Please help! My goose won't eat and only drinks water

SomeRandomGooseLady

In the Brooder
Aug 26, 2021
4
3
12
My goose who is around 4 months old is not eating, she will try to eat but then shake her head. Even the softest of food she'll shake her head at. The good thing is that she is drinking water, but still I am very concerned for her. We've made her a mixture of lettuce and squash for her to drink and that works. However, she still can't eat, in fact she can't pick up much with her beak it seems that it hurts her or something because as I said she will just shake her head at the thing? We took her to the vet and they said they couldn't find anything, no damage in her mouth. So, I'm not sure what to do at this point. She was perfectly fine the previous day, she was playing and eating. Then suddenly she kinda just woke up and seemed different her behavior is different she doesn't want to play nor is she really her usually energetic self. How can I help her?
 
Did the vet perform any other tests? Did they weigh her and take her temperature?

What food does she normally eat?

What do her droppings look like?

Head shaking in my geese is sort of an expression of disgust, either when they don’t like the taste of something, something looks gross to them, or they feel queasy. My guess is she either has some sort of sickness that’s upsetting her stomach or she ingested something that is either toxic or she may have a blockage.
Are you able to take her back to the vet?
 
Did the vet perform any other tests? Did they weigh her and take her temperature?

What food does she normally eat?

What do her droppings look like?

Head shaking in my geese is sort of an expression of disgust, either when they don’t like the taste of something, something looks gross to them, or they feel queasy. My guess is she either has some sort of sickness that’s upsetting her stomach or she ingested something that is either toxic or she may have a blockage.
Are you able to take her back to the vet?
Typically what we give her are greens, fruits and of course she does snack like, bread and ect. Her droppings are liquidy and white, but today they were green and liquidy. The vet are asking to see her in a week to see how the supplement works.
 
Typically what we give her are greens, fruits and of course she does snack like, bread and ect. Her droppings are liquidy and white, but today they were green and liquidy. The vet are asking to see her in a week to see how the supplement works.
She needs to be on a waterfowl feed, all flock or a flock raiser. Greens, fruit, and bread are nice treats but they don’t have enough nutrients to support her, especially as she’s growing.
 
She needs to be on a waterfowl feed, all flock or a flock raiser. Greens, fruit, and bread are nice treats but they don’t have enough nutrients to support her, especially as she’s growing
Oh, well of course we have her feed. I forgot to mention so I apologize for that. With the supplement she seems to be a bit better, still won't eat. My grandpa assumes it can be Parvo and it's honestly scary to think that, however we're not sure how she would've contracted it in the first place
 
Oh, well of course we have her feed. I forgot to mention so I apologize for that. With the supplement she seems to be a bit better, still won't eat. My grandpa assumes it can be Parvo and it's honestly scary to think that, however we're not sure how she would've contracted it in the first place
Parvovirus is possible, but it’s one of many other possibilities, the problem with sicknesses is that they can present differently in different individuals, some can get some symptoms of a disease, while others will get different symptoms, or none at all with the same disease. It’s an issue I’ve had dealing with illness in my flock, trying to narrow down what the problem is can be very hard at times.

The one thing that’s common across most illnesses is lack of appetite, because they don’t feel good, so they don’t feel like eating.

Droppings can be an indicator of what could be wrong. Loose liquid droppings are common when they haven’t been eating and only drinking, excessive urates can indicate kidney issues, a bacterial or viral infection, or parasites sometimes.
Neon green droppings can be caused by liver issues from toxins, infection, or from not eating for a long time.
Here’s what I mean by neon green
C0B8A601-9C8F-4DA9-AF69-4D9A82C3C9CC.jpeg
This came from one of my ganders after he stopped eating for a number of days when ill.

Extra white urates can be more common when a bird isn’t eating, just because they’re more obvious, what you don’t want is to consistently see droppings like this.
A5E83C31-18BC-4B38-86A3-DAA653AE4032.jpeg
My birds have had this going on, they tested positive for coccidia and a bacterial infection, possibly giardia or clostridium.
Before testing I suspected infectious bronchitis, salmonella, chlamydiosis, mycoplasma, worms, and a number of other things. Mycoplasma hasn’t been ruled out.

Watery droppings aren’t abnormal in waterfowl if they’ve been eating watery food or recently bathing, or drinking extra water if it’s been hot, but other than that their droppings should look more like this.
2E3602E6-4E34-4B26-BE7B-B185D9911ED9.jpeg
Or
F5866DA7-90AC-424E-A3FE-BFB99DEDC366.jpeg

Consistently loose droppings like this below indicate some sort of inflammation, possibly from infection.
551A54EC-4C0F-4D3A-99D6-4A5B2E6399AE.jpeg

Red in droppings is bleeding somewhere in the lower digestive tract. Black indicates bleeding in the upper digestive system, unless they’ve been eating charcoal.


If your goose doesn’t start eating soon you may need to start tube feeding, there are excellent guides here if you’re unsure of how to do that. You can also encourage her to eat by mixing her feed with enough water to create a soupy mash, if she’s feeling well enough to play in it it might encourage her to eat more.
 
Parvovirus is possible, but it’s one of many other possibilities, the problem with sicknesses is that they can present differently in different individuals, some can get some symptoms of a disease, while others will get different symptoms, or none at all with the same disease. It’s an issue I’ve had dealing with illness in my flock, trying to narrow down what the problem is can be very hard at times.

The one thing that’s common across most illnesses is lack of appetite, because they don’t feel good, so they don’t feel like eating.

Droppings can be an indicator of what could be wrong. Loose liquid droppings are common when they haven’t been eating and only drinking, excessive urates can indicate kidney issues, a bacterial or viral infection, or parasites sometimes.
Neon green droppings can be caused by liver issues from toxins, infection, or from not eating for a long time.
Here’s what I mean by neon green
View attachment 2813069
This came from one of my ganders after he stopped eating for a number of days when ill.

Extra white urates can be more common when a bird isn’t eating, just because they’re more obvious, what you don’t want is to consistently see droppings like this.
View attachment 2813071
My birds have had this going on, they tested positive for coccidia and a bacterial infection, possibly giardia or clostridium.
Before testing I suspected infectious bronchitis, salmonella, chlamydiosis, mycoplasma, worms, and a number of other things. Mycoplasma hasn’t been ruled out.

Watery droppings aren’t abnormal in waterfowl if they’ve been eating watery food or recently bathing, or drinking extra water if it’s been hot, but other than that their droppings should look more like this.
View attachment 2813072
Or
View attachment 2813073

Consistently loose droppings like this below indicate some sort of inflammation, possibly from infection.
View attachment 2813074

Red in droppings is bleeding somewhere in the lower digestive tract. Black indicates bleeding in the upper digestive system, unless they’ve been eating charcoal.


If your goose doesn’t start eating soon you may need to start tube feeding, there are excellent guides here if you’re unsure of how to do that. You can also encourage her to eat by mixing her feed with enough water to create a soupy mash, if she’s feeling well enough to play in it it might encourage her to eat more.
Yes, thank you. We are taking her back to the vet for a checkup again. Her droppings dont look neo green, they are just more of a hunter green color, and liquidy. We are giving her supplements prescribed by the vet and it's seems to be helping her a bit
 

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