Goose possibly had too large a cabbage leaf? Showing discomfort

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Songster
Jun 17, 2023
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I am wondering if it's possible my goose may've eaten too large of pieces of cabbage? It was from a small head but she was grabbing them really fast and chowing them down. Not whole leaf but half maybe. Had a few of them like that and i started giving her small bite size pieces. She started to make a labored breathing (raspy) sound from her throat/nose and I could see her tongue straight out a bit a couple times. Not in super distress but clearly uncomfortable, mouth slightly open at the time but enough where I could see her tongue. I made her drink and haven't given her anymore cabbage. The feathers around her neck are ruffled and I'm wondering if she got too much and she's having difficulty getting it down? She's breathing but looks uncomfortable in general. She's an African, about 9 months old. She's still honking and I put a water bucket in her pen so she can drink. Wondering if anyone has had experience with this and think it'll pass through okay? If it's still like this in the morning, is it okay to feed her or should I wait to prevent further build up? She usually is fed with the ducks, duck feed and gets some veggies during the day, wheat, etc. She's eaten large sized leaves like this before without issue.
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It's good she has water, but also grit?
She does, I didn't offer her anything else last night for concern of making the blockage possibly worse if it already wasn't going down her throat easily. She seems to have gotten it down so praying all is well.
 
Looks like something is lodged in there. You could get her a little honey water or vegetable oil to swallow and gentle massage the lump. I’m surprised she hasn’t tried to dislodge it by shaking it out.
Nope no shaking. Just a loud breathing sound that seems to be of discomfort. She did eventually get it down last night and seems to be good this morning. Feathers are down. Felt her neck, sides and front all the way down to her chest and feels good. She's still making a breathing sound so gonna monitor that. I know they can breathe loudly but this seems different
 
Guess no more larger chunks for her. She usually doesn't really eat larger ones, she prefers I break them down but not last night. She was savage lol. She's usually not a huge fan of cabbage either. I'm glad this head had much thinner leaves than the norm.
 
Cabbage is tough. I only give mine lettuce. Good to hear.
I give my girl cabbage during the winter because she's so fussy she'll only eat so much other than the waterfowl feed and I want her to get some greens. She's actually just recently started to tolerate cabbage. Usually I break it up but she was tearing it away from me before I could this time. Thankfully the leaves on this head were super thin. She likes kale but can be fussy with that as well. Doesn't care for wheat unless it's mixed with the duck feed and won't eat hay. She'll eat tomatoes sometimes, carrots on occasion. Doesn't care for fruit except watermelon. Will eat pumpkin I pull from the freezer, but not a lot. She likes peas.
 
I would look into Kale, it's gotten some criticism for raw human consumption. Not sure about geese though.
Oh I definitely give her kale, she usually likes it. She gets fussy with it in the summer months though. It's kinda funny cause she prefers it fresh from the garden and if I try to give her store bought (when I'm waiting for the kale to be ready for another harvest) she rejects it 95% of the time. She's fine with store bought in the winter. It's hilarious. I give cabbage also as well as try to introduce other things so she doesn't get bored with a specific veggie. She gets that way. If she has it too much she won't eat it at all.
 

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