Eye/head injury gosling

[coach723]

That's hopefully good news on the eye, hopefully he will have some vision. The olive oil shouldn't hurt anything. I've used vaseline as well with no issues. If you are worried you could get some terramycin eye ointment and use that on the wound, some feed stores and tractor supply stores carry it. I've used plain neosporin in the eye on occasion with no issues as well. Mouth breathing could be from stuff getting in his nostrils or it could be stress as well. Maybe the ointment has a taste to it that he doesn't like as well. It looks to be healing well, so fingers crossed on the eye itself.

 

[Bolfreak]

Two week old pictures today. I stopped the ab ointment as he really would sneeze and fling his head around and I’m not wild about petrolatum as main ingredient. There also was never any sign of actual infection. Been using coconut oil twice a day, which also melts into his nostrils but he seems less affected by it. His bad eye is considerably better, the eye is intact and all of the swelling especially third eyelid has really gone down. I think he has some sight in the eye now that he can control his blinking. His feathers are growing back in as his white gander feathers, instead of yellow down and he’s getting some juvenile feathers on his back as well.
The bad news is, he still mouth breathes. I pulled a grass seed out of his nostril - who knows how long it’s been in there - but he still breathes like that even without it. The worst news was a few days ago he injured his right leg and it was dangling. After a day of really feeling it, I think he has a tibial fracture near the joint (lower). This has been by far my most problematic and accident prone animal of them all, but he refuses to quit and I can’t bring myself to end it, either. He eats, drinks and poops great and LOVES people. Almost too much! He fusses at being alone if he thinks he is and will literally climb in a lap if you’re at his level.
So I splinted his leg with tape and a tongue depressor. Originally I also wrapped his lower leg to the splint with Vetrap because his leg would end up twisted behind him. Yesterday I improvised a swing/sling to try and get him to use his good leg again. Today he insists on walking, using his beak and wings to help him get on his feet, so I took off the Vetrap to encourage him to use his bad leg so it doesn’t atrophy while still having splint rigidity. I would pinch his toes on his bad leg and he would squeal, so there isn’t bad nerve damage.
I’d like to give him a few more days splinted before attempting to let him swim. He hates water, but I know he wants to groom himself, on land he loses his balance too much. He eats layer pellets, hi pro scratch and a ton of fresh grass and plants I pick for him.