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

[The Dim Side]

Hi, all, I posted in the emergency forum the other day but didn't get any takers. So I'm trying here since this issue has returned.

On Tuesday morning, my one goose (who we call a she, but we don't know for sure) wasn't very reactive/energetic to me when the two of them always come greet us whenever we're around. I think she was just sitting in the pool and didn't react to me though she saw me. She was quiet and not eating, so I knew something was wrong. We found a vet 2.5 hours away and took both geese there. They couldn't find anything wrong with her, and by that time, her energy had started coming back. She was more reactive, though they were both tired from the ride. They did blood work, fecal test, CBC test (I think it was called), and gave her fluids since she hadn't eaten. They didn't prescribe or advise anything since they didn't know what was wrong at the time. And later on, all the tests came back normal. The only thing we didn't do (which I regret) was get an X-ray. But we took them home, and her energy had been coming back, though still not at 100%. She wasn't eating grass or her feed at all, but she would eat chopped carrots and apples and such for treats. Slowly, she started eating the grass and the feed again and has been better until this afternoon.

This morning, she still seemed to be recovering, active and chatty and eating some grass and feed and pooping. Her poop has been much smaller than usual, and I haven't been sure if it's from lack of eating or if something is partially blocked up in her. But we left for a couple hours, and when we came back, she was doing the same thing she did on Tuesday. Not very responsive, lethargic, just wants to sleep, not eating (or drinking much now), and she's also limping inexplicably on her left leg. I couldn't see anything outwardly wrong with her leg or foot though.

I'm not sure if it's just a coincidence or not, but occasionally she rubs (with her bill) down at her paunch, which is on the left side where the limping foot is. She used to have two tighter paunches that were symmetrical, but now I think I only see the one on the left that's hanging down more. I know they change as they get older, so I'm not sure at what point it started changing or if it has anything to do with what's bothering her. But I wanted to note it just in case.

The vet we took her to isn't open over the weekend, and the exotics vet isn't even back till Tuesday. There's an emergency vet 2 hours away, but they don't have an exotics vet in either, but the ER vets are trained to stabilize most animals. So I don't know if it's worth taking her out there, except for maybe the limping.

Any ideas on what the problem is or at least what I can do to try and help her? Or advice on whether I should take her to an ER vet or not? Thanks in advance!

 

[Goosebaby]

How old is your goose?

Non specific symptoms like these are really tricky. The paunch or lobes are fat stores but may get bigger due to fluid retention, but usually the whole abdomen will get a larger smooth swollen look if there’s a lot. Fluid retention can be caused by liver, kidney, and heart problems, or a tumor, tumors and liver problems can cause a bird to feel pain in their side and cause limping.

Another cause could be mycoplasma, it can cause air sac inflammation and hock/joint issues so you might see limping and discomfort when trying to sit because it puts pressure on the inflamed rear air sacs “airsacculitis.”
Mycoplasma can cause them to feel unwell, it can come out when stressed, or when cold or hot, it can cause respiratory issues, sometimes very mild ones, almost unnoticeable, or severe ones, especially of it’s complicated by e.coli which is common.
Truthfully there are a number of possibilities, anything from strep to ornithobacteriosis, it’s hard to say because illnesses present with different symptoms based on what part of the body they’re attacking.

I think it would be good to get her to a vet if you can, if she had blood work/CBC done I expect it would show abnormalities of some sort of she had cancer or a liver issue, like elevated amylase, because if there’s something wrong with the liver the pancreas usually reacts, but I’m not a vet so what would I know?
If you can get her in try to get them to do a bacterial culture and a mycoplasma test, an x-ray would be good to see if she has a mass or enlarged organs, but those can be pricey as I’m sure you know.

 

[Goosebaby]

Also what kind of fecal test was performed? Some only detect worms, smaller Protozoa like coccidia are harder to detect, a fecal float is better than others at detecting the extra small stuff.

 

[Goosebaby]

Did they test her for lead & zinc?

