Help me help my friend's goose! Doesn't look well and has a hard time walking

[lina500]

A friend of mine has two Chinese geese that are about a year old. We went over to see them because his geese are from the same family as our geese, so we think they are cousins. I think his are both boys. One of them doesn't look well. He has a dirty vent, mussed up feathers and is very thin compared to ours. He also has a very hard time walking and falls down onto his "knees" a lot. His joints look swollen and they said he has been like this for a while. It almost looked like arthritis.They love their geese very much have called the vet several times but there aren't any vets here with goose experience.

Sorry these photos aren't great, he was scared of me! If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

 

[Miss Lydia]

A friend of mine has two Chinese geese that are about a year old. We went over to see them because his geese are from the same family as our geese, so we think they are cousins. I think his are both boys. One of them doesn't look well. He has a dirty vent, mussed up feathers and is very thin compared to ours. He also has a very hard time walking and falls down onto his "knees" a lot. His joints look swollen and they said he has been like this for a while. It almost looked like arthritis.They love their geese very much have called the vet several times but there aren't any vets here with goose experience.

Sorry these photos aren't great, he was scared of me! If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Could be a vitamin dif or a toxin do you know what they are feeding or if they have things laying around the goose may have nibble on and swallowed. Hardware disease. is another. Swollen joints sounds like maybe a vitamin or mineral issue. Poor thing way to young to have arthritis I would think. Look in the goose sticky there is a link to treating for toxins. Maybe a good super B complex vitamin [human grade] mixed into water or feed may help but if the gander has been this way for a while it could be too late, But dif worth trying.

 

[lina500]

Thanks, @Miss Lydia (as always!) He's got them eating feed from the feed store (designed for chickens) but they do give them supplemental vitamin water. They don't feed them any fresh veg or anything like that ever, and the guys don't have anywhere to bathe. It's entirely possible the gander could have eaten something strange. Our garden is FILLED with beer pull tabs and stuff like that from the previous tenant, and no matter how often I think I've gotten them all up, I find my goose trying to eat one. So I'm sure his garden is the same.

Poor little guy. He is so skinny compared to our big lugs (pictured below), who are actually a few months younger and from the same family.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks, @Miss Lydia (as always!) He's got them eating feed from the feed store (designed for chickens) but they do give them supplemental vitamin water. They don't feed them any fresh veg or anything like that ever, and the guys don't have anywhere to bathe. It's entirely possible the gander could have eaten something strange. Our garden is FILLED with beer pull tabs and stuff like that from the previous tenant, and no matter how often I think I've gotten them all up, I find my goose trying to eat one. So I'm sure his garden is the same.

Poor little guy. He is so skinny compared to our big lugs (pictured below), who are actually a few months younger and from the same family.

Big difference for sure. Can you educate on toxins whether from eating something like plant or animal to metal or even plastic. and how important greens are in their diet plus bathing water. Your geese have grown into a beautiful pair . If they treat they maybe able to help even if not a toxin if they go right by the directions on the link it won't hurt to try it. Could be gout also. that causes swelling in the joints. of course all of it is just a guess. I just hate for it to die with out at least trying to help.

 

[Miss Lydia]

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/232/gout

you might read through this and see if you find anything that maybe lead to to know whats wrong and what to do.

https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/chicken-fungal-infections

What about parasites? living in a hot humid climate I'd think that could be a problem. and the link on fungal infections I just gave you from Poultry pedia. .

 

[lina500]

Thank you. I will read through this. I think the vet put him on antibiotics several times, so it's probably not a parasite. I think your guess of some sort of poisoning from eating something or hardware disease is probable. I am going to encourage them to get a bath and feed them greens, etc. They really like their geese but it made me very aware of how spoiled mine are by local standards!

Now I'm off to deal with the four ducklings I just accidentally bought....

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank you. I will read through this. I think the vet put him on antibiotics several times, so it's probably not a parasite. I think your guess of some sort of poisoning from eating something or hardware disease is probable. I am going to encourage them to get a bath and feed them greens, etc. They really like their geese but it made me very aware of how spoiled mine are by local standards!

Now I'm off to deal with the four ducklings I just accidentally bought....

Pics??

 

[lina500]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...he-back-of-a-bike-any-idea-what-type-they-are

Tell me what you think they are going to look like!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Any update on your friends goose?

 

[lina500]

My friends have gotten the geese a kiddie pool and are feeding them fresh vegetables. My hunch is that your suspicion of hardware disease or something similar is probably correct. They have already tried antibiotics and have had the only qualified vet in our town out several times, so I don't think there's much more they can do at this point other than try and improve his quality of life. They said that the geese are afraid of the pool, though, and won't go in it!