Gosling looks dizzy and is weak

[Chrifister]

Long story short, we had ordered 21 ducklings and 3 Emdben goslings from out West. One of the goslings was only half the size of the other two. We ended up losing six of the smallest ducklings so we feared for this small gosling. While it wasn't a leader of the flock like the other two, it did blend in with the flock and was eating and drinking just fine. While the other two goslings are quite tame, this one never liked being touched and would move away if you came close.

A couple days ago we didn't get home until dark. I went to put the ducks and geese back into their tractor and found them all in there, except for the little gosling. It was outside on the ground to the side of the chicken tractor. It didn't try to get away when I reached for it but struggled when I picked it up. I put it under the heat lamp I have hanging in the tractor. The next day all the birds came racing out except for that gosling, which was in the same place I left it the night before. I picked it up and put it by the water but it seemed weak. It tried to stand and looked like it was dizzy with it's head flopping around, and then fell over onto its back and couldn't get up. I later took it in the house in a small animal cage.

It doesn't eat or drink on it's own. We've been giving it water mixed with Stress-Aid by syringe and it seems to like drinking it. It seems to not have much control over its head and neck and flops it's head around. It is pooping with the first poop I noticed having a bit of green but very watery. The next couple poops were almost all white and watery. Today we were giving it the broth of a bunch of defrosted and heated and mashed peas which it seems to like. After we feed it you can tell that it regains some strength. We occasionally hear chirps out of it. It hardly tries to move or stand up by itself and sleeps a lot. Today it looks like it has regained some control over it's head and neck because it's not flopping everywhere as much and is holding it's head mostly upright. Chirping more today and I watched it try to stand up a few times but it flopped back down each time it tried.

I'm at a loss over what it could be. I contacted my vet for an opinion but she doesn't deal with geese but referred me to another vet. Called that one and she is busy until Thursday and "doesn't diagnose over the phone" so yeah, didn't even get helpful advice on what to do until then.

-I fed them duck starter feed until 4 weeks and switched to duck grower.
-They had Stress-Aid in their water until 3 weeks old.
-I use the heavy black rubber bowls for water and food, which I wash out every weekend. The 2 larger ones they can dunk their heads in and sit in but can't swim. The smaller one is the perfect size for food.
-I replace their water with fresh water 3 times a day and dump out any old food every morning and replace with fresh stuff.
-They do share a large pen with a large Australorp rooster and hen, and nine 6 week old Australorp chicks we hatched out, but I don't see any signs of being attacked.
-I don't think it would be a niacin deficiency because of the abundance of niacin in their food and the Stress-Aid.
-A couple days ago it did sound kind of nasally, like it had a cold. That has been improving so I'm kind of leaning towards an infection. One of the ducklings sounded the same and improved on its own.
-I massaged the crop and area around it for a bit and held the bird upside down to see if it would throw up any blockage but it didn't. Also the crop doesn't feel large or oversized.
-I was gonna try a warm bath tonight, something I read on here in a similar article Drunk/wobbly goose advice...

 

[sourland]

I'd provide a multi vitamin supplement high on Niacin 'just in case'. Good luck in a successful resolution.

 

[Goosebaby]

Non specific symptoms can be tricky.

White diarrhea can indicate a few things from what I know of, kidney problems or a kidney infection.
Geese can get a form of mycoplasma that can stress the kidneys, mycoplasma can have mild, sometimes non specific symptoms, it can manifest as a chronic mild to severe respiratory illness. It also can predispose them to other illnesses.

Another cause of white diarrhea is Avian infectious bronchitis, it’s a virus so unfortunatly there is no treatment besides supportive care.

Another possibility is coccidia, in geese it can inflame the kidneys causing white droppings.

My geese have been sick for awhile with something that causes white runny droppings and mild to moderate respiratory issues. I thought it was mycoplasma for awhile, that hasn’t been ruled out, but I had a fecal float and stain done and mine tested positive for coccidia and a gram positive bacteria that could be giadia or maybe even clostridium.

If you can get a fecal float and stain done on the goslings droppings I would recommend it.

