Gosling leg problem; please help

[Nathan2002nm]

Hello
I currently have a 2 month old gosling who appears to have something wrong with her right leg only. She is able to briefly stand, but unable to walk more than maybe a step. She seems to not put any weight on her right leg, and everytime she sits, she extend this leg straight out (see photo). She is eating and drinking as normal, but not mobile. She and the other goslings are currently eating waterfowl crumbles (bag advertises sufficient niacin and 22% protein). The geese graze for most of the day, and are supplemented with feed.

One night this gosling was fine when put up (waking and grazing and normal) and the next morning when I went to turn them out, she was unable to walk. I have checked for bumble foot and that doesn’t seem to be the issue. Any advice would be appreciated, as I don’t have an avian vet anywhere near me. I was wondering if this could be sprain or something like that?

I am hoping for the best but understand that this is not a quality life for a goose.

 

[Nathan2002nm]

 

[Goosebaby]

View attachment 3171154

Is that something stuck to her foot? If that isn’t something stuck to it that could be bumblefoot on the toe and heal.

If not she could have a sprain or break, without imaging done it’s impossible to say where or how it will heal.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Looks like a little white Chinese gosling, right? She's adorable.

Those black scabs on the bottom of her foot do, as @Goosebaby already suggested, look like possible bumblefoot. How did you rule it out? That kind of injury and infection would be painful and explain her reluctance to bear weight on that foot.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Just because the feed says it has a good amount of niacin doesn't mean one still can't get a niacin deficiency it happens quite often. I'd get liquid B complex and start the gosling on it. Sure wouldn't hurt to try it for a couple of weeks and see if it makes a difference.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/niacin-deficiency-in-waterfowl.1367557/
Can you get a better pic of the foot what is that on it?

 

[JrJrMynt]

I see that I'm a bit late to this thread. Has your little one's issue already been resolved? I had something similar happen recently... went the niacin deficiency route, but upon more careful examination, turned out to be a slipped tendon. I didn't notice the tendons out of place with the leg straight, I only could see it with the leg bent.

I've got it braced up and my little goose is walking again. Still limping a bit, but walking nonetheless. (Hooray!)

If you think this might be your issue, I am getting some pics together of the "knee brace" we made. Or if you could post another pic of the knee bent, I could tell you if that looked the same as mine?

Hope your little friend gets better!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I see that I'm a bit late to this thread. Has your little one's issue already been resolved? I had something similar happen recently... went the niacin deficiency route, but upon more careful examination, turned out to be a slipped tendon. I didn't notice the tendons out of place with the leg straight, I only could see it with the leg bent.

I've got it braced up and my little goose is walking again. Still limping a bit, but walking nonetheless. (Hooray!)

If you think this might be your issue, I am getting some pics together of the "knee brace" we made. Or if you could post another pic of the knee bent, I could tell you if that looked the same as mine?

Hope your little friend gets better!

please post pictures of the brace were always looking for members who have had good results.

 

[JrJrMynt]

OK! So here's the magic "Glow Stick Knee Brace"! The gosling is still healing, but I'm seeing results... I'll post updates.

I tried hard casting the entire leg, but thought it was pretty heavy and worried that it may dislocate the hip- or something worse...? Then I thought back to my own knee injury and with a brilliant suggestion from my 8yr old daughter, came up with this contraption!

We hard casted above and below the joint to keep tendons & ligaments in place without constricting blood flow and added a connecting strip of vet-wrap between the casts to keep them in place (like elastic). Then we cracked a >>super cool<< green glow stick (my daughter's idea) and paper taped it to the casts to keep it in place. The first strip of Vet-wrap is applied to the upper cast, keeping the glow stick ends in place. That way I can check on things without having to redo anything. The second strip of vet-wrap is applied from the ankle up, keeping gentile pressure on the back of the knee.

For about the first 24 hours, the gosling was doing a lot of hanging out with its leg behind it... like so:

...but it could successfully stand without the knee buckling (super exciting) and even take a few uncoordinated steps (even more exciting).

It took over 48hrs until it could get its leg under it by itself in a normal sleeping position, or to be able to push itself up:

... now it's cruising around pretty well. Still limping, but it seems to be working. Better than not walking at all!

As usual, i got caught up in trying to find a fix and have no 'before' pictures, so here's my best depiction of the injury and another angle of the unwrapped "knee brace":

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank you so much I am bookmarking this for future reference. What a great job and your 8yr old assistant is awesome too.

 

[ruthhope]

Thank you so much I am bookmarking this for future reference. What a great job and your 8yr old assistant is awesome too.

@JrJrMynt

I'm book marking it too.

Quick question: what did you use for the hard casting and where did you get it?

Do post follow up photos\videos so we can see the outcomes!