I have done taking her away from all that she knew then messing with her bad leg. I still didn't feel any heat anywhere in the whole leg. She isn't able to move around to much right now as the pen I have is divided into two sections for this. Lots of soft hay to set on or she can soak in the kiddie pool so lots of rest as there isn't much else she can do for now. I would say she is looking a bit better but that is probably just due to her calming down and being in less pain. I did decide to use a little bit of vet wrap on the knee joint its self to help stabilize it just in case. I would still love to get a better idea of how to wrap the leg if this little bit at the knee won't work to stabilize it.
 
Arrghh. She does have heat in the leg.
he.gif
Around the knee and down to the ankle. I didn't feel it before perhaps due to her soaking it all the time. I did a little light massage on the leg, hip and ankle. There is a muscle or tendon or something in there that is tight like a wire. She isn't keeping her toes as curled up as much today so hopefully that means she is relaxing. She holds them in such an odd way when she does curl the toes up. Can't feel good. More gentle stretching again. She does really seem to feel better with the aspirin so that part is working. The leg does seem to be staying in a better position but she still can't have any weight on it. Just gotta keep it up (slowly) I guess. So glad she is a nice goose. Can't even imagine trying this with a mean gander...
 

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