Parsnip has had an ongoing illness or illnesses since last year, it started with his bill changing color, he was expieriencing symptoms of liver disease and/or pancreatitis, the two other threads addressing that are here https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/gander-losing-weight-pale-beak.1340655/
And https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/gander-refusing-to-eat.1359890/page-4
To further complicate things he swallowed paint chips and had zinc toxicosis this spring, somehow he survived all that and the excess zinc passed his symptom.
His last vet visit was at the end of April, his amylase levels were back to normal “they were through the roof in November” so his pancreas at least then was normal again. His blood tests showed he didn’t have any high metal levels and his white blood cell count was normal. He still had the same level of mild fluid buildup as he did in November, she gave him a physical exam and couldn’t feel any lumps. Parsnip also doesn’t have parasites.
I took him home and in the days following the visit hIs abdomen began to look swollen and I could feel more fluid accumulating. At this point I’m sure most of everyone knows that once ascites is present there isn’t much that can be done other than to make their lives as comfortable as possible while they still have quality of life, Parsnip is my baby so I chose to make his life comfortable as possible while I can so I ordered him denamarin an aloe detox just to keep his digestive system moving and keep down some of the excess fluid.
Before those arrived the fluid in his abdomen disappeared and he started feeling somewhat better.
Once they arrived and I was giving them to him his life was a series of cycles, three good days, three bad days, meaning three days where he felt okay but things could be better and three days where he didn’t feel great but things could be worse. He had one week of pure extremes where he had three days where he was acting like he’d been miraculously cured followed by three days where he was so sick I thought I was losing him. After that his cycles normalized.
Through June and July he started pulling out of his sickness and was doing really well, especially July, he was feeling great, I couldn’t feel any fluid in his abdomen at all.
The beginning of this month he had a major setback, he started sleeping most of the day, I could feel as much fluid in his abdomen as I could in the days following when I brought him back from the vet in April, I figured his illness had reached end stage and his liver had finally failed.
After a few days of this he started feeling better again, then worse. For a week he was feeling wonderful, then he would start not feeling well.
Because of the pandemic money is tight and the feed stores have been having issues stocking so I can’t take him back to the vet and feed isn’t always available so I’ve also been cutting corners with feed, I’ve run out a few times, which hasn’t been a big deal for the geese because they have huge lawns to graze and extra garden veggies, but because of this and because I’ve been keeping notes on Parsnip’s ongoing health saga I noticed something.
The week I was out of feed he felt great. Then he felt worse once he got it again, the few days I was out he felt great, not so good once he was eating it again. I was just out again over the weekend and he started feeling good, he had a bowl of feed last night and today he’s feeling terrible.
The pic is of his droppings this morning, that’s more or less what they look like lately, especially after eating the feed, diarrhea often with excessive amounts of bile. The week he went without his droppings were mostly normal goose logs.
I’ve been feeding him various brands, Kalmbach, Purina, dumor, nutrena, whatever I can get that has the right ratios of protein and nutrients, so it isn’t one brand making him sick and none of the others are being affected like this.
I know this is a hard one but has anyone else expierienced anything like this?
And https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/gander-refusing-to-eat.1359890/page-4
To further complicate things he swallowed paint chips and had zinc toxicosis this spring, somehow he survived all that and the excess zinc passed his symptom.
His last vet visit was at the end of April, his amylase levels were back to normal “they were through the roof in November” so his pancreas at least then was normal again. His blood tests showed he didn’t have any high metal levels and his white blood cell count was normal. He still had the same level of mild fluid buildup as he did in November, she gave him a physical exam and couldn’t feel any lumps. Parsnip also doesn’t have parasites.
I took him home and in the days following the visit hIs abdomen began to look swollen and I could feel more fluid accumulating. At this point I’m sure most of everyone knows that once ascites is present there isn’t much that can be done other than to make their lives as comfortable as possible while they still have quality of life, Parsnip is my baby so I chose to make his life comfortable as possible while I can so I ordered him denamarin an aloe detox just to keep his digestive system moving and keep down some of the excess fluid.
Before those arrived the fluid in his abdomen disappeared and he started feeling somewhat better.
Once they arrived and I was giving them to him his life was a series of cycles, three good days, three bad days, meaning three days where he felt okay but things could be better and three days where he didn’t feel great but things could be worse. He had one week of pure extremes where he had three days where he was acting like he’d been miraculously cured followed by three days where he was so sick I thought I was losing him. After that his cycles normalized.
Through June and July he started pulling out of his sickness and was doing really well, especially July, he was feeling great, I couldn’t feel any fluid in his abdomen at all.
The beginning of this month he had a major setback, he started sleeping most of the day, I could feel as much fluid in his abdomen as I could in the days following when I brought him back from the vet in April, I figured his illness had reached end stage and his liver had finally failed.
After a few days of this he started feeling better again, then worse. For a week he was feeling wonderful, then he would start not feeling well.
Because of the pandemic money is tight and the feed stores have been having issues stocking so I can’t take him back to the vet and feed isn’t always available so I’ve also been cutting corners with feed, I’ve run out a few times, which hasn’t been a big deal for the geese because they have huge lawns to graze and extra garden veggies, but because of this and because I’ve been keeping notes on Parsnip’s ongoing health saga I noticed something.
The week I was out of feed he felt great. Then he felt worse once he got it again, the few days I was out he felt great, not so good once he was eating it again. I was just out again over the weekend and he started feeling good, he had a bowl of feed last night and today he’s feeling terrible.
The pic is of his droppings this morning, that’s more or less what they look like lately, especially after eating the feed, diarrhea often with excessive amounts of bile. The week he went without his droppings were mostly normal goose logs.
I’ve been feeding him various brands, Kalmbach, Purina, dumor, nutrena, whatever I can get that has the right ratios of protein and nutrients, so it isn’t one brand making him sick and none of the others are being affected like this.
I know this is a hard one but has anyone else expierienced anything like this?
