Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations bird problems

Just had an interesting problem this week. My dog became very ill. For three days she seemed to be dying. She did not eat or drink. She vomited over and over again. She wheezed when she breathed. She just layed around and was very weak. She had this cough like she had something caught. I heard from an friend that went through this and found out it was dogs eating goose poop. He took his to the vet. and thats how he found out. I asked mine and was told the same thing. Goose, duck and any bird poop is very toxic to dogs. A word to the wise. Be careful. Also, I am having troble with blue herrons eating fish. any ideas. Thanks Tom

Good info Tom, glad your dog made it...they are great companions outdoors. I once took a young black lab to my place on a hot Texas summer day...one of the funniest things I ever saw, he wouldn't drink the water from the bowl, but loved shoving his nose into a pot of water I filled with ice Then ran around, rolling in an old deer hide from last winters kill. I love dogs...except for coyotes, they are like comorants !

Hope your dog will be OK. Mine doesn't eat Goose poop - she gets too full on HorseS***.

If I remember, your pond is about 1.5 acre. Are you seeing more than 1 Heron at a time? They tend to be sensitive and crowd each other out.

Cecil Baird has had several posts and much success cutting Heron predation by placing high-visiblity string (or wire, or monofilament - ?) around his ponds. I think it goes just outside and just inside the waterline; the idea is to discourage the Herons by obstructing their normal wading areas. Look at his posts to get better details.

I catch the occasional LMB here with what I believe are Heron beak marks on the sides - quite a few old and completely healed. So I'm sure I'm losing some LMB, but so far, I'm living with the Herons.

Theo,

I must have a distant relative to your dog....mine loves cow sh*t...terrible habit.

Herons, one or two, aren't that bad, IMHO. They just don't take enough to hurt. Water Turkeys, a different story

Hey Ed, I wanted to say welcome back and don't stay away so long next time. Missed your inputs.

Tom,

I do not know how to break a dog from eating duck or goose poop so expect it to happen again.

My seven year old pureblood beagle mutt eats goose poop and other disgusting stuff. Her favorite past time is to roll around on dead frogs and dead possums. She would eat the butt out of a dead skunk if she could find one.

About twice a year she gets a terrible cough. The first time it happened, I took her to the vet... twice. $90 later, she was still sick and each breath seemed to be her last.

I put on my VET hat, told her goodbye and fed her 1 cc of IVOMEC. Enough to treat a 100 pound calf. It was a "kill or cure" attempt and it worked, except she lived. Now as soon as she starts to cough, I feed her .2 cc. The day after I treat her she is prancing around like a young pup. My wife says she fakes the coughs to get a hit of Ivomec.

For the non-farmer types... Ivomec is a large animal "injectable parasiticide for the treatment of gastrointestinal roundworms, lungworms, sucking lice, mange mites and cattle grubs, plus adult liver flukes". (Straight off the internet advertisement.)

Ivomec sells for about $30 per half liter and can be purchased off the internet. If you know a farmer with cattle, he may give you enough to last a year or so.

Note, I give the Ivomec orally with some hamburger, I do not inject the dogs with it.

I am sure Big Brother considers it illegal to use it on anything other than cattle. By the way, I disclaim all responsibility for misuse of this posting. I would hate for someone to kill a dog though my neighbor did see a dog lap up about a cup of Ivomec he had spilled and it did not hurt the dog.

Good luck with the dog.

dennisinponca,

I really think we should be very cautious about recommending products that are intended for a specific purpose/animal for another entirely different purpose/animal. No way would I give that stuff to my dog, no way.

If a dog has heart worms, and many do in the south, killing them all at once with that stuff would kill the dog. I would never want anyone to say they had killed a prized pet based on my recommendation.

If you really are a real Vet then perhaps I am wrong, but I do not know any legit Vet that would recommend this product for dogs.

Let me add I am a "farmer rancher" type and have used that stuff on cows in the past but never again. The indiscriminate use of chemicals causes untold damage in our country...and I'm not a tree hugging environmentalist either...just a common person who wants a better world for his grandchildren.

