URGENT!! Stung by bee

[Goosebaby]

I’m sure it was a bee sting. I left the door open for his coop area and he approached the beehive area in my garden. I ran to him as I saw through the window but I was too late. The symptoms were instant. His eye shut straight away. However right now, his eye is more or less open, however there is a worrying grey/
Foggy layer on his eye

That sounds like swelling, worst case scenario he could have an infection brewing. Absolute worst case sometimes the eye will become necrotic and will have to be removed by a vet but that would be an extreme situation.

Have you tried the Benadryl?

 

[Goosebaby]

How is your goose?

 

[Sam don]

How is your goose?

Sorry for not replying, just been extremely sad . Took him to the vet as the closed eye opened however it was dark blue. They said the bees venom had got into the eye. They said it was irreversible, and gave us some pain killers. Is what it is I guess, I’ll still love him the same no matter what. I just want to say thank you very much, I remember you also helping when he was just born aswell. Thank you.

 

[FrostRanger]

Sorry for not replying, just been extremely sad . Took him to the vet as the closed eye opened however it was dark blue. They said the bees venom had got into the eye. They said it was irreversible, and gave us some pain killers. Is what it is I guess, I’ll still love him the same no matter what. I just want to say thank you very much, I remember you also helping when he was just born aswell. Thank you.

Sorry to hear he took that sting directly to his eyeball, hopefully he'll learn to get around OK

 

[Sam don]

Sorry to hear he took that sting directly to his eyeball, hopefully he'll learn to get around OK

I don’t believe it was directly to the eyeball, as they put Uv drops on and confirmed there was absolutely no damage to the exterior of the eye. Maybe it had punctured a vein or something I don’t really know.

 

[Goosebaby]

Sorry for not replying, just been extremely sad . Took him to the vet as the closed eye opened however it was dark blue. They said the bees venom had got into the eye. They said it was irreversible, and gave us some pain killers. Is what it is I guess, I’ll still love him the same no matter what. I just want to say thank you very much, I remember you also helping when he was just born aswell. Thank you.

I’m so sorry! On the bright side there are plenty of geese out there that have lost an eye and it doesn’t really seem to bother them.
Did the vet think the eye was a lost cause? Did they remove the eye?

 

[Sam don]

I’m so sorry! On the bright side there are plenty of geese out there that have lost an eye and it doesn’t really seem to bother them.
Did the vet think the eye was a lost cause? Did they remove the eye?

It was the vets first time treating a goose so they gave us eye drops and painkillers. They told us to use for a few weeks and if nothing changes then it’s a lost cause. However he said that it’s likely the eye may have lost vision fully.

 

[Goosebaby]

It was the vets first time treating a goose so they gave us eye drops and painkillers. They told us to use for a few weeks and if nothing changes then it’s a lost cause. However he said that it’s likely the eye may have lost vision fully.

When I said in a previous comment that eye removal was worst case scenario, it’s because it is, unfortunately your goose ended up having the wildest reaction. This doesn’t usually happen but with any animal you just don’t know. Most do not have this extreme of a reaction, but some can just like people. Most people just get a welt and move on, but then there’s people like me that get stung by a bee and are off to meet the ancestors unless I can get to my epipen in time.


What I think may be going on is because your goose had an extreme reaction it caused fluid build up and too much pressure in the eye. Whether vision in the eye can be saved or not is an unknown at this point given how much time has passed but the inflammation and pressure needs to be brought down to prevent more damage asap.

At this point it’s unclear whether the eye itself can be saved but Damaged tissue will start brewing an infection if it hasn’t already which will also increase the pressure in the eye. Benadryl could maybe still bring the pressure down so you might try that. If an infection is already present however he’ll need antibiotics and possibly a corticosteroid if the aim is to try and save the eye.
Vets generally don’t like prescribing corticosteroids to birds because it raises the risk of a fungal infection but with pressure building up in the eye it’s pertinent that that pressure is alleviated somehow, the longer there is pressure in the eye, the less likely the eye can be saved and the more likely the infection can spread from the eye to the brain.

I would call your vet and ask about putting him on a round of antibiotics today and see if he does better after a few days, if it were one of my birds I would put him on dexamethasone also “corticosteroid” but that’s something you should definitely talk about with your vet and weigh the pros and cons.
If he doesn’t show improvement after a week I think the eye probably needs to be removed.