In the meantime if you can get corid that will treat the coccidia, unless it’s a resistant strain, you’ll need toltrazuril or something else if that’s the case.
If you can get a b vitamin complex or rooster booster poultry drench that might help. I doubt there’s a niacin deficiency because of the feed, but extra B’s can boost their immune system, they can also be vitamin deficient if they have a parasite eating up their gut lining.

 

[Chrifister]

Welp! I think my partner is getting attached to it. She was up through the night giving it a warm bath, drying it off, and cuddling it to keep it warm. She said it's getting weaker and that it still sounds like it has a respiratory issue. It seemed stronger yesterday after the water/electrolytes/pea broth feedings. Had a couple large white diarrhea poops and then a green one (likely because of the broth). It was moving more in its cage and more than once I found it on its back when walking by only for it to right itself shortly after. Most of the time I came near it I could hear it chirping at me. It could only stand for a few seconds. Now this morning it's weaker again. She said it seemed to like heat and she was using a heating pad with it.

Called around this morning and I can't find Corid or any version of Amprolium. One vet told me that only vets have it, it's not over the counter here, and that a vet would have to see the animal first before prescribing it. So we have a vet appointment booked for 10 AM tomorrow and she said to bring some fecal matter in with us.

The rest of the flock look awesome and came running out quacking and chirping this morning. The other two goslings are starting to hiss at the younger chicks when they get close but they still walk away from that big rooster. I think he's testing them but assume that will end when they grow bigger than him.

So the vet was asking about moldy food dishes or yucky water dishes. I told her I replace their water 3 times a day and always dump out old food. Is it possible it could have eaten something? The pen they are in is made up of 2 of those 164' electric poultry fences put together and it is set up in a back field, a field that used to be for farming. We had egg layers in there last year. I think it's roughly 1/4 acre of waist high grass/bushes to run around in. When they eat/trample it down then I'll move the fences to fresh stuff. I also move their chicken tractor every few days so they aren't sleeping in their own filth.

 

[Goosebaby]

Welp! I think my partner is getting attached to it. She was up through the night giving it a warm bath, drying it off, and cuddling it to keep it warm. She said it's getting weaker and that it still sounds like it has a respiratory issue. It seemed stronger yesterday after the water/electrolytes/pea broth feedings. Had a couple large white diarrhea poops and then a green one (likely because of the broth). It was moving more in its cage and more than once I found it on its back when walking by only for it to right itself shortly after. Most of the time I came near it I could hear it chirping at me. It could only stand for a few seconds. Now this morning it's weaker again. She said it seemed to like heat and she was using a heating pad with it.

Called around this morning and I can't find Corid or any version of Amprolium. One vet told me that only vets have it, it's not over the counter here, and that a vet would have to see the animal first before prescribing it. So we have a vet appointment booked for 10 AM tomorrow and she said to bring some fecal matter in with us.

The rest of the flock look awesome and came running out quacking and chirping this morning. The other two goslings are starting to hiss at the younger chicks when they get close but they still walk away from that big rooster. I think he's testing them but assume that will end when they grow bigger than him.

So the vet was asking about moldy food dishes or yucky water dishes. I told her I replace their water 3 times a day and always dump out old food. Is it possible it could have eaten something? The pen they are in is made up of 2 of those 164' electric poultry fences put together and it is set up in a back field, a field that used to be for farming. We had egg layers in there last year. I think it's roughly 1/4 acre of waist high grass/bushes to run around in. When they eat/trample it down then I'll move the fences to fresh stuff. I also move their chicken tractor every few days so they aren't sleeping in their own filth.

It sounds like you’re doing everything right. It’s possible the gosling could have eaten something bad, also if their immune system was weak from something else it could have predisposed the little one to Asper, though at this age symptoms can progress a lot quicker, and you’ll usually see Tail bobbing and labored open mouth breathing. It can mimic the symptoms of other respiratory issues though.

 

[Goosebaby]

I’m hoping you get some answers tomorrow and it’s nothing too bad or hard to treat.

 

[Chrifister]

We had multiple appointments today because I didn't check the calendar so it was a busy day. We dropped the gosling off at 10 and she said it was dehydrated and malnourished. That's understandable considering it hasn't really eaten anything since Sunday I believe. She put in an IV and gave it fluids all day to hydrate it. She also fed it some kind of food from a tube and gave us some to take home. The vet wants it back to do another round of IV fluids and tube feeding tomorrow. She said we'll likely have to feed it ourselves for the next while.

No diagnoses yet. She mentioned possibly doing an X-ray to see if the gosling swallowed some metal and is suffering from metal poisoning so that's on the table. They did do a fecal float/stain and there is coccidia but not a large amount. I'm not sure what that means? Is it normal to have some? Is it the cause of what's happening? My partner said she was treating the symptoms for now and we should see improvement tomorrow after more fluids. I assume because she didn't give us anything to treat the coccidia that she doesn't think it's an issue? I'll get her to ask tomorrow.

The gosling is still pooping diarrhea and is still weak but it seems to be stable. It's not getting better but it's not getting worse either. It looks normal just sitting there sleeping but then it flops it's head around and it's easy to see something is not quite right. Still tries to stand occasionally. It made quite a mess with shavings trying to stand and flapping wings and kicking feet. The vet suggested rolling up a small blanket and use it to form a nest. This should help prevent it from flipping over on its back. So out with the shavings and in with a blanket and paper towels.

It is still chirping now and then. I'm going to assume they are happy chirps from being snuggled, or at least that's what my partner would say!

 

[Goosebaby]

We had multiple appointments today because I didn't check the calendar so it was a busy day. We dropped the gosling off at 10 and she said it was dehydrated and malnourished. That's understandable considering it hasn't really eaten anything since Sunday I believe. She put in an IV and gave it fluids all day to hydrate it. She also fed it some kind of food from a tube and gave us some to take home. The vet wants it back to do another round of IV fluids and tube feeding tomorrow. She said we'll likely have to feed it ourselves for the next while.

No diagnoses yet. She mentioned possibly doing an X-ray to see if the gosling swallowed some metal and is suffering from metal poisoning so that's on the table. They did do a fecal float/stain and there is coccidia but not a large amount. I'm not sure what that means? Is it normal to have some? Is it the cause of what's happening? My partner said she was treating the symptoms for now and we should see improvement tomorrow after more fluids. I assume because she didn't give us anything to treat the coccidia that she doesn't think it's an issue? I'll get her to ask tomorrow.

The gosling is still pooping diarrhea and is still weak but it seems to be stable. It's not getting better but it's not getting worse either. It looks normal just sitting there sleeping but then it flops it's head around and it's easy to see something is not quite right. Still tries to stand occasionally. It made quite a mess with shavings trying to stand and flapping wings and kicking feet. The vet suggested rolling up a small blanket and use it to form a nest. This should help prevent it from flipping over on its back. So out with the shavings and in with a blanket and paper towels.

It is still chirping now and then. I'm going to assume they are happy chirps from being snuggled, or at least that's what my partner would say!

From what I’ve heard a little coccidia isn’t something to worry about, it’s possible most birds have a little in their gut from living outside, in large numbers it’s an issue, kinda like e.coli, it’s normal to find it, but large amounts are concerning.

sometimes it can take awhile to notice improvement, especially with intense illnesses or from being underweight, the little one might take a few days of tube feeding to get its energy and nutrient concentrations up.

 

[Goosebaby]

Also I want to add that it sounds like you found an excellent vet, those can be hard to come by.

 

[Chrifister]

We are in the midst of a long thunderstorm that woke us up. My partner went to check on the gosling and it had passed. Looks like it had vomited a few times. I have a feeling it was some kind of infection because of the nasally sound it made sometimes when breathing. We'll have to bury it tomorrow so our little one has closure.

At the very least this was a learning experience. I'm not sure there was anything we could have done differently but we now know more about the different things that can happen to geese and what to look for. We do plan on hatching some next year if the remaining two are a mating pair.

Thanks for your help.