Pig down!
- Thread starter Pinecones
- Start date
Gee Rammy, the OP was pretty straight up in their opening sentence:
Hope you find that it's not one of the bad diseases mentioned by our pig experts... Good luck and please let us know if you would.
Perhaps you can contact your state university and they can receive the blood test and do the analysis for you. At least you could contact them and if they can't help you, maybe they can point you in the right direction? http://wimu.montana.edu/
Hope you find that it's not one of the bad diseases mentioned by our pig experts... Good luck and please let us know if you would.
- Thread starter
- #23
Thank you for the link and info, latestarter!
There is virtually no agriculture here in the mountains. We learn to vet animals ourselves. The problem with this pig has been not knowing the source of her symptoms.
Well her appetite has been good today. She’s pooping and it looks good. Still drinking plenty. We bathed her and cleaned her up a bit. She’s got a great improvement on energy.
She’s still got discolored ears, snout, and the skin over her shoulders is blued/very dark.
Her main symptom continues to be discomfort. Especially after eating or exerting herself. Her pain in her shoulders seems to have abated slightly.
She is somewhat wobbly in the hips / uncoordinated with her back legs. We noticed this as well with the pneumonia 3 weeks ago.
I’m continuing with the updates just in case more input comes in. I know symptoms are vague, but a viral or bacterial infection doesn’t “quite” fit the bill. Especially with no marked improvement treating for infection. We are not ruling disease out, I’m just exploring more as we wait to see how this thing turns out.
We were discussing the possibility of injury today. Her bruised looking and painful shoulders/neck area and apparent body discomfort are curious. She also seems to fatigue walking around or holding her head up for long periods. If there is inflammation and swelling in the neck, that could cause poor circulation as well, leading to cold, dark ears.
It’s just a guess. I may try treating for inflammation and see if I get a better response than with antibiotic/antimicrobial treatments.
I dunno. It’s perplexing. The symptoms are very unusual.
I’m glad she’s showing signs of slow and steady improvement though. I’m not nearly as worried about her dying now as I am that she’ll get used to life in the house! Especially since she potty trained herself today...! :x
There is virtually no agriculture here in the mountains. We learn to vet animals ourselves. The problem with this pig has been not knowing the source of her symptoms.
Well her appetite has been good today. She’s pooping and it looks good. Still drinking plenty. We bathed her and cleaned her up a bit. She’s got a great improvement on energy.
She’s still got discolored ears, snout, and the skin over her shoulders is blued/very dark.
Her main symptom continues to be discomfort. Especially after eating or exerting herself. Her pain in her shoulders seems to have abated slightly.
She is somewhat wobbly in the hips / uncoordinated with her back legs. We noticed this as well with the pneumonia 3 weeks ago.
I’m continuing with the updates just in case more input comes in. I know symptoms are vague, but a viral or bacterial infection doesn’t “quite” fit the bill. Especially with no marked improvement treating for infection. We are not ruling disease out, I’m just exploring more as we wait to see how this thing turns out.
We were discussing the possibility of injury today. Her bruised looking and painful shoulders/neck area and apparent body discomfort are curious. She also seems to fatigue walking around or holding her head up for long periods. If there is inflammation and swelling in the neck, that could cause poor circulation as well, leading to cold, dark ears.
It’s just a guess. I may try treating for inflammation and see if I get a better response than with antibiotic/antimicrobial treatments.
I dunno. It’s perplexing. The symptoms are very unusual.
I’m glad she’s showing signs of slow and steady improvement though. I’m not nearly as worried about her dying now as I am that she’ll get used to life in the house! Especially since she potty trained herself today...! :x
Attachments
I was assuming that ment no vet could come out there because they are so remote.
Well, since no vet access, I guess trying to get a script pain killer like banamine is not an option...
"Two new products are now available for use in drinking water of swine as an aid in reducing pain, fever and inflammation. Oral-Pro sodium salicylate 48.6 percent and Oral-Pro sodium salicylate 60 percent with 5.7 percent caffeine are now available from Aurora Pharmaceutical." https://www.porkbusiness.com/article/pain-relief-pigs
https://www.qcsupply.com/oralpro-sodium-salicylate-concentrate-1gallon.html
"ASPIRIN BOLUSES USP
Usual dose:
Note: Although