People have kept animals/pets indoors for about as long as there have been people and pets. In today's world the general public are not familiar with "barn yard birds" kept indoors, well, maybe a dove. So often they are afraid of what might happen.

Believe me when I tell you that pet geese, even indoor geese are nothing new. King Salomon kept all sorts of animals. He had them bought to him from all over the world. People loved to hear the King's wisdom from God about animals and plants and trees of course God's will. In fact in Proverbs King Solomon wrote (Proverbs 12:10 NIV) "A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal..." He also wrote (Ecclesiastes 1:9 NIV) "What has been well be again, what has been done will be done again: there is nothing new under the sun."

So keeping a pet goose is certainly not new. Remember the song "Go Tell Aunt Rhoda"? But the question is asked often so I thought I would set up a page to address it:

Yes, but hear me out......IF..........you do not wash your hands after diaper changes, or if you sit in the water in your tub with the goose or duck as it "uncleans" the water as it plays, or do not clean your tub after the goose or duck has been in it for your own use, or even if you eat the eggs that they lay raw/uncooked. Or if your bird is sickly from poor nutrition, unclean sleeping quarters it may deteriorate to sickness, such as salmonella, that you might contract. You can not only get sick, you might just die.

No different then other species of pets kept in a person's home or yard. A pregnant woman should never handle kitty litter. Large parrots can bite a finger off a person in one snap. Snakes, lizards and turtles are also an animal that if you do not wash your hands after handling you might get salmonella. A dog can lick it's rear end, but you should not. My point being, any pet can make you sick if not handled/cared for correctly, but through the ages, people have had all types of animals in their homes.

Trust me. You are safer at home playing with your pet goose/duck/chicken then out on the Highway in your vehicle. You are more, far more, likely to contract a diseases from a human child then your pet well care for bird. You are far more likely to contract diseases from people in the local department store,always wash those basket handles, then from your clean well cared for pet.

There was a time when keeping a dog or cat or parrot in your home was an odd and "dirty" thing to do. Some people feel that it is an unclean and unsafe thing to do today. Since geese/ducks/chickens are less common as indoor pets than, say a dog, the general, uneducated (about the subject), public find it odd and perhaps unclean. But these same people are usually in awe of large, clean, trained, beautiful parrots in someone's home. Be sure your bird is well mannered in your home and teach your pet bird a couple of tricks. Tricks always seem to make animals more endearing to the general public....even to animals people. Yes indeed! "Farm Birds" can and do learn manners and tricks.

more to come

The contents of this page for Can My Goose Make Us Sick? is still under construction. Please check back later!

-- The House Goose Team
Sat, 14 Jan 2012 11:28:10 -0500