 

[Goosebaby]

Sorry I just saw that you put the age IN THE TITLE, big oversight on my part.

Out of curiosity what feed is she eating?

If it’s any help too, adding water to feed, enough to make a soupy mash, can encourage geese to eat by encouraging them to at least play in it.

 

[The Dim Side]

How old is your goose?

She (or he) is a little over 5 months old now.

Also what kind of fecal test was performed? Some only detect worms, smaller Protozoa like coccidia are harder to detect, a fecal float is better than others at detecting the extra small stuff.

The receipt says fecal direct and fecal float!

Did they test her for lead & zinc?

I don't know for sure. The receipt says CBC, wellness chemistry, subcutaneous fluids, and fecal direct and fecal float. So I'm not sure if lead and zinc were part of any of those.

One thing I think I forgot to mention was this morning I saw her cloaca area have what looked like black and dark brown all around it. Like a messy poop exploded on her maybe?

I also did a video call with a vet online, who suggested if I can to take her to the ER vet. They don't have the exotic vet there, but they can call them for advice and do the X-ray. But it's 2 hours away and already getting late (I have trouble driving at night). So I'm trying to figure out if it can wait till the morning or if it's too urgent.

 

[The Dim Side]

Sorry I just saw that you put the age IN THE TITLE, big oversight on my part.

Out of curiosity what feed is she eating?

If it’s any help too, adding water to feed, enough to make a soupy mash, can encourage geese to eat by encouraging them to at least play in it.

Oh, haha, no worries! They first started on duck feed but were switched to all-flock a few weeks ago. Still pellets. But when she got sick and wasn't eating, we switched back to the duck feed, and she started eating that (until this afternoon). She is eating chopped carrots and apples again though.

 

[Goosebaby]

She (or he) is a little over 5 months old now.


The receipt says fecal direct and fecal float!


I don't know for sure. The receipt says CBC, wellness chemistry, subcutaneous fluids, and fecal direct and fecal float. So I'm not sure if lead and zinc were part of any of those.

One thing I think I forgot to mention was this morning I saw her cloaca area have what looked like black and dark brown all around it. Like a messy poop exploded on her maybe?

I also did a video call with a vet online, who suggested if I can to take her to the ER vet. They don't have the exotic vet there, but they can call them for advice and do the X-ray. But it's 2 hours away and already getting late (I have trouble driving at night). So I'm trying to figure out if it can wait till the morning or if it's too urgent.

Black and dark brown diarrhea could be coccidia or some kind of enteritis causing bleeding.
I’ve seen a few cases in the emergency forums of birds who’s fecal tests came back negative for parasites a few times and then positive later, so results aren’t always 100% accurate. You could try giving her corid and wormer, albendazole works on quite a lot of worms.
I definitely recommend a bacterial culture as it could be something like an infection going on.

 

[Goosebaby]

If this information helps, black droppings can indicate bleeding somewhere in the upper digestive tract, red if it’s lower digestive tract.

 

[The Dim Side]

If this information helps, black droppings can indicate bleeding somewhere in the upper digestive tract, red if it’s lower digestive tract.

So we did end up taking her the two hours to another state to the emergency vet, where I called ahead of time to ask if they could do X-rays on a goose. They said yes, but when we got there (at 10 p.m.), they said they weren't equipped to do it. (they were terrible in other ways, too, I do NOT recommend Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital in Akron, OH). So that was very frustrating. They kept her overnight and switched her to an avian specialist this morning, who was finally able to do X-rays.

The vet last night said she thought the left leg (with the limp that was actually looking better by last night) was colder than the right leg. But the vet this morning said the right leg actually feels warmer than it should be. And the X-rays showed that it looks like she ate some sort of metal wire, but I didn't get a clear description, so I'm not sure what it was and need to ask them to email me the images and records. They don't know if it's causing a problem either, so they're going to redo the CBC and do metal/lead testing and keep her for a few days to give medicine and monitor her. And hopefully they can figure out what's going on with her legs, too. Crazy expensive all around, but I just hope they can fix her up!