Oh GB I hope she comes around, were you able to give her her meds? how about the epsom salt flush did you try her on it?I feel terrible. She's not looking any better. Not even eating her favorite type of lettuce
I just hope that if it isnt intended for her to see tomorrow, that she goes peacefully. She is so gentle & kind
I'm praying.We gave her another round of meds. We haven't tried the epsom salt flush yet. Wanted to wait until after vet's appt at 9:30 tomorrow to see how we should proceed. My dad found some penicillin he had leftover from a treatment he had to give my dogs a while back. He added a few drops to her water to see if that would help, in case she has some sort of infection. We put both our geese in their coop & separated them with a garden fence to make sure April had access to food before our gander gobbled it up, and to keep our gander from drinked medicated water. We'll see how things are tomorrow
Do not worry about the feed and her eating it. My Lucy didn't eat for a couple of days after I started her on the human calcium with D. It's the fluid intake you need to worry about right now. Poor baby! I'm so very sorry this happened to you and your goose, but so glad you had a vet handy. Give her a couple of days before you worry about the food. I even offered handfulls of meal worms and Lucy wouldn't touch them at first. The chewable calcium500mg with the 1000iu of D worked like magic with mine and it should help your poor girl as well. Amiga has some good info about something she gets from her Vet for her ducks. You might try a PM to her and I'm sure she could tell you what it is.We gave her another round of meds. We haven't tried the epsom salt flush yet. Wanted to wait until after vet's appt at 9:30 tomorrow to see how we should proceed. My dad found some penicillin he had leftover from a treatment he had to give my dogs a while back. He added a few drops to her water to see if that would help, in case she has some sort of infection. We put both our geese in their coop & separated them with a garden fence to make sure April had access to food before our gander gobbled it up, and to keep our gander from drinked medicated water. We'll see how things are tomorrow
GB I am so sorry to hear about April, as I sit here bawling, I know how much she meant to you and I always enjoyed hearing about them and seeing the videos and pics you posted. I understand completely what you and your parents are going through and will pray that you can find NIne a wonderful forever home. We sure can fall head over heals for these wonderful creatures. Bless you all.I'm so sorry. I feel like I let everyone down as I write this.
April did not wake up any better. My poor little baby had difficulty keeping her head up and had trouble walking. We gave her a last dose of the meds, and offered her some water, which she refused. We had a few days here by south Florida's standards & wrapped her in a towel again to take her back to the vet. She was shivering a little, I think it was from being cold and not from being scared because she was very calm. She rested her head on my dad's arm the whole way to the vet.
I held her for a bit while we waited & she seemed again, really calm, but just not well at all. Again, didnt want any water. The vet said the outlook was grim - that geese sometimes get these weird things & its hard to get them to respond, and that when they go downhill, it happens pretty quickly - but we could either hospitalize her or euthanize her. I'm totally heart broken. April was euthanized this morning. The nurse was really kind and said she was going to take April to a beautiful place - described it very nicely to where if I wrote it here, you all would probably be crying at your keyboards like I am.
So. I now join Flockman, Marty, MrsFluffypuffy and others in saying good-bye to a most beautiful little goose spirit.
How my poor little goose looked this morning. The brown splotches are drops of her medicine.
Quite a contrast to the pictures that I've plastered all over BYC with in the past. If you're just meeting April, I invite you to see her in a more positive light https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/533413/the-african-and-chinese-goose-thread/60 Her lovely story starts on page 7.
I loved these little guys, April & her gander Nine, and do believe I gave them the best life I could, and I like to think they were happy here with us. So I'm left with a lonely gander. Unfortunately I dont have the option of getting him some new friends in the form of goslings. Last night was pretty rough for the humans. I had originally gotten April & Nine for my parents, naively thinking that they would be something like walking lawn ornaments, just doing their own thing, and not counting on the fact that they had unique personalities and were so intelligent.
My parents asked if I could start looking for a new home for the both of them, if April recovered, or for just our gander if she didnt make it. I realize that might be harsh sounding to you all, but allow me to attempt to explain where they're coming from. It was very hard on them emotionally to see April not well, and the thought of having to go through that again with our gander or with any future geese is too hard to bear. Worse yet would be to lose them to a predator (at least April went peacefully). My parents arent the type of people to shrug it off if they see one of their pets really ill, they feel compelled to seek help & arent in the financial position to visit a vet at every crisis. I get it. Geese were supposed to be "hearty" creatures that could survive mainly on their own with a predator proof coop at night. What happened to April was probably rare, and more probably due to her laying, but its the luck of the draw, I guess.
Our boy Nine, today.
So I'll be posting in the re-homing section to try to find Nine a new, nice place to live where he'll have company. This is all very tough. I fear that its harder to find a home for ganders than geese, and I wonder if I end up finding him a home outside BYC, if they'll understand him. He can be a brat sometimes, but he is a really good boy. I'm also going to put a flyer at feed store where I'd shop for them. I think my last resort will be craigslist. I WHOLE HEARTEDLY, 100% really & truly appreciated your thoughts & prayers for April. Now that she's finally resting, I hope those can turn towards my gander while I search to find him a loving home. THANK YOU, BYC FAMILY.
I think he knows somethings' up, but pretty sure he's confused as to where April is.
These were April's favorite flowers. She would LOVE to rip them of the plant & chew on them. Luckily they had new blooms everyday.
They're called Mexican Petunias, in case you'd like to try them out with your geese.
Im going to add some older pictures & videos to the Chinese goose thread to share April others
EDITED TO ADD: these are the tests they did yesterday at the vet, in case anyone is interested-
Glucose test
Calcium test
That illegible medicine bottle: Liqui Tinic Ca- (either Caldex or Calcium) Dextrose
They also gave her injections (yesterday) of
Vitamin B
Caldex/ Magnesium
Dextrose
Calcium
