PLEASE HELP! My PET GANDER appears to have worms and I have NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE...

[spcmoken]

Hello, my gander is about 3.5 years old. He's my big spoiled goof. His name is Pretty Bird. He is a gorgeous Canada x swan goose hybrid. Yesterday he made some funny noises for a moment and chocked on his food for a second .. no big deal, as he was fine within less then 5 min. Today, same this, but NO FOOD... just grazing outside. This time he was gaping, gasping and making high pitched squeeks. I send some breeders a short clip asking how I could help him if he's choking and they said it looked like worms... He hasn't really stopped for the past hour. So I ran to the feed store right before they closed and all they had was "POULTRY DEWORMER 5X". Main ingredient : *"FENBENDAZOLE"*
IS THIS SAFE?! ANYONE USE THIS FOR GEESE BEFORE??
I HAVE NEVER WORMED HIM BEFORE...
ANYONE KNOW THE DOSING?! I BEEN RESEARCHING FOR 45 MIN AND CANT FIND DOSING...
I'm trying to find a way to attach a video of him . Thank you! Please help ....

 

[casportpony]

I meant return the dewormer and exchange it for one of the ones I mentioned above.

 

[casportpony]

I'm assuming you think he has gapeworms. The minimum gapeworm dose is 14 mg per pound of bodyweight for five consecutive days.

 

[casportpony]

Do you know the dosage? For fenbendazole? For a goose?

Yes, it's the same dose for all poultry, it's 14 mg per pound of bodyweight for five consecutive days. Does your feed store have Safeguard for Goats? Safeguard paste for horses? Panacur paste for horses? If so, get that and give 0.14 ml per pound of bodyweight orally for five consecutive days.

 

[spcmoken]

What do his droppings look like?

I’m guessing they’re runny, which is normal if he’s been in hot weather, but have you noticed any foamy droppings, bloody red or black in them, or what looks like stringy red or orange bits?
Sometimes intestinal worms or an intestinal infection can cause gas or internal inflammation that can also press on the lower airsacks and cause coughing.

I checked his stool this evening, when I brought him in to dose him a low dose for tonight. But let him go back out to his crying baby's. His stool is small.. but firm. No black, no red, and no visible worms. Very dark green with obvious digested grass. I'll take a picture of it tomorrow. I did add a link to a video I added to my gooses YouTube channel of his breathing. It's a short clip that is not including all of it.. but it could give you a idea. He also kept making very high pitched squeeks with big gasps for air. This evening, he laid down and wouldn't get up .. struggling to keep his eyes open .. but not like he was falling asleep... I decided to dose him a partial dose tonight because I wasn't 100% Sure on the dose, as my stupid weight scale is broken!
Y'all must think Im a complete mess...
(I'll be asking the neighbor to borrow hers tomorrow. )

 

[Kiki]

Ok so I found out that Ivermectin works faster then some other dewormers and only requires a few drops per dose. Could any of you lmk if you know anything about ivermectin, if I should use the 1% or 5% and if I should be getting the injectable or the pour on for oral dosing?! A picture would be most helpful! A friend who dearly cares for pretty bird, has offered to send me the dewormer he needs, which left me a grateful mess. But I need to know which one is the ivermectin everyone is talking about .. please?

Ivermectin used to be good for roundworm only. It is no longer even good for them.


It is extremely unlikely that your bird is suffering from gapeworms. It is much more likely that is suffering from a respiratory disease.


I have not read through the entire thread I just accidentally clicked on the thread and noticed this post that I'm responding to now.

 

[spcmoken]

How is he doing?

Since he has been inside, he has greatly improved. I put him on antibiotics as well as the dewormer. He's done with the dewormer and at the end of the antibiotic treatment. He has no longer shown ANY signs of lethargy and his breathing has greatly improved. I let him see his flock last night, so he could take a bath. He no longer pants unless he gets overly excited or stressed. It reminds me of when we had a nasty upper respiratory or pneumonia and even tho we got over it, we still seem to experience some shortness of breath for a while longer. Other then that he has back to being his spoiled butthead self! THANK YOU ALL FOR HELPING, ADVISING AND BEING PATIENT WITH MY PANICKED SELF! if your curious on videos about how he is doing, You can catch his updates on his YOUTUBE : PRETTY BIRD THE PET GOOSE
THANK YOU ALL AGAIN! IM STILL OPEN TO ADDITIONAL ADVICE, AS I DO PLAN TO KEEP HIM INDOORS WHILE HE FINISHES RECOVERING. I HAVE CONSIDERED PUTTING HIM ON VET-RX FOR THE REMAINING TIME! THANK YOU

 

[spcmoken]

I meant return the dewormer and exchange it for one of the ones I mentioned above.

Oh lol sorry .
My brain isn't working. It's a tiny town in TX, I will call them tomorrow to see but from what they told me, this was the only one they had. It's a little bitty bitty feed store with a few extra items in the country in TX. LOL one member did mention some other items I may be able to use, that are branded for other animals, but are ok for geese. I will call tomorrow to see if they carry any of those. Thank you for the idea.

 

[spcmoken]

Do any of you think I should be taking him out of the heat during the day? I'm in TX .. 100-110 with humidity around 30-40% .. no end in sight. It cooled off a little tonight (low 80s ) but it'll heat back up.. no break, no storms or rain in sight... If he has gapeworms, is the heat and humidity bad? One person said it likely is... So I just want to check. My birds are acclimated to the current climate, so I don't want to break that unless I have to.. he is also VERY attached to his "adopted goslings" (about 10 weeks old lol) and I don't want to stress him out.

 

[Goosebaby]

Do any of you think I should be taking him out of the heat during the day? I'm in TX .. 100-110 with humidity around 30-40% .. no end in sight. It cooled off a little tonight (low 80s ) but it'll heat back up.. no break, no storms or rain in sight... If he has gapeworms, is the heat and humidity bad? One person said it likely is... So I just want to check. My birds are acclimated to the current climate, so I don't want to break that unless I have to.. he is also VERY attached to his "adopted goslings" (about 10 weeks old lol) and I don't want to stress him out.

I would take him out of the heat.
Coughing like you described can be caused by worms, so I would worm him as a precaution, but the coughing can be caused by other issues including bacteria, viruses, fungal, or even the heat.
Sometimes intense heat can stress a bird and cause inflammation in the air sacks “airsacculitis.”
Airsacculitis is a term for inflammation of the air sacks, which it can be caused by any of the other things I mentioned too. Sometimes it can be caused by a nasty little bug called mycoplasma, which will bring this on any time the bird is stressed from excessive heat or cold, or even just stressful situations.

I’ve used fenbendazole on my geese, it’s what’s in safeguard and panacur, Casportpony knows the dosages better than I do.

What brand of wormer was it that you got from the feed store? It might help to get the proper dosage of we know the brand and percentage of fenbendazole it has. A picture of it will do just as good.