Injured piglet - skin torn off leg. (graphic pictures)

[jhm47]

Forget the stitches. There likely isn't enough skin there to close the wound. I'd just leave the poor thing alone and let nature take it's course. It likely isn't in much pain after this long. When I had pigs, we had several that were stepped on, or had similar injuries, and many of them did just fine. It likely will have a scar, but the ability of pigs to heal is amazing. The fact that the wound is not bleeding is a very good sign, and since it's in a fairly clean environment it likely will avoid infection. Pigs seem to have a high resistance to many infections. Good luck!

 

[secuono]

I'd spray blukote or other topical treatment and keep it clean.

If you use anything that is food, honey, tastes good, you may end up getting nightmares from seeing mom eating the piglet's leg...

If it's still dragging the leg in a couple days, I'd put him down, not worth it to let him struggle and lag behind for a few dollars or a couple pounds of dinner meat.

You can buy one time use stapleguns. 35 staples in them. They're like $13 in catalogs.

 

[arrowti]

Sorry for not responding sooner, we had our other sow give birth and it was a long, terrible labor. Only one piglet of hers made it.

We treated the wound and for now she's keeping up just as strong and fast as her siblings. She's a tough little girl, it seems, and although that leg drags she isn't having any trouble feeding from her mother. We worried about her in the cold but she's doing well, snuggling on the bottom usually. We've been keeping a close eye on her and are watching for any signs of infection.

If we see that she is suffering or fails to thrive we know we'll have to put her down.

Thanks for your comments!

 

[Latestarter]

Wow... sorry about the other sow. What happened?

 

[arrowti]

The other girl (Wilma) had her second litter as well. Her first was wonderful and went without a hitch. This time around we were worried, as she had a stressful pregnancy. We had a lot of cold, damp weather, and for many weeks she had trouble standing and limped. She had little interest in eating at that time. We suspected she'd had few piglets, but hoped the ones she did have would be healthy.

She ended up with 4 piglets, 3 of which died. Those 3 were small compared to their sister who is surviving. Wilma is doing alright, and ate and drank tonight. We bought some milk replacer because there was little milk coming from her teats, but the surviving girl managed to latch onto one and is feeding, so we'll keep it ready in case we need it in the future.

Will a single piglet be okay? She has trouble reading the nipples without siblings to stand on, so we gave her a staircase out of hay to help her reach. She's acting strong and is moving around, so we have hopes she'll make it. I would mix her in with Bell(this injured piglet's mother)'s piglets but this little one is smaller and wouldn't be able to get out of the way of Bell's clumsy footing. Should we move one or two of Bell's piglets with Wilma's or just let them be for now? In a week when the piglets are mobile they'll end up mixing like they did last time, with both mom's nursing them (it's what happened last summer).

It's been a rough couple days, honestly. We just got into raising pigs just over a year ago, and the first three litters from our three sows (Ginger is the third, not pregnant), went near perfectly, with 1 stillborn between all 25 piglets). It was a bit of a shock to see the other side of things.

 

[Ferguson K]

There's up and down with everything you do.

Give the little one a chance. You'll know when both the injured pig and the line pig need intervention more than anyone behind a screen.

Good luck!

Keep an eye on the new piglet. Check for full bellies.

 

[arrowti]

The new piglet is doing great so far. I haven't seen her feed today but she is pooping, so she's most likely eating quickly so she can get back to snuggling in her mama's armpit (must be the warmest spot). It was bitterly cold last night, down in the 15 range, but she pulled through. Finally stopped shivering now that the sun is beating down on their hut helping to warm it up.

Mama's getting extremely protective over her, and sat right up and started snapping her jaws and staring at me when I touched her and she squeaked, so I backed off. She really wants her last baby to make it and is far more protective over her than she was over the piglets of her first litter.

The injured piglet is doing well today. I checked earlier and she was suckling. She managed to get her way into one of the first teats and maintains that spot. She's just as big as her biggest siblings at the moment.

The weather will finally be warming up after tonight. We haven't lost any more piglets from Bell's litter, although there are a few small cuts on the legs of some of them - skin not torn off, just gashed. They're doing fine as well.