At the Vet with our Buff Goose

[Eagle Flight Farm]

Our male Buff goose is just about 8 & 1/2 weeks old and we are at the avian vet as an emergency.

He has swallowed a portion of a length of baling twine from a square bale of hay! I could not remove it and I fear he has swallowed about 2 & 1/2 feet of the length. We had prepared their enclosure for an approaching storm last night and put fresh hay on the floor of their enclosure. The remainder of the bale (over 1/2 the bale) was on an elevated shelf. Evidently he was able to find and reach an end of the one piece of twine that was cut. (Our huge mistake!) In our rush to secure everything, we missed removing this one piece of twine that he was strong enough to remove from under the bale and tall enough to reach.

The vet is sedating him now to see if she can manually remove the length of twine. If it cannot be removed after sedation, they will proceed with surgery.

Thank you for caring and sending up a prayer for our boy. Also, heed our warning and remove any object your geese or ducks may think they need to try to consume! We had swept all their housing, run, and very large enclosure for any metal objects with a rolling magnet. But, in our rush to make them dry and safe, we missed the baling twine that we didn’t think could be reached.

 

[Eagle Flight Farm]

They couldn’t get it out, x-rayed and it is all the way to his proventrivculus. He also has a nail! (We swept the entire area several times with a rolling magnet before putting them out!) Evidently something came up from underground after a big rain or the ducks dug their little dabbling holes where he found a nail to eat!

We have been referred to OSU (Oklahoma State University Vet Hospital) where a small animal avian team is waiting for us. They have a scope they will use to try to remove the baling twine & the small nail!!!

We are about 45 min into our 1 & 1/2 hr drive to get to OSU Vet Hospital.

I’m sharing a pic of one of his x-rays from the referring vet we saw. They were excellent and arranged our further referral.

I’ll keep you updated and thanks for thinking of us!

 

[Eagle Flight Farm]

They put him under anesthesia and his GI tract relaxed and they were able to remove the baling twine. However, the nail had embedded in the twine and came out too. They are doing a swallow of contrast study to make sure nothing was punctured or lacerated by the nail on the way up. They are doing that now. We'll keep you posted!

Thank you!

 

[Eagle Flight Farm]

The swallow of barium and another X-ray dye was all good ... no lacerations or punctures detected anywhere from the baling twine or the nail! They gave him fluids, some meds, did some lab work and we are on our way home.

We are to give him a med that coats and soothes his esophagus and GI tract three times daily for the next three days.

He seems a bit tired, as to be expected, but is already back to his normal self for the most part!

Thank you for caring and giving your good wishes our way! I’m sharing a pic of him on our ride home and with his previously, partially ingested materials in a baggie! Please learn from us and make sure no foreign objects are within reach or eyesight of your waterfowl!

P.S. OSU is emailing me copies of X-ray images from his swallow test. I will share them here when they arrive.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

View attachment 1410573 They couldn’t get it out, x-rayed and it is all the way to his proventrivculus. He also has a nail! (We swept the entire area several times with a rolling magnet before putting them out!) Evidently something came up from underground after a big rain or the ducks dug their little dabbling holes where he found a nail to eat!

We have been referred to OSU (Oklahoma State University Vet Hospital) where a small animal avian team is waiting for us. They have a scope they will use to try to remove the baling twine & the small nail!!!

We are about 45 min into our 1 & 1/2 hr drive to get to OSU Vet Hospital.

I’m sharing a pic of one of his x-rays from the referring vet we saw. They were excellent and arranged our further referral.

I’ll keep you updated and thanks for thinking of us!

OMG!
crazy gooseie. Hope both your goose and your wallet can recover from this

 

[Duckztailz1]

I'd say his name is lucky because you pretty much spent a lot of money on him and not many people would have!!!

Lucky ducky the goose!!

 

[Ruralhideaway]

You are a great bird parent. Good luck hope all goes well.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

 

[Ruralhideaway]

That's a perfect happy ending, could have been lots different.

Baling twine is awful! At least once a summer it ends up in a lawnmower here. Buff geese are even harder to fix, so glad he's on the mend.

 

[casportpony]

Wow, thanks for sharing and I hope he makes a full recovery!