UPDATE! Please help, Goose beak torn badly (pictures)

[kuntrygirl]

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I hope everything is good and she reports back happy news.

 

[Dev]

I was waiting for news either way before I posted an update. I am so happy to say that she is doing well, much better than I would have ever expected after seeing her beak that first day!

The Avian vet finally did call back but told me that he had never had any success with Geese or Ducks who beaks were broke or split as badly as my goose looked. He instructed to mix up a slurry of the feed she was use to eating and see if she would try to eat it on her own. If not, then I may try to tube feeding. I did not want to have to tube feed because her throat was so swollen and since by the second day she had managed to get her tongue to start staying up from falling through the lower beak. I didn't want to have to force her beak open to put the tube in causing whatever healing that has started to break loose again.

Once the swelling started to go down it seemed her beak took on a different shape. Where before I thought a lot of her bottom beak was gone, it actually wasn't. It was just pushed under from all the swelling. Once the swelling eased, her the bottom beak took shape and seem to set, anyway set to where she could keep her tongue up and out of the hole where the tissue was torn. I now notice that the hole that was originally there from the injury is also closing up slightly. I really believe that this is due to using the Vetericyn Wound Spray that I started applying the next morning. I sprayed her beak approx. every hour to two hours. I had to redo some of those times because she would dip her beak into her water or pool and wash it off, lol. That was ok, I was not going to pen her up or take her water away or remove her from getting into the pool with her mate. I wanted to change nothing about her usual day so as to not stress her out any further than the trauma she had went through. I really believe that, and with geese especially, keeping the animals usual routine the same, if at all possible, really helps in the healing process.

She stayed in her pool a lot during the day time until it was time to be put up for the night. She would walk the yard in between those times. She seemed to be doing well but I noticed she was not eating which really worried me and starting to sleep in her pool more than usual. I could not get her to even try her slurry. Then I had an idea... because she loves to stick her neck over the edge her pool to dig a hole of the wet mud caused by the spillage of water over the edges I thought to sit her bowl of slurry at the edge of her pool, thinking that maybe she would stick her head in it and eat. She ignored it the first few days, but today as I just happened to be watching her out the window, I saw her float to the side as normal to stick her head over to dig in the mud but this time she stuck her head in her bowl of slurry and started eating it, really eating it like she was starving!! Ok, if she prefers to sit in her pool to eat, fine with me, I will see if she will eat the daily treats in her pool water! The daily routine is that I treat my geese, chickens and turkeys to a vegetable mix of corn, peas, green beans, carrots, and old fashioned oats, cooked rice, and puff wheat. Since she was ignoring these feedings and not trying to eat with the rest of the animals I decided to throw a hand full of this mixture in her pool and see if it would make a difference. It worked, she started eating it too! Now I really believe she is going to make it. She is also nibbling on things like geese love to do and her bottom beak is staying together so far. Tomorrow I am going to small pieces of grass in the pool water to see if she will eat this, due to doing this I will just have to empty the pool and clean more often during the day so there won't be any food spoilage sitting in the pool. I normally empty it 2-3 times a day anyway, so a few more times won't be a problem, it is one of those baby pools that is easy to empty and clean.

I just want to add that since I cannot bring myself to kill any animal that I would never have put her down, BUT if I had thought she didn't have a chance of making it at all and was suffering I would have had someone come and put her down for me. I have been through too many things with animals to know that it may look hopeless at first but that doesn't mean it is hopeless. Just have patience and wait it out, if at all possible. The way she looked after the injury first happened was horrible and I understand why some people thought she should be put down...because by the 'looks' of it it did look like she would not be able to eat, I really thought so at first. I am really amazed at how well she is healing. I believe it has to do with a lot of things...keeping her stress free as much as possible, spraying the wound with Vetericyn to keep infection away and promoting healing (How it works: http://vetericyn.com/technology/ ), waiting and giving her time to adjust and adapt, and most of all a lot of prayer, thanks be to G-d!

She has a lot of healing to still do. It appears that what happened is something (cat, fence, dog or turkey...not for sure which it was) broke her bottom beak on the right side by pulling it until it broke and gave because the whole right side of her beak is pulled out of place. I believe this is probably what also caused the hole underneath the beak that her tongue came out of, because the tissue gave way and pulled loose from the beak as it was being pulled forward. As the swelling is going down the beak is returning back to shape but there will be some deformity, although now I do not believe it is going to cause any problems with her eating, thank G-d.

Again, thanks to everyone for your suggestions and help.

Some new pictures of her adapting and healing:

The damage can be seen in this picture while she has her mouth open..all her lower beak is there, it is just off set due to the swelling on the right side and there is a break half way in the right side but it appears to already be slowly adjusting and going back into place:

Playing in the mud

Her left side which looks normal, no injury:

Biting on one of her pools:

Drinking water:

Using her beak to dig in the mud!

My beautiful goosey!

 

[Azd1292]

So glad ur goosie is doing better! You are doing an amazing job taking care of her! Hope she keeps getting better!

 

[mrpekinduck]

Yeah didn't think she was gonna make it! Good job and I hop she continues heal!

 

[kuntrygirl]

All I can is YEAAAAAAA!!!!

I was worried about her all weekend. I am so happy that she is doing well. She is on the road to recovery. Thank you for not giving up on her. She has the will and strength to survive.


Good job.

 

[Dev]

Yay! Goosie started eating her treats - a vegetable mix from her feed bowl and ground today! She also attempted to pull grass, weeds and leaves but doesn't do it...probably because her beak is too sore to pull hard enough to break the grass, weeds and leaves off, but I am so happy to see her now eating like she did before when I bring out the treats and honking like normal. She should now gain back the little weight she dropped those first few days she couldn't and wouldn't eat.

 

[TinyTotsSeramas]

Update?

 

[Avalon1984]

Wow, this is incredible. Kudos to you for not giving up.

 

[the3ofus+oursixchicks]

so happy for all the improvements. hope she just continues to do well!

 

[scubagirlwonder]

Unbelievable! What an amazing recovery so far!! She is looking surprisingly good, a testament to her will to live and your tireless dedication! Simply wonderful!