Help needed: gander seems sick, with severe gaping

[GEESES Peanut Butter Cup]

Something that you can check is to feel his lower abdomen, other than his hips it should feel soft and mostly squishy, if you feel a hard mass it could either be a tumor or it could easily be an inflamed intestine. If you don’t feel it it doesn’t mean that there isn’t an intestinal issue, but if you do something’s definitly going on there.

I don't seem to feel something hard in his lower and upper abdomen, but I'll keep an watch in case something gets worse.

 

[GEESES Peanut Butter Cup]

Baytril, amoxicillin, Tylosin, and other’s can also be purchased online if it’s marketed for fish or pigeons. It’s the same stuff sold for humans though.
That’s another option to consider. If you need help with dosing Casportpony here has a lot of knowledge with proper dosing, just send her a message and she can help.

Here’s where I’ve gottwn my baytril https://birdpalproducts.com/products/enrofloxacin-10-liquid-for-birds?_pos=1&_sid=c59aaefdc&_ss=r

Thanks for the info. If needed, I'll get the medicine and try to use dosage based on Casportpony's advice (if I can get to her) or The "Ultimate Pet Goose Guidebook" (https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Pet...x=the+ultimate+pet+goose+guide,aps,135&sr=8-1) (this book also has a full-color version).

 

[Goosebaby]

I'm not sure if I should take him to another avian vet who typically sees parrots or chickens before Aug. 15 as all the vets nearby who I know see birds takes at least approx. half an hour drive to get to, which can be stressful for the bird. Do you have similar experiences?

If he’s improving then just sit and see how it goes, I wouldn’t stress him more than is needed.

Driving or anything they’re aren’t used too is really stressful for them unfortunatly. Usually I transport mine in dog travel crates, I’ll bring in whoever happens to be sick along with one other who’s the calmest that they get along with best to try to relax them.
For Roxby though, the first time he got sick he had lost control of his legs, The vet and I never found out the reason why but in hind site his symptoms then seem to fit with botulism. I couldn’t get an appointment for awhile then and he was in bad shape by the time the vet was able to see him. He rode to the vet on my lap wrapped up in a blanket. He didn’t have a lot of fight in him and he wasn’t able to move his legs at that time but holding him helped him relax. It was a 3 hour drive to the vet, and then another 3 home, it was really hard on him and by the time he was back home his tongue had turned blue. The only reason he survived that night was because I had two boost oxygen canisters that I gave him through the night. There are a few vets that are closer to me that do see birds, but I’ve had really bad expieriences with them, they just aren’t an option. The only competent avian vet is the one I took Roxby to, but unfortunately she’s in high demand because of it and is a long ways away.

What I have learned from taking birds to the vet is a good vet is one that listens and is kind, but doesn’t sugar coat anything, it’s better to be honest then try to sell someone a fantasy, and a good vet is also one that will tell you if they aren’t expierienced with geese or birds. I’d rather have someone tell me they’ve never treated a goose but are willing to listen and try rather than someone who pretends to know what they’re doing, those are the worst but sadly they’re hard to spot.

Let us know how your gander is doing! We’re routing for him!

 

[GEESES Peanut Butter Cup]

His condition seems improved. He has been eating grass seeds so far and has started eating lettuce. We suspect mold infection, so we don't let him go into the house (where he lived) for now but instead, accompany him outdoors at night. He hasn't eaten his favorite feed. (We don't know if it's because he's still not comfortable enough to eat it or if it's because he prefers eating feed indoors.) His feces haven't gotten back to normal yet, but as he has finally eaten things, they look better now.

Will keep watching and take him to the avian vet on Aug 15.
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Thanks to Goosebaby for sharing knowledge and experience - your experience with long drive to vets and bad vet detection are really helpful.

 

[GEESES Peanut Butter Cup]

The gander was eating normally until yesterday (Aug. 4). Yesterday, he ate much less than normal (sudden loss of appetite) and had severe head-and-neck-forward gaping multiple times.

Today (Aug. 5), he hasn't eaten much, either, and still has gaping. I gave him water mixed with Sav-a-Chick vitamin supplements (he has drunk only a little so far) and normal water.

He still drinks water and floats in the swimming pool. He still preens, but most of his preening spot is his breast (?)'s line.

He had been having constant open mouth for at least one week. We though it might be due to the heat wave recently. However, the temperature yesterday wasn't too bad.

We suspect it to be mold infection (the mold grew quickly during the heat wave).


The next available time of the vet we went to will be Aug. 15. What can I do for the gander before the day?

I live in the Portland, Oregon area in the United States, and the vet clinic we go to is The Avian Medical Center in Lake Oswego, Oregon (http://www.theavianmedicalcenter.com/). Is there other places I can take him to see a vet?

Updates:
His normal poop is dry (relatively dry compared to fully liquid), but since yesterday (Aug. 4), the sound of his pooping is as if a human is having a diarrhea. His most recent poop has only liquid.

The bedding are carpets that are washed and sun dried daily or bi-daily.

Updates 2:
He's happy when he sees his feed and lettuce, and he sometimes tries to take a bite but then give up.

Took him to Dove Lewis Emergency Hospital in Portland, Oregon on Aug. 5 night and stayed there until Aug. 6 morning. Their specialties are dogs and cats, not birds. They gave him oxygen. For now, they gave him Doxycycline (antibiotics) and Meloxicam (for anti-inflammatory). It has been approx. 3 hours since the medicine was administered, but he still hasn't eaten anything.

When in the emergency hospital, he rubbed the oil from his oil gland over his body.

When he gapes, he would shake his head.
He has been eating little for 2 days.

Updates 3:
More hours after the medicine was administered (Aug. 6), he started eating the grass seeds he regularly ate. He has eaten grass seed meals a few times and has green non-fully-liquid poop 12 hours after the medicine.

We gave him another Doxycycline pill as prescribed 12 hours. He ate another grass seed meal. We'll get some lemons later to have a few drops in his drinking water later (thanks to Goosebaby).

I checked his preening part as mentioned by Goosebaby. There's no external injury visible, but I can't be sure if there's something internal.

I don't seem to feel something hard in his lower and upper abdomen, but I'll keep a watch in case something gets worse.

More info on the gander:
He's 3 years old.

He's on Mazuri Maintenance Diet (https://mazuri.com/products/mazuri-waterfowl-maintenance-diets?variant=41118076207300). We almost always grind the pellets to make it almost as small as powder. We also give him Top Choice Economy Pasture Mix seeds (https://www.farmstore.com/product/top-choice-economy-pasture-mix-25-lb/) in case he wants some.

Aug 9th update

We didn't give him anti-inflammation medicine last night (but still gave him the antibiotics) due to stress concern and concern about hurting him while using the syringe given difficulty to hold his head, and not giving the anti-inflammation probably affects him. He's eating less than yesterday.

His feces Aug 9th night:

Another concern is the area around his breast:

A video of him breathing and shaking head:

I don't know if any of the photos/video helps, but I still worry about him.

He also spit out some food he ate when he spit out the pill while we tried to get him to swallow the pill (more details on this post: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/giving-goose-medication-concern.1542637/#post-26037218 )

 

[GEESES Peanut Butter Cup]

The vet at the Avian Medical Center told us the issue is mold infection and dust. The dust irritated the gander's respiratory system, and that also made the mold to get him more easily.

The vet prescribed 1 week of sporonox capsules, 1 per day, for treating the infection. The vet also suggests us stop grinding the feed into powder as that can cause the dust issue (crumbles are OK, though).

As the gander eats treats now, and according to the vet, we can open the sporonox capsules to spread the medicine pieces onto the treats, we're doing so with watermelons and can get the gander to take his medicine.

We're still clearing indoor dust.