Boris's trip to the Vet!

19 comments

I mentioned in my last blog that Boris the Goose seemed to have something wrong with his eye. Over the past few days one of his eyes hasn’t looked quite right, if you can look a Goose in the eye and decide it doesn’t look right!
Yesterday his left eye was closed completely and he didn’t seem to want to open it, so I rang OH at work and he rang the Vet who couldn’t see him until next week – not that many have experience of Geese!
Anyway they gave another number to ring and an appointment was made for this morning.
Boris was duly picked up and sat in a cardboard box in the boot of the car, he’s fairly placid with my husband, more bolshy with me, but seemed relaxed enough about it once he was out of ear-shot of his girls Gracie and Lily who we desperate to know why Boris had been taken away from them and were honking in complaint.

A cover was placed over the box just in case he decided to climb out while we were riding along.

No complaints on the drive apart from the odd grunt when the car shifted round a particularly sharp corner. About half and hour later we arrived, miles too early for our appointment. Boris was hot from the car so was taken out and put on the grass while OH booked him in and we waited for the time to pass. Panting Boris needed a drink which we didn’t take of course, so I had to find a bowl and give him some water, which involved buying yet another dog bowl for him to drink out of!
He wasn’t bothered about his change of scenery and plodded quietly around until he was seen by the Vet.
Apparently he had had a small abscess in his eye, most probably from sticking his head into places it shouldn’t be and picking up a scratch on his eye, but it was on the mend anyway. He was given a bottle of antibiotics for us to put drops in his eye, I’ll look forward to that!

Home again and as you can see the box was disintegrating (shall we say from the damp?) but the car needed fumigating.

Boris calling and heading back towards the field.

“I’m Home, where are you?”

Excited girls. “Where have you been?”

Having a natter about it all!

Gave them a fresh bath of water in their pink paddling pool and all is peace and quiet. At least he’s on the mend!

14 Jul, 2017
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Comments

Lori

thank goodness he's on the mend! ... the last picture is a treasure! "What did they do?...where have you been?" We were soooo worried!"...

14 Jul, 2017

Steragram

What a wonderful welcome! Lucky Boris to have such a caring family. (And a caring Missis to take him to the doc as well...)

14 Jul, 2017

Honeysuckle..

Thank you both for reading the blog. Seems daft to worry so much about a bird, but he's a pet as much as any cat or dog and a joy to watch sometimes.
All the hormones of Spring have passed now and he doesn't care whether you are in his territory any more.
We were rather hoping the Vet would be able to tell us roughly how old he was, but no such luck, he's just an elderly Gander. His eye looks so much better already tonight when OH and I grappled with him to put drops in it!

14 Jul, 2017

Steragram

And I thought we had problems getting burrs out f the cat's tail...

14 Jul, 2017

Green_finger

Geese are such characters. Your Boris is a lot calmer than our Daisy was (yes, Daisy turned out to be a gander & so did Pru) no way would he have sat in a box. My daughter was the only one that could calm him down when he got uptight. She would have had to be the one putting the drops in too, glad to hear Boris is responding well to treatment.

14 Jul, 2017

Honeysuckle..

Ah! yes Stera, but I still think I would prefer to tackle Boris than an irate cat, at least he doesn't have claws! I remember some of the kittens that my Mother's cat had that were part wild, trying to keep hold while a squirming, spitting, hissing, clawing bundle ripped your arm open!

15 Jul, 2017

Honeysuckle..

You are right Greenfinger about the character bit. Boris is old, fat and lazy so sitting in a box is not a problem. Know what you mean about naming things, your Daisy and our Betsy, never did know whether Betsy was a goose or gander. All I know is he or she was NOT going in the shed after Boris got amorous and you couldn't get her/him in and the door shut, so they sat out in the barn. Of course Betsy got killed by the fox which is when I managed to get Gracie and Lily as friends for Boris and both turned out to be girls! Being young and agile, they did a lot of walking about and Boris lost loads of weight just following them, which has probably prolonged his life!

15 Jul, 2017

Green_finger

Dolly was what started it. Little yellow fluffy thing left behind when the market had packed up, peeping piteously amongst the rubbish on a cold bleak afternoon. Course we had to take it home, couldn't leave it on its own in a box as it would start crying so had to keep talking to it, daughter took up to her room for the night. Next day, she had school so it was my job to keep Dolly company.
We realised Dolly needed company so back to market where we bought 5 ducklings, they didn't like Dolly tho & would bully her so we gave the 'bullies' to our neighbour (turned out to be mallards) & got some yellow ducklings instead.
Meanwhile, Dolly was growing & her neck was getting longer & her beak was pointed not rounded like the ducks. That's when we realised she was a goose!
So back to the market for some geese, hence we ended up with Dolly, Molly, Polly,Dotty, Denzil, Daisy & Pru plus Dilly & Dally, the Aylesbury ducks.

15 Jul, 2017

Lori

It's a dream of mine to have some type of fowl. Thought ducks at first but predation from the wild is a problem... Hens would help feed us... but since seeing Honeysuckle and Greenfinger's posts on GoY I've been giving some thought to geese as pets. I'm a fan of Boris and the girls... who knows...maybe one day.?

15 Jul, 2017

Green_finger

Lori, if you are thinking of keeping geese it would be worthwhile reading up on them, they are said to be the ultimate xenophobes. Ours were excellent guard geese as well as pets, then there's the annual egg management & the goslings that they raise.

16 Jul, 2017

Lori

Thanks for the heads up!, Green finger. I understand that they are excellent "security" for the yard. Like all animals they have their "issues" throughout the year and the challenges of having them in a very cold climate might be a determining factor. I was looking at getting goats and my hub gently suggested: "what will happen on the first cold winter night?...you'll have them in the kitchen!"
I will be doing my homework, for sure. My luck, I'd get two ganders.

16 Jul, 2017

Honeysuckle..

I loved your story about the goslings and ducklings Greenfinger and the names! Boris got named because he looks like a Boris somehow, Gracie and Lily were because Gracie had some grey markings and Lily was Lily-white! But I like your better and may utilise them when necessary.

Boris and the girls stay out all winter Lori, but of course our winters aren't as bad as yours. The only bane about that is the ice that forms on the water buckets and freezes their paddling pool. They don't seem to mind about the ice, though it's Boris's dignity that suffers when he slips on it!
Goose eggs are good to eat and you don't have to have goslings, we don't get the choice because the girl's eggs aren't fertile - Boris too old or not got the hang of it, not sure which.

16 Jul, 2017

Green_finger

Oh I could tell you a few stories about our geese escapades & I'm sure you have some too. Boris is an excellent name for a gander.
Dotty got her name because she had a brown dot on her beak but after several dips in the stream it fell off. Sexing is a skill I never mastered, we used to judge by the thickness of their legs, this obviously is totally the wrong way to do it hence ganders with girls names & a goose called Denzil.
We kept the geese in the orchard at the front of house & Aylesbury's at the back but many a time we'd have to chase Dilly, the drake back again as he liked the look of those big ol' gals round the front & would be a pest. He took many a scolding from the gander but it didn't put him off.

17 Jul, 2017