Unwell Gander

SarahSmalls

Chirping
Nov 7, 2017
13
8
50
I have a 9 month old gander that has recently been very ill. He stopped eating his food and looked extremely lethargic. I hand fed him Gatorade and dried worms (his favourite treat), and used wazine 17 dewormer on him, his last goose friend and all of our chickens. He seems to be getting better, he has been eating his goose pellets and I added electrolytes to his water. He was making a slightly wheezy noise last week and that seems to have subsided. However he is still looking a bit messy, and hasn’t been cleaning himself properly. I’ve attached a picture where he looks a little dishevelled. He also seems to be biting at his chest feathers a lot. Is this a classic worms symptom? Any ideas on what’s wrong with him would be great!!!
 

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It seems that you're doing everything you can to help him! The wheezing might have been a respiratory issue, does he have deep enough water to dunk his entire head into? Your gander may be molting, and that's why he's preening at his chest feathers, since he's about the age that he's an adult. Or, he may be suffering from mites or lice, and that causes him to itch. It would be best to potentially check underneath his feathers for any signs of them. I hope this helped!
 
Thank you for replying! They do have a pond, So I think if respiratory it would be lower rather than upper, hopefully not though. When he wasn’t feeling well (and still rummaging around his chest area a bit) I got a good look under his feathers and couldn’t see any notes etc, the skin looked fine and not red, which is what made me think it was perhaps itchy or annoying inside? I didn’t know when geese moult, so it could be that! It has got cooler recently. Maybe I should collect some excrement from the goose and inspect it, if it was wormy I might find evidence?
 
Perhaps so, you might be able to find any number of issues with how that turns out. If it's runny, oddly coloured, and things such as that. Geese aren't prone to disease, but they can get one, so it's best to be careful and check every which way. Be sure he isn't losing weight, or having other symptoms, as well. I'd hate for him to be sick.
 

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