5-Month Old Goose Lethargic, Not Eating, and Now Limping

[Goosebaby]

Thank you! Is the infectious bronchitis vaccine not a live one then? My one vet didn't seem to be familiar with goose vaccines, but she might have been confused with what I was asking, too, because I think she thought I was asking for vaccines against metal illness, lol.

Is albendazole sold at farm supply stores, too? And how do you personally do it, pretreat or treat after? I guess if it doesn't hurt them, pretreating could be better to help prevent. But I was also just thinking I'd rather not give them medications if they don't need it?


Yeah, from what I understood, CaEDTA is the chelation therapy! And I guess it helps her to dissolve the metal? But I wonder why they chose EDTA over DMSA since we don't know what the metal is made of. We're still waiting on the test results though as far as what it is and if it's in her blood or if it's just stuck in her gizzard and causing discomfort. She said they probably wouldn't find out till the end of the week, which is annoying that it takes so long.


Oh, good to know! It's really a craps shoot as far as what it's from. Maybe she just chewed off some of the fencing around, though the vet made it sound like it's really thin (I don't have a full grasp on spatial reasoning with respect to the goose in real life and in the X-rays). So it could have been any trash in the ground from the previous owners, too. Sigh.


They decided to wait to do the second X-rays today, but I did make the 5-hour round trip to visit her yesterday, lol. Got to sit out in their backyard for a couple hours (then a bad thunderstorm rolled in unexpectedly from what my weather app had said earlier). Her limp is still bad, but she ate a little bit, and I had brought chopped carrots for her, too. The vet said this morning she also ate all her food from last night! So that was really good news, they didn't have to gavage feed her today. So fingers crossed the metal is dissolving, though if it is, the limping still concerns me.

There are inactive and live vaccines for infectious bronchitis, the only one I can find for sale to the public is Zoetis’s live vaccine here https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=2958b310-96ec-4201-a635-bb5f4219c6d0
And here https://www.jefferspet.com/products...84be9fa2600f000005db/533884bf9fa2600f000005f6
So the question is do you have the vet order the inactive vaccine or to treat or not to treat with the live one? Risk them catching a lethal strain of the virus by not vaccinating or give them a mild form that will help them fend off the nastier versions?

Valley Vet has Albendazole “500ml” for half the price of Jeffers https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30E07949-7B6A-11D5-A192-00B0D0204AE5&q=Albendazole
I treated mine when they all came down with the sickness, wondering if it was worms, didn’t seem to change anything that I could see, so I suppose I treat after I noticed an issue.

It’s excellent tat she’s eating, the limping could be from discomfort, it could be from zinc, it can cause neurological issues, CaEDTA is used for it, but it doesn’t work as well as it does for lead, zinc leaves the body quicker than lead because it doesn’t settle in the bones like lead does so that’s a little bit better.
Sometimes a drug called penicillamine is also given to scrub out metals including lead and zinc, it’s around $30 a bottle in Canada and $17,000 a bottle in the U.S so it usually isn’t found in your average vet office here unfortunatly.

 

[The Dim Side]

There are inactive and live vaccines for infectious bronchitis, the only one I can find for sale to the public is Zoetis’s live vaccine here https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=2958b310-96ec-4201-a635-bb5f4219c6d0
And here https://www.jefferspet.com/products/newcastle-bronchitis-vaccine-10-000-d?via=533884be9fa2600f000005da/533884be9fa2600f000005db/533884bf9fa2600f000005f6
So the question is do you have the vet order the inactive vaccine or to treat or not to treat with the live one? Risk them catching a lethal strain of the virus by not vaccinating or give them a mild form that will help them fend off the nastier versions?

Valley Vet has Albendazole “500ml” for half the price of Jeffers https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30E07949-7B6A-11D5-A192-00B0D0204AE5&q=Albendazole
I treated mine when they all came down with the sickness, wondering if it was worms, didn’t seem to change anything that I could see, so I suppose I treat after I noticed an issue.

It’s excellent tat she’s eating, the limping could be from discomfort, it could be from zinc, it can cause neurological issues, CaEDTA is used for it, but it doesn’t work as well as it does for lead, zinc leaves the body quicker than lead because it doesn’t settle in the bones like lead does so that’s a little bit better.
Sometimes a drug called penicillamine is also given to scrub out metals including lead and zinc, it’s around $30 a bottle in Canada and $17,000 a bottle in the U.S so it usually isn’t found in your average vet office here unfortunatly.

Thanks! And yeeeesh, $17,000??? Yikes. I guess I'm getting a little ahead of myself right now though with the vaccines. I just want to try and get her healed up first! The X-rays today showed that it doesn't look like the metal is dissolving at all. So maybe it's something other than aluminum or lead? Maybe I should ask about DMPS and DMSA tomorrow, too.

They're hoping to get the metal results tomorrow, I can't believe it's taking at least 5 days to get the testing done. Kinda ridiculous if you need to know quickly to treat something. They said her eating all her food is still a good sign though, and depending on the lab results, they may do a trial run with her back home and then have her come back in. And that the surgery would be risky. I'm just worried if it's not dissolving at all, then the problem isn't going to go away.

Part of me wants her back home where I can keep any eye on her more since she's left alone for like 12 hours at a time. But another part worries that if something goes wrong, it's better to already be at a vet that can help her (during business hours). We also have to go out of town next weekend for work, so it's hugely terrible timing, and I'm very stressed out.

 

[Goosebaby]

Thanks! And yeeeesh, $17,000??? Yikes. I guess I'm getting a little ahead of myself right now though with the vaccines. I just want to try and get her healed up first! The X-rays today showed that it doesn't look like the metal is dissolving at all. So maybe it's something other than aluminum or lead? Maybe I should ask about DMPS and DMSA tomorrow, too.

They're hoping to get the metal results tomorrow, I can't believe it's taking at least 5 days to get the testing done. Kinda ridiculous if you need to know quickly to treat something. They said her eating all her food is still a good sign though, and depending on the lab results, they may do a trial run with her back home and then have her come back in. And that the surgery would be risky. I'm just worried if it's not dissolving at all, then the problem isn't going to go away.

Part of me wants her back home where I can keep any eye on her more since she's left alone for like 12 hours at a time. But another part worries that if something goes wrong, it's better to already be at a vet that can help her (during business hours). We also have to go out of town next weekend for work, so it's hugely terrible timing, and I'm very stressed out.

It’s a hard choice either way! I wish I knew what would be better.

 

[The Dim Side]

It’s a hard choice either way! I wish I knew what would be better.

Some good news! The lab results finally came in right at the end of the day, and no heavy metal toxicity! The second X-rays seemed to show a slight variation from the first, too, so I think there's progress!? The limping is still there, but she's alert and eating so far, and the vet said it's probably a good idea to give her a break for at least the weekend and be home with us. But if she continues to do well, then we can wait to bring her back for follow-up X-rays in a week or so. The vet said she can hopefully just dissolve it on her own soon and not need surgery, but it'll take a long while for that. So she'll be on some pain medication, too.