10 week-old goose with a swollen leg joint

[Mrs. Crowe]

I have just spent hours searching for an answer - we don't have an avian vet close to us and our farm vet will not treat birds - he treats our pet pig but we can not find a vet that will treat chickens, ducks, and geese.
Our 10 week old African goose had a leg injury about 6 weeks ago - was trampled by a duck when getting out of the pool and limped for a few days - no signs of a break, etc - no swelling or heat or redness - just hurt him a bit. We kept him on limited activity for a few days in a gated off space and then he seemed fine. A couple of weeks ago he slipped in the mud - we live in VA and it rains every day now so our grassy pasture is now mud...and he started limping again. A week ago he stopped putting his foot on the ground and holding it up. I checked his joints and one is very swollen and was warm compared to the other one. So I put him on Tylan 50 and metacam - he's on day 4 and the swelling has gone down a bit but he still won't put any weight on the foot or walk. I am also putting him in for a warm bath twice a day so he uses that leg and foot.
I have read all of the Achilles tendon forums - I don't think that's what it is - the back of the hock is a bit swollen but I can't move anything around - the swelling seems more to the side of the joint.
Would appreciate any help - thanks

 

[SkyBlueEmu]

The medications seem fine to me, and they should help reduce the swelling. Could the goose have a small fracture( like a hairline fracture)? I might suspect a small fracture could be possible since it was injured again.

You could try to splint the joint by immobilizing the joints above and below the swollen one. This can be done using some sort of gauze or padding against the leg, then popsicle sticks or strong cardboard pieces cut to length, and wrapped up with vetwrap and paper tape.

I would let him float in a small pool for a while to take pressure off the other leg and the injured leg. The warm baths seem good, but I would try a cool one since cooler things help decrease inflammation.
Hope he feels better soon!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Seems I read @casportpony mentioning about not splinting lets see if she is here today Maybe she can give some ideas. Is a vet an option? @Mrs. Crowe

 

[Helloworld]

As already mentioned, take a baby pool, put cool water, a small amount of ice to cool just a little more and put out with the others. Don’t remove him from herd completely. He will take care of it, just keep swelling down so he can maintain his group. If he walks, could be a fracture but when he rests his foot and sits he is applying his own medicine. I take care of the swelling to assist in ambulation on their own, infection, and making sure that until he is healed, they continue to watch him not push him away because they know he is hurt and in danger. You are giving 1 mg per pound of meticam right?