Opinions please! Pig Runt has horrible scabs?

[Newchick7]

She is doing much better! Her sores are under control and her snotty nose has stopped. However she still has a slight dry cough. And our other two pigs who are outside and separated from her are now coughing. We called the livestock vet and he said to give the other two pig penicillin suspension. However we can get the mixture to mix!!! Any ideas???

 

[farmerjan]

Not knowing exactly what you are calling a penicillin suspension... assuming it is in a bottle, thick, white and hard to shake up to mix?? Sounds like a shot type mix. What did you give to the little one? And congrats on getting her back to the land of the living and hope she continues to improve too.

Anyway, most "suspensions " are designed to be given as injections. All else fails, are feeding the pigs any milk? Take the required dosage and mix in the milk just before you put it in the pan. It may not do as well, and take a little more treatments to work since the stomach acids will work on it not like a shot directly into the body...but they do make penicillin tablets.

If you have not been feeding any milk, I would suggest doing it for a few days, get them to REALLY want to scarf it down when you go out to feed, then you can put it in and they will eat/slop it up. Taste won't be too great but if they are really wanting to eat they will get most of it. I also would only feed them a small portion of their food with the "medicated milk" on top, then after they have devoured it, give them more that is not medicated.
This way they will not associate the taste as well, and you will be able to get it in them. And they will keep coming back for more.

 

[farmerjan]

Didn't the other two pigs also come from this same place? I think it is from there, in general and not that the little one gave it to the other 2.

 

[misfitmorgan]

Didn't the other two pigs also come from this same place? I think it is from there, in general and not that the little one gave it to the other 2.

I would agree

She is doing much better! Her sores are under control and her snotty nose has stopped. However she still has a slight dry cough. And our other two pigs who are outside and separated from her are now coughing. We called the livestock vet and he said to give the other two pig penicillin suspension. However we can get the mixture to mix!!! Any ideas???

If you mean Pro Pen G that is an injection you just shake it up and draw out with a syringe the amount needed. Injection site is generally the butt/thigh area left side.

Pro Pen G, Penicillin Injectable, Pen-Aqueous, Agra-cillin, Penone-Pro.......are all the same thing as far as i know and they are all a penicillin suspension injectable.

 

[Newchick7]

I would agree



If you mean Pro Pen G that is an injection you just shake it up and draw out with a syringe the amount needed. Injection site is generally the butt/thigh area left side.

Pro Pen G, Penicillin Injectable, Pen-Aqueous, Agra-cillin, Penone-Pro.......are all the same thing as far as i know and they are all a penicillin suspension injectable.

Yes. It is a liquid penicillin. The worker at ththe farm store said it is super thick and that we may have to microwave it. Lol. That sounded extreme. So we let it sit at room temp for a bit and that seemed to work. And yes we did get all the pigs from the same place.

 

[farmerjan]

DO NOT MICROWAVE IT. Microwaves destroy the "food value" of your food and will also render the pen much less effective. A microwave should not be used to heat a bottle, to cook food, or anything. Come on -- they use irradiation to kill the bacteria on food. What do you think microwaving is - irradiation.

It is not that thick unless it is about at freezing temps. Use a syringe with a 16 gauge needle to draw it out of the bottle after shaking it well. Yes, you can let it warm up a bit, but do not warm it to room temp. Once it is a little warmer you can use an 18 gauge needle, or use the 16 as it will go in quicker. Use a needle that is 1 inch long or even a 3/4 inch one. A pig that size doesn't have any "fat" to have to go through like a big hog. We do 99% of our injections in the cattle "sub-q" which means under the skin, but I think we always did the hogs I M (intramuscular). Seldom did many injections with them.

 

[misfitmorgan]

Heat will kill the penicillin so definitely dont nuke it. It needs to be kept in the fridge so it stays chilled same as a few other injectable meds/vaccines. The bottle should say it needs to be stored at 36-46F, most fridges are 38-41F while most houses fluctuate between 50-100+F.

All injections on pigs are intramuscular as it is not possible on most pigs to do Sub Q because the fat is stuck to the skin. The thigh/butt helps avoid the thick fat cap along the back and saves your tenderloin as some injections can discolor the muscle/meat. The standard is left thigh/butt which is ironically why you mostly only see hams made with the right leg.

If you having a hardtime getting the antibotic out of the bottle, shake it really well and switch to a larger diameter needle. This is general needle guidelines per age/size.

Piglet 5/8" long 21 gauge
7-60lbs 1" long 19 gauge
60-100lbs 1" long 16 gauge
101+lbs 1.5" long 16 gauge

Gauge works backwards in case you didnt know(i didnt used to know) 21 is smaller then 16, so so go up a size if you cant draw the med/vaccine..outside of the recommendations we normally us 1" 21 or 16 gague for everything so we only have to keep two needles sizes on hand since we buy them 100count at a time with the syringes. Also its handy to have a sharps container and your vet will accept sharps containers for disposal as will most hospitals, hospitals generally charge $5 per sharps container and our vet charges $7 per sharps container to dispose. If you only drop the needles with their covers or the scalpel blades into the sharps container it saves a lot of space which makes it last a long time between needing new containers.