This is normal posture with feet tucked under the gosling.
by this afternoon, I noticed that the gosling was having some trouble walking, and stumbled as though he was drunk. I brought him back inside and his legs are splayed and not tucked under him as they should be. He was given a tiny shot of tetracycline and his water is medicated with the same.
The beautiful little Sebastopol gosling is sick. He is getting too big for his Rubbermaid box and since it was 20 degrees outside today, I sectioned off a portion of a large hoop pen that was shared with ducks and chicks, moved the ducks and put the gosling inside. He appeared to do well after his initial fear of being somewhere he did not know, but by the afternoon, he was walking as though he was drunk and towards the evening, he could not stand. I thought perhaps he had injured a leg, but both legs were not cooperating with him and he was not eating or drinking or singing. He was quiet and his eyelids drooped. He splayed one leg to the side and laid his head on its side. This is not good and not normal. Geese do not sleep with their heads on their sides and although they stretch a leg to the side, they do not lay that way. Something was terribly wrong.
I researched gosling problems and did not find anything particular, but since he seemed even more lethargic, I read up on tetracycline safety for goslings. The dose for the injectable is hardly more than a few drops, but I felt it was worthwhile to start there since I was not sure he would drink enough water if it was medicated. The shot did seem to perk him up enough so that he ate a little and did drink some medicated water. But he remained in the splayed leg position and was falling asleep like that. I moved his legs under him and went to bed. I hope that the tetracycline takes care of whatever his problem is and that he is right as rain by tomorrow morning. Poor little fellow.
I researched gosling problems and did not find anything particular, but since he seemed even more lethargic, I read up on tetracycline safety for goslings. The dose for the injectable is hardly more than a few drops, but I felt it was worthwhile to start there since I was not sure he would drink enough water if it was medicated. The shot did seem to perk him up enough so that he ate a little and did drink some medicated water. But he remained in the splayed leg position and was falling asleep like that. I moved his legs under him and went to bed. I hope that the tetracycline takes care of whatever his problem is and that he is right as rain by tomorrow morning. Poor little fellow.
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