Crippled Gosling

[WilliamH]

I have a week old gosling who has a broken foot. I believe one of the bone on his toes is broken. The gosling can’t stand. He moves by hopping. Will his foot recover overtime? What should I do?

 

[JNC]

I have a week old gosling who has a broken foot. I believe one of the bone on his toes is broken. The gosling can’t stand. He moves by hopping. Will his foot recover overtime? What should I do?

You could wait a few days and see if it’s recovering. If you see no progress you can give it some vitamins or electrolytes. It should recover nicely since it’s very young and they tend to recover faster. Just make sure it’s staying hydrated and is still eating. You could always take them to vet but they are pretty expensive. You could try some therapy of making it a bath high enough for it to be able to stand on but not to high that it has to paddle. Putting it in water help because ducklings and gooslings float very easily and will help reduce the pressure on its foot. For now i would prevent it from waking too much you can do this by putting it in a smaller place.

 

[JNC]

Would the cardboard method do any good? I mixed some Gatorade with their water. Right now the gosling is in a 2 feet by 3 feet outdoors with food and grass to eat.

Yes. If you hear it quacking loudly it could be because the duckling isn’t there. They always need someone to be around with.

 

[JNC]

View attachment 2183707
Outdoors in 90 degrees. They seem to sit all day. I noticed that my injured gosling does not eat as much as the other gosling. Maybe it just isn’t hungry.

It could be that. When mine was hurt a couple days ago he would normally just sit. when the others started eating he watched them and then got up to eat. If you feel like it isn’t eating you can encourage it to eat by putting some food in your hand or giving it some of his/her favorite food. My ducklings love peas, green beans and melon. but if your going to feed it these food make sure they contain no salt. Don’t feed it just these foods. make sure it’s also eating its regular food because their regular food has a lot of protein and they need all that protein.

 

[WilliamH]

You could wait a few days and see if it’s recovering. If you see no progress you can give it some vitamins or electrolytes. It should recover nicely since it’s very young and they tend to recover faster. Just make sure it’s staying hydrated and is still eating. You could always take them to vet but they are pretty expensive. You could try some therapy of making it a bath high enough for it to be able to stand on but not to high that it has to paddle. Putting it in water help because ducklings and gooslings float very easily and will help reduce the pressure on its foot. For now i would prevent it from waking too much you can do this by putting it in a smaller place.

Would the cardboard method do any good? I mixed some Gatorade with their water. Right now the gosling is in a 2 feet by 3 feet outdoors with food and grass to eat.

 

[WilliamH]

Yes. If you hear it quacking loudly it could be because the duckling isn’t there. They always need someone to be around with.

Outdoors in 90 degrees. They seem to sit all day. I noticed that my injured gosling does not eat as much as the other gosling. Maybe it just isn’t hungry.

 

[WilliamH]

It could be that. When mine was hurt a couple days ago he would normally just sit. when the others started eating he watched them and then got up to eat. If you feel like it isn’t eating you can encourage it to eat by putting some food in your hand or giving it some of his/her favorite food. My ducklings love peas, green beans and melon. but if your going to feed it these food make sure they contain no salt. Don’t feed it just these foods. make sure it’s also eating its regular food because their regular food has a lot of protein and they need all that protein.

Update: the injury seems to have gotten worse. The left (injured) leg is starting to swell on the back knee. The gosling is always keeping the left leg bending.

 

[JNC]

Try giving it electrolytes. Make it walk as little as possible. it should start to go away in about a week. You can fill up your sink or a big enough bowl with water high enough for it to be able to stand on but not paddle. So about as high as it’s knee. make sure the water is warm or lukewarm but not boiling or too cold. Try this every day and at least once every few days or every day soak a towel in warm water and have it sit on it or you can use a heating pad if you have one.

 

[WilliamH]

Try giving it electrolytes. Make it walk as little as possible. it should start to go away in about a week. You can fill up your sink or a big enough bowl with water high enough for it to be able to stand on but not paddle. So about as high as it’s knee. make sure the water is warm or lukewarm but not boiling or too cold. Try this every day and at least once every few days or every day soak a towel in warm water and have it sit on it or you can use a heating pad if you have one.

I have been doing what you told me to do. But the leg seems to swell more and more over time. It almost looks paralyzed. I thick it is because when the gosling moves place to place, it uses the broken leg to balance. Which is putting pressure on it’s leg causing it to not heal

 

[WilliamH]

I have been doing what you told me to do. But the leg seems to swell more and more over time. It almost looks paralyzed. I thick it is because when the gosling moves place to place, it uses the broken leg to balance. Which is putting pressure on it’s leg causing it to not heal

Overall the gosling is healthy. It just has a broken leg.