*Update* on starved gosling, lost toenails

[gosling21]

I posted here 8 days ago. This gosling 4 months old (took photo today) malnourished am trying to resque after he was found almost dead.
He/She gained 50% of previous weight and now has a huge appetite. Went from 300grams to 450grams.
Diet -> Live mealworms and waxworms, chick starter, brewers yeast, fresh greens like lettuce peas and salads.

Improvement:
He became very active, he does a lot of splashing and self grooming now too, his infected eye is regaining sight and healing.

Worsening?:
His paws with yesterday and today lost some toenails, cage has no blood at all, his bedding is soft Aspen Shavings. Am very confused also his paws are more stiff and the skin between seems...shrunk? Even if he has place to enter for water with feet and I give him bath.
Only info I read is to trim nails. I cut with dog clippers only tiny tiny tip of remaining toenail and it bled just a tiny bit so I stopped ( on photo there is tiny drop of blood.)

What does it mean and should I do something else for paws?

 

[Goosebaby]

I’m not 100% sure but it looks like he has some sort of growth disorder with the feet but also the legs, it could be genetic but it’s also a sign of malnutrition.
You’ve been doing everything right but I strongly suggest getting him on a flock raiser and not chick start. Chick start doesn’t have enough vitamins like niacin, thiamin and the other Bs as well as E and A.
Im not sure where you are but if you have a tractor supply nearby some good options you can usually find there is purina flock raiser or manna pro duckling and gosling starter.

 

[Goosebaby]

Also if you can find liquid B complex and a liquid multi vitamin like Rooster booster poultry cell or poultry nutri-drench that would also be beneficial to give him/her an instant vitamin boost.

Also nutritional yeast can be sprinkled over his food as a great source of B vitamins, nutritional yeast, not brewers yeast. Brewers yeast is okay, but it’s not as good as nutritional yeast.

The gosling may always be a special needs goose because there’s isn’t going to be a complete recovery from the malformation of the bones that’s already occurred but the vitamins and proper diet will help prevent it from worsening, assuming this is purely a nutritional problem and not genetics, but it does look like rickets.

 

[gosling21]

Also if you can find liquid B complex and a liquid multi vitamin like Rooster booster poultry cell or poultry nutri-drench that would also be beneficial to give him/her an instant vitamin boost.

Also nutritional yeast can be sprinkled over his food as a great source of B vitamins, nutritional yeast, not brewers yeast. Brewers yeast is okay, but it’s not as good as nutritional yeast.

The gosling may always be a special needs goose because there’s isn’t going to be a complete recovery from the malformation of the bones that’s already occurred but the vitamins and proper diet will help prevent it from worsening, assuming this is purely a nutritional problem and not genetics, but it does look like rickets.

He started having weird paws honestly from staying in my home. I wonder is it because he doesn't have long walks or just malnutrition kicking in harder? But I took a look on amazon for something.

"Vitamin ADEC is used for vitamin addition with ADEC vitamins for chickens and pigeons. Stimulates growth, laying performance and increases shedding speed. If animals are exposed to exceptional loads (stressors), an additional administration of vitamin ADEC is highly recommended and therefore an ideal supplement!"

or

These say also to have probiotics but are a dust. I live in Italy, so I try to find what I can on amazon with reasonable shipping time

 

[Goosebaby]

He started having weird paws honestly from staying in my home. I wonder is it because he doesn't have long walks or just malnutrition kicking in harder? But I took a look on amazon for something.

View attachment 3647435
"Vitamin ADEC is used for vitamin addition with ADEC vitamins for chickens and pigeons. Stimulates growth, laying performance and increases shedding speed. If animals are exposed to exceptional loads (stressors), an additional administration of vitamin ADEC is highly recommended and therefore an ideal supplement!"

or
View attachment 3647439

These say also to have probiotics but are a dust. I live in Italy, so I try to find what I can on amazon with reasonable shipping time

Let me reach out to some of the folks on insta I know about equivalent feed available in the EU.

 

[Goosebaby]

I got some answers but they’re not what I hoped. One owner from Italy said that they’re grow and mix their own grains for their flock, the other from Tuscany said that they buy local mixes supplied from farms in the area, so you’re going to have to mix your own feed like you’ve been doing.

the chick start is a decent base to use, you’ll just need to supplement like you’ve been doing with the meal worms and treats, and the yeast.

 

[gosling21]

I got some answers but they’re not what I hoped. One owner from Italy said that they’re grow and mix their own grains for their flock, the other from Tuscany said that they buy local mixes supplied from farms in the area, so you’re going to have to mix your own feed like you’ve been doing.

the chick start is a decent base to use, you’ll just need to supplement like you’ve been doing with the meal worms and treats, and the yeast.

So I thought unfortunately, thank you anyway... I see US has all great supplements. But am really stranded on this one. Pet shops have only canary and parakeet food, so I was just spending hours on internet searching what to supply. At most i can get additional vitamins.

About fallen toenails i read through research that it could be a necrosis of capillaries from malnourishment. In fact cage had no drop of blood, it just fell off. But today i weighted him and he is now 500grams and his diarhea passed, so i have hopes.

My next challange is that he scratched open his eye that was healing..

 

[Goosebaby]

So I thought unfortunately, thank you anyway... I see US has all great supplements. But am really stranded on this one. Pet shops have only canary and parakeet food, so I was just spending hours on internet searching what to supply. At most i can get additional vitamins.

About fallen toenails i read through research that it could be a necrosis of capillaries from malnourishment. In fact cage had no drop of blood, it just fell off. But today i weighted him and he is now 500grams and his diarhea passed, so i have hopes.

My next challange is that he scratched open his eye that was healing..

You could always try searching for vitamins from Amazon U.S or Amazon U.K sometimes I can get around supply issues by snooping on other countries Amazon sites.
the only downside is the shipping can be more expensive but not always, there’s a weird oversight with Amazon that they’ll sometimes ship an order for a minimum price to wherever because theres a lack of communication between their financial and shipping departments and Amazon picks up the tab if there’s extra money to ship something without realizing it.

The loss of the toenails could be from malnourishment/ necrosis, but because he’s gaining weight that’s a good sign he’s recovering. The nails falling off was most likely from the damage that was already done, they were likely already dead when you got them and it can take awhile for them to finally drop off.

 

[gosling21]

You could always try searching for vitamins from Amazon U.S or Amazon U.K sometimes I can get around supply issues by snooping on other countries Amazon sites.
the only downside is the shipping can be more expensive but not always, there’s a weird oversight with Amazon that they’ll sometimes ship an order for a minimum price to wherever because theres a lack of communication between their financial and shipping departments and Amazon picks up the tab if there’s extra money to ship something without realizing it.

The loss of the toenails could be from malnourishment/ necrosis, but because he’s gaining weight that’s a good sign he’s recovering. The nails falling off was most likely from the damage that was already done, they were likely already dead when you got them and it can take awhile for them to finally drop off.

Thank you, I actually forgot about UK Amazon. The US is more complicated with shipping and custom fees and declaration. I will check the UK

 

[Goosebaby]

I think there’s Amazon Germany too but I’m not sure