New to Geese - Injured gosling

[Lolaxiii]

Hi,

My family purchased a trio of goslings (they're just off heat) yesterday and whilst we've always had ducks & chickens this is our first venture into geese.

As we're still new to geese, this seemed a good a place as any to get some advice from people who know what they're talking about.

After getting the goslings home, one of them has a pronounced limp. Looking closely at the leg, the left hock is much more swollen than the right and when the gosling walks you can see the bone/ligament (not sure what it is) literally click, as though it's almost moving in and out of the joint (it's really hard to explain but it doesn't look pretty)

Whilst the gosling doesn't appear to be in any pain and can walk/run it doesn't seem to be putting any weight on the leg and only uses it for balance - it looks like if it were to gain much more weight on that the leg wouldn't be able to support it.

We've spoken to the breeder we purchased it from but his only advice was he'd be happy to swap it...to me this sounds like if we swapped it that the gosling would be disposed of - not an idea i'd like to entertain. I've also taken the gosling to my local vet, however, keeping geese seems quite rare here and the vet was of very little help. She didn't really know what the issue was and suggested we just gave it back to the breeder or just waited to see how the gosling develops on it's own.

Whilst I continue to search for a vet more experienced in this area, would anybody have any idea what this problem could be and whether there's anything I can do to try and help improve the situation?

Despite only having the 3 goslings for 1 day, we've all completely fallen in love with them all and I would hate to give up hope that this little one could live a full and happy life. I don't think we realised quite how friendly geese would be...already they're happy to follow us around the garden in a little line!

Any suggestions/thoughts would be much appreciated,
Lolaxiii - England

 

[Kevin565]

. It sounds like your bird has slipped tendon

 

[Lolaxiii]

Thanks for your welcome and reply Kevin

I did some googling and I thought that perhaps it was a slipped tendon, however, we've tried to manipulate the tendon back into place but it doesn't seem like it wants to budge. I'm not sure how long it may have been like this so wondering whether it's been permanently damaged.

As it doesn't seem to easily manipulate back into place, is there anything we can do to try and encourage it back into place?

 

[Kevin565]

How old is this gosling? It may be a bit old to heal completely but it should be able to heal some. I don't have much experience with slipped tendon but I know some people have. You might want to ask in "Thread formerly known as hatch day" there's plenty of knowledgeable friendly people there who should be able to give you advice

 

[NanaKat]

Thanks to the advice from lovely folks here, I have been able to brace a slipped tendon on Ninya. When we got her, she had a niacin deficiency in her diet and has a condition called Perosis...twisted leg.

The brace is shown here on her leg just below the hock (knee) While it helped, that one kept slipping a little and caused some swelling. When the tape got wet from bathing and swimming, it would slip around.


So I tried placing it above the hock (knee). The best position is above the hock (knee).The tape on the feathers/fuzz helps to keep it from slipping. This one has been n for 3 days..so it looks a little ratty.
I stuffed cotton into each end of the straw and taped it so it was like a padded bullet. It is a red straw.
You can see it is taped from left to right on the inside of the hock.



With the leg extended apply gentle pressure pushing the ligament into place. You will feel it pop into place between the bone ridges. I used a one inch piece of plastic soda straw and attached the straw to the inside of the hock using water resistant tape...just tight enough to hold the straw in place but not cutting off circulation. . The knee should bend easily.
After a few days, the tendon will tighten into place as the bones grow. When you see your gosling can lift his/her weight and walk easily, you are making progress. So far the brace has been on Ninya 3 days and she is moving better each day. I'm going to give it one more day and then remove it. I will observe her for a while to see it needs to be reapplied.

Because of her condition, Ninya will wear a hobble next to pull her knees in closer to her body so she doesn't walk bow-legged. and step on her own feet. One step at a time.

Hope this helps.

 

[Lolaxiii]

Kevin - I think the gosling is around 2-4 weeks old, although to be honest, we're not really sure.

NanaKat - thanks for all the information, really useful (and what gorgeous pictures of your little gosling), i have a couple of questions for you if i may...

* Did the joint around the knee on your little gosling look like it clicked in and out of place when it had a slipped tendon?
* Did you apply the splint to the leg whilst it was extended out?
* It looks like you have applied to the splint to the back of the leg, did you simply put the straw on and wrap tape around or is there more to it than this?
* The clicking in and out we see seems to happen slightly below/on the hock, would you still advise splinting above the hock as you have done? I'm just trying to get my head around what it would support and how.

Whilst we're still trying to find a specialist vet close to us to have a look, it looks like we'll try and splint the leg and see if this helps before it becomes completely unrepairable.

Thanks everyone for your help - I'll keep you updated on the progress of little Elton!

LolaXiii

 

[NanaKat]

Yes Lolaxiii, the tendon slipped off the joint. There is a groove where the tendon is normally seated. Because the joints are growing so quickly, the tendon is loose and slips out of the groove...thus the "clicking" If it remains out, the joint grows and the tendon doesn't stretch with the joint. If it is not corrected, the tendon cannot be placed back into the groove and the lameness is permanent.

I applied the splint after I slipped the tendon back in place. First I prepared the straw by stuffing the ends with cotton to soften the ends and wrapped it with a short piece of tape. Next I cut a two inch piece of tape and laid it across the straw so it could be wrapped around the leg with the straw in line with the tendon. I had more tape cut in three inch lengths on the ready.
I held Ninya in my left hand with my hand under her belly and her upper leg in my fingers. I placed the wrapped straw on her leg just at the joint with my right hand and rolled the tape around her leg catching the fuzz to help hold the splint in space. Then I could let her body weight down on her leg and wrap another piece of tape around the first to help secure the splint in place. This is where a second set of hands is helpful.

Yes, the splint is attached to the back of the leg. The joint needs to move freely so the goose can rise up and lower herself to the ground. The joint also needs to maintain blood supply to the lower leg and foot. If any sweling appears, the tape is too tight and needs to be loosened. The straw rides next to the tendon and keeps it from slipping out of the groove.

When I attached the first splint below the hock, the tape came off too easily from the skin whe it got wet. Attaching the spint above the hock allows the tape to stick to the down and small feathers helping hold the splint in place. The fuzz will be shed anyway so what little came off with the tape was not painful. I left the splint on for almost a week.

Ninya became accustomed to the splint and enjoyed being able to walk. Swimming also helped strengthen the joint and tendon marriage. She walks now without the splint.

Because of her perosis (twisted leg) Ninya is wearing a hobble several hours a day to pull her "knees" in closer to her body so that she is not bow-legged. The hobble is made of elastic and velcro. It is attached above the hocks and lays under her belly. Each day I leave it on a longer period of time; she is adjusting to it now.