I find both sides very interesting...it reminds me of the FDA and Healthcare costs in the US. Everything must be approved, escallating costs, when people die, they ban the drug. Go figure.

p.s. my wife will always pay the vet whatever...I was raised, a dog is a dog, get another. She wins the dog battle, I win with FISH

I also find it interesting to compare the concerns that have been expressed toward "chemicals" and this lackadaisical attitude toward pharmaceuticals.

Previous post
"Do you risk your fish and pond health to kill the weeds? What will be the long term effect of dumping chemicals into a pond? What if I apply and we get a sudden thunderstorm? What is the effect on beneficial plant life? Will my wild morel mushrooms be killed out? Will the fish take up the chemicals and pass them to my family?"

Previous post
"I am a chemistry type and know how careless some corporations are so I am in fear of someone stumbling on another Love Canal incident."

Theo,

Where are you, my friend? Is there a dog on IVOMEC picture in our future? In our next Pond Boss news?

I'm watching you, Meadowlark, always watching you.

Kelly is too funny...I think the political term is flip-flopping

I have your back Meadowlark, I'm watching Theo !

Just another reason to scare off those geese!

http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2005/04/29/geese-050429.html

ouch, Ouch, OUCH!

Ok, I stand admonished on the antibiotic. I told the local Vet about it and he said it would work on a dog but he would rather not risk creating any antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria or virus, especially in hunting dogs exposed to wild animals. In summary, I think he would rather the dog die if it does not respond to his approved list of medicines.

I also have to change my attitude about geese and ducks on the pond.... I asked the Vet about goose poop. He said wild geese and ducks are the reservoir for many virus, including influenza and is believed to spread swine and avian flu from the Artic Tundra all the way to China and points in between. He also stated that in Asia, the avian flu virus has already jumped the human barrier from people handling chickens (Thialand, Vietnam). He said that if the bird flu gets a foothold and spreads between people, as many as 40 millon people could die in a "pandemic". Even more reason to be careful with any fowl.

By the way.....
I took my beagle hunting today (the one I saved, the one the Vet couldn't or wouldn't). I told her about your comments. Too bad she can't speak, I would like to know her attitude on the subject. I think she may have understood the discussion because she barked twice, went upon the road, took a crap and barked twice again.

By the way.....
I took my beagle hunting today (the one I saved, the one the Vet couldn't or wouldn't). I told her about your comments. Too bad she can't speak, I would like to know her attitude on the subject. I think she may have understood the discussion because she barked twice, went upon the road, took a crap and barked twice again.

That was funny!

ROFLMAO

Avian flu has spread to pigs in Asia. Of all the possible pandemics, this is the one that has people the most worried. And yes, geese can carry it.

Since this topic was on bird problems...

Do crows eat any of the fish? I've had several down at the edge--couldn't tell if they were doing any damage or not--other than being loud and obnoxious!

I had a Blue Heron out there a week or two ago...saw lots of tracks in water 4"-10" deep--after that, I didn't see the FH minnows that had been guarding a few nests.

Glen

If you are feeding the fish, then the crows are eating the pellets that are left over and on the shore. No, crows don't eat fish, thank God. Its about all that they do not eat.

Herons probably got some fatheads.

Meadow Lark,

Crows do eat fish albeit dead ones that I have thrown up in the thick grass. I've observed this with my own eyes. Crows are basically scavengers.

As far as damage to live fish I wouldn't worry about that at all.

Yes, they eat dead fish...I assumed he was talking about live ones. Crows will eat anything dead and just about anything alive that they can peck a hole into...but not live fish.

Gonna hijack this thread...seein's how this is bird related.

So far, I've had canada's, blue winged teal and wood ducks onna pond (no nests yet). Also seen several herons (great and lesser greens), but just one at a time, and a white egret (I think..it was pure white anyway) for a couple of days. Can't see how they're really denting the population too much, yet, so I let 'em be.

Now ya bring up this "beagle killin'" goose poop theory. Dang it...now I gotta worry about them, too? Love my ol' Aggie....