Gosling Eye Infection or Stye

[IronEagle]

Hello backyard chicken friends,

I have a gosling with an eye issue and I hope you can help me!

Deets:
-- 4 month old male Roman Tufted gosling. Normal weight and seemed normal until yesterday morning.
-- Yesterday morning when we let the animals out of the barn he was holding the left eye closed and he rarely opened it. I immediately knew something was wrong and investigated and found that his eye looked normal but the area around the eye, inside of the eyelid was red and swollen. Today I can see what looks to be a stye in the upper right side of the inner eyelid. Outer eye area looks very normal and there is no swollen area on the outside or bulging of the eye when closed.
-- He is the only bird in the barn that seems affected. He lives with a small flock of chickens (6 hens, 9 chicks and 1 rooster)
-- He has always had an area of his upper iris that was lighter than the rest but it never seemed to be a problem. I do not know if this issue is related or not.
-- He seems to have woken up this way. It does not look to be an injury.
-- He is eating, drinking and pooping normally but he does seem to nap a bit more than usual and he is tilting his head to avoid the eye being in the direct sun.
-- I ran out to the feed store yesterday and bought Vetrecyn Eye Gel and used it 3 times yesterday and already 2x today (bottle says 3x daily) And since I saw the little stye today I also held a warm compress to his eye for about 45 seconds this afternoon. But now I wonder if he needs an antibiotic to cure the stye?
-- I live in an extremely rural area and none of the nearby vets treat birds (and if you say it's a bird they will not sell you medicine) the way I get around it by saying I need XYZ for my dog or goat and they will sell it to me without a visit if I am confident enough. So if he needs a medicine not indicated for birds I have to say it's for a different animal otherwise they will tun me away. But going to an actual vet isn't really an option.
-- The barn has wood chips bedding on the floor and is fully enclosed. The geese sleep in a small hutch made for them on the ground and the chicken sleep in high perches on the other side of the room. I'm fairly certain nothing bad happened like an injury.

Here you can see the red area surrounding the eye and small white dot in upper right area. The whiteish half-moon shape in the upper center of his iris has been there since birth and not ever seemed to cause him problems.

Outside area of the eye looks normal.

His name is Kirk and he is the sweetest little gosling you've ever seen. I've had several geese before bet never had one that cuddled with me and liked to be scrtiched and held. Lucky for me he is easy to treat because he is easy to hold. I'm so worried about him and want to be sure I'm doing the right thing.

Thank you in advance for any help or advice, I really appreciate it. I'll be standing by if there are any questions.

 

[sourland]

Is there any possibility of getting an antibiotic eye ointment and using that. Does the vetrecyn Eye Gel have antibiotic properties ?

 

[getaclue]

Something to try, is an old pink-eye remedy. Wash your hands. Run some water, until it's tepid, not as warm as lukewarm. Put some water in a shallow bowl, or cup. Now stir the water with your clean finger, while slowly adding plain salt. When the salt no longer dissolves, and you feel a little bit on the bottom, stop adding salt. Now take a cotton ball, dunk it in the salty water, and gently rub the cotton ball over the eye, while gently squeezing the cotton ball. Dip the cotton ball, and repeat this a few times. The salt water, will get into the eye, so there is no need of trying to keep the eye open. Do this 3 times a day. Whether it's debris, pink-eye, or some other mild eye infection, the salt water will clear it up.

 

[getaclue]

That works for people too.

 

[IronEagle]

Is there any possibility of getting an antibiotic eye ointment and using that. Does the vetrecyn Eye Gel have antibiotic properties ?

From what I understand the Vetercyn is a "natural" type product and not antibiotic. Can I use an antibiotic eye ointment for humans or I need to get one that is specifically for birds?

 

[IronEagle]

Something to try, is an old pink-eye remedy. Wash your hands. Run some water, until it's tepid, not as warm as lukewarm. Put some water in a shallow bowl, or cup. Now stir the water with your clean finger, while slowly adding plain salt. When the salt no longer dissolves, and you feel a little bit on the bottom, stop adding salt. Now take a cotton ball, dunk it in the salty water, and gently rub the cotton ball over the eye, while gently squeezing the cotton ball. Dip the cotton ball, and repeat this a few times. The salt water, will get into the eye, so there is no need of trying to keep the eye open. Do this 3 times a day. Whether it's debris, pink-eye, or some other mild eye infection, the salt water will clear it up.

This sounds great! I will do this 3x a day starting now. I just went out and it looks as though the stye white pustule is gone - maybe popped from the warm compress I did earlier? In any case I'll start the salt water washes. Thank you so much for your reply!

 

[IronEagle]

Hi backyard chicken friends,
I wanted to post an update about my little buddy Kirk. For three days I cleaned his eye, used a warm compress, salt water 1x per day and the Vetrecyn eye gel 2x a day and while the redness around the eye seemed like it had improved his actual eye seemed to be getting a little cloudy and he still kept it closed most of the time and almost seemed to be blind on that side. I was getting worried that it was something more serious and he could lose his sight.

I called around to the vets in the nearest town (about 30 minutes away) and found a vet who usually treats large farm animals but was willing to see Kirk on Friday. And for only $65! I was so anxious but my husband took him in and I am so glad we did. Vet was amazing - he had never treated a goose but had done a bunch of research beforehand and was so gentle and confident. He said it 95% likely was an impact bruise to the area just above his eye (where I thought I saw a stye was actually the bump of swelling). While the things we had been doing helped the external inflammation there was bleeding inside the eye from a little infection that will need antibiotics. The fantastic news is that he was able to use a dye to tell that he had blood pooling in the eye but his vision is intact. The bruising is causing poor vision that will correct as it heals. He gave us a tube of Teramycin ointment to apply 2x per day for 7 days. After 2 treatments he's actually acting much more normal and spunky. I am so grateful that he'll recover!

The vet said he's happy for a new client and he's happy to treat any of our animals if we need it. Kirk was a trooper through the entire ordeal. Almost non-goose like. He never hissed or honked and let all of the vet techs pet him. They'd never had a goose in so it was quite the novelty. He even fell asleep in the carrier by putting his beak through the grate.

Wanted to leave an update for future searchers and say thank you to @getaclue and @sourland for the advice!

 

[getaclue]

Thank you for the update. I'm so glad you found a good vet, that will treat your animals for a reasonable price. I'm glad too, that he was able to determine the cause, and be able to provide a good treatment. Again, thank you for the update.