gosling convulses after drinking! HELP!!!

[Serina81]

Thanks for the vet's number. I'll give him a try after I research this virus. It looks very similar to that. I'll try to post a video on YouTube later this evening to show you. Is there any treatment for this?

And Kudos for figuring this out! I really think it's this virus or some strain of it.

 

[Serina81]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veVnjrPTM3s


Here's my video. This is very minor compared to what he normally does, but it's the only video I have of him doing it. I'll try to get a better one up later.

 

[jojo@rolling acres farm]

I really feel bad for the little thing. I hope, if there's help you can find it. I don't know anything about this virus at all.
Good Luck...

 

[chickygirl2]

That is not the same thing as my 1 juvenile canada goose did. She held her head backwards all the time. I don't know what you have going on there. Hope someone with experience with this can help....

 

[banter]

Take him off of the wood chips-my guess is he's eating them.Use hay, straw (best) or shredded paper. Give him all the water he needs and also put him in the sink once or twice a day to swim in warm water so he can flush himself. Give him only green food (grass, dandies, dark green leaves of lettuce, spinach, chard etc),. and oatmeal raw, mixed with water and brewers yeast (electrolytes if he's dehydrated). Keep him inside if possible in a pen with a heating pad (in an old towel or rag) on low in one corner. Do not put him under a light bulb-he needs dark and rest at night, but keep him with a roommate so he's not lonely.

 

[banter]

Use pure water for him-no chlorine. Chop the greens in small pieces at first. yogurt mixed in is also good.

 

[adrian]

Thousands of people keep geese on wood chips. Seeing as the gosling is kept with many others and none of the others are afflicted, it surely is not due to the wood chips. I wouldn't say they are poisonous, enough to cause such severe neurological symptoms. It looks like a case of paramyxovirus if I've ever seen one. As I said, some birds do recover, and there is indeed a treatment, although the virus can permanently damage the brain. I would like to add that treatment is more a therapy than a cure. I believe recovery is a slow process. I would also worry about the other goslings – they are sharing water, so it seems likely that they may get it, if it is indeed this virus.

I have consulted old friends who are experts on PMV. I promise you, I will do everything in my power to find out what is wrong and what can be done.


- Adrian

 

[jessi]

I think we have to be careful about playing doctor here. It could probably be a number of things. I am wondering if there could be something small lodged in his airway. It could be a woodchip.

Geese should not be exposed to wood chips, or small sharp items of any kind (nails or glass in the dirt, etc.) They can swallow small foreign objects, and they can cut their feet on them and get bumblefoot.

Geese don't have lungs like we do. They have a hole right behind their tongue that leads down into air sacs. If something goes down that hole instead of going down the throat, it can kill them if you don't get it out.

I'm not saying the problem is not the virus you are all talking about, but in my own case, I have sometimes been sure I know what is wrong with an animals and it turns out to be something quite different once I get the animal to the vet. I wouldn't mess around with this. I'd call that bird vet and ask for his input, and I'd do so right away.

Tell them they can charge your credit card if they let you speak with him or his assistant for five minutes, and explain that you live out of state and can't come there with the animal. Dr. O is a very compassionate man, and I'm sure his office can give you some helpful direction. At least they could tell you whether or not it could be this virus you're thinking about, and if it is, what might treat it. Dr. O could possibly prescribe something and you could pick it up at your regular vet. He does that for me all the time, since he's a 2-hour drive from where I live.

Trying a drug that worked on pigeons for a problem we don't know if he has could hurt the baby and push him over the edge if it isn't the right thing for the sick gosling. Drugs kill as well as help and must be used judiciously. What works on chickens, pigeons, and geese are not necessarily the same.

 

[adrian]

Of course, you are right.
But in my experience, avian vets have made more mistakes than I can count. Most people don't take pigeons with PMV to a vet, as the diagnosis is clear. Those symptoms are not due to inhalation. That would involve rasping and wheezing, not twisting of the neck after drinking. Say what you will, but I am sure of that. Although I'm not sure about treatment, I wouldn't be so haphazard to suggest treatment intended for pigeons.

I was recently asked about whether the baby had a possible inner ear infection. It could cause this, but the fact that the symptoms are present only during eating and drinking is curious indeed.

I personally do not think a call with a vet, even if they are avian certified, is going to shed too much light on this. A vet has to take blood, test stool, take X-Rays, palpate parts of the bird, observe behaviour, and note weight among other things before making a diagnosis. If he doesn't see the bird himself, I don't know how helpful he can be.

 

[DiVon80]

Quote:
I have worked w vets and I agree w you. This does seem to me to be neurological also. Vets also do the guessing game. I also believe they(the geese) instinctly know what to eat. What type of food have you been feeding them? It could even be a birth defect just like special people. Keep us posted!