My African geese (2 ganders) are sick what do I need?

[fowlmama]

Utah,
I live in south eastern Kansas, in a suburb of Wichita called Andover. It's early spring here, temps are EXTREMELY unpredictable right now. 80 one day 45 the next! Our summers are hot, and humid and we experience a lot of drought. I have been irregular with worming. I certainly do not want to have a worm problem....it can be so hard to get rid of them completely. Any thoughts or suggestions for me? Should I worm starting now until it freezes next winter? Or in this climate do it year round? Having been a vet tech I know what I "should" be doing according to vet medicine.....I don't like medicating if it's not needed....would love to know your thoughts and opinion.

Thanks so much!

 

[Starfire669]

If your willing to experiment, we can try to treat him ourself.

 

[Starfire669]

The first and hardest thing will be to keep his head dry. Damp dark places are breeding grounds for both fungal and bacterial infections. Do you have betadine solution? It's a really good disinfectant that hospitals use when they prep for surgery. Clean his head with that, making sure to get none in his eyes or mouth. You can test treat a lesion with antifungal cream, like for athletes foot, to see if it helps. Make sure the spot you choose is also not near his eye or mouth. Clean with betadine first, put cream on after a few times a day. After a couple days see if the lesion has improved.

It looks like he has pus filled boils on his face, does he?

 

[Harry Rooster]

My husband said that Henry was laying on his side this morning in the yard and he got him up and took him to the pond where he seem ok right now and has been just swimming in there for a while. Husband says he knows a vet that does farm animals that close to us that may help us since husband has done work for him before and knows him. He is trying to contact him, but he isn't home right now and does not answer, so we left a message with both our phone numbers. If that fails, the only other option is for me to try whatever I can to help them. At this point I am game for just about anything. I have never given a shot before or anything with a needle, and am terrified of it myself, what are your suggestions if the last vet guy doesn't work?

 

[Starfire669]

If he has pus filled boils on his face, you could get a small sterile needle to lance and drain it. You will need gloves and a helper. One good poke, then massage the pus out, clean and disinfect with peroxide and betadine, keep the would clean and check often to see if more pus comes back. This will be very stressful for both you and your gander, be very careful how you restrain him and lance the boil, you don't want to make more than a small hole to drain as much infection out as you can, draining will reduce the strain on his immune system, but if he is very weak from the infection you can lose him to stress from the procedure.

Also, keep him warm, and keep giving him the antibiotics now that you started. If you take him off now and he has bacterial infection the bacteria will become resistant to that antibiotic and that's how super bugs start.

 

[fowlmama]

Harry-
How discouraging....my heart aches for you, and for your precious ganders....oh my....
I hope you and starfire can put your heads together and figure something out!
I'm going to keep my mouth shut with regards to the "government" and the the vets equip not working for geese.....poop is poop, worms are worms, coccidia is coccidia.....not gettin( on a soap box......the main concern and focus is your precious boys! I'm praying for them and you!

 

[Harry Rooster]

I don't know what they are. Iain said that her professional geese vet says that they may be fat cells and that a diet of no grain and only greens for a while would clear that up, if in fact that is what it is. Said that those fat cell things can look pretty bad sometimes like that, and because of his age and his regular diet of cracked corn and his weight that it could very possibly be that. That would be wonderful if that was the case, but the eye infection I don't know. Don't know if the fat cells could be causing that also. There would be no way to keep his head dry and keep the medicine on it because he has to drink water and also has to drink when he eats too. To do that he would have to be put up somewhere without food and water. I do have Betadine though. When I treated my hens attack wounds, I cleaned it with watered down betadine everyday. Henry though (the youngest) has no outward signs of anything being wrong with him, just lethargic, sleeping a lot, walking slowly, ruffled neck feathers. I'm thinking viral infection of some kind or worms although he has no sneezing no runny nose, no signs other than the ones I've listed. He is actually the one that's acting most sick. Scarface shakes his head a lot because of his eye and those knots, I think. It bothers him, but other than that he is acting fine as far as eating and activity, running around as usual and talking a lot, but not Henry.

 

[Starfire669]

Harry-
How discouraging....my heart aches for you, and for your precious ganders....oh my....
I hope you and starfire can put your heads together and figure something out!
I'm going to keep my mouth shut with regards to the "government" and the the vets equip not working for geese.....poop is poop, worms are worms, coccidia is coccidia.....not gettin( on a soap box......the main concern and focus is your precious boys! I'm praying for them and you!

Yeah, it's a load of crap. I took microbiology, fungal mycology, and immunology and it is the same dang test for all animals and people. Look under a microscope, run a few tests on agar and bam, diagnosed! And fungi are very dangerous and most doctors and vets have no clue the signs and symptoms of fungal infection!

 

[Iain Utah]

Scrub face with betadine, then apply Neopolybag.

 

[Iain Utah]

If he has pus filled boils on his face, you could get a small sterile needle to lance and drain it. You will need gloves and a helper. One good poke, then massage the pus out, clean and disinfect with peroxide and betadine, keep the would clean and check often to see if more pus comes back. This will be very stressful for both you and your gander, be very careful how you restrain him and lance the boil, you don't want to make more than a small hole to drain as much infection out as you can, draining will reduce the strain on his immune system, but if he is very weak from the infection you can lose him to stress from the procedure.

Also, keep him warm, and keep giving him the antibiotics now that you started. If you take him off now and he has bacterial infection the bacteria will become resistant to that antibiotic and that's how super bugs start.

EXCELLENT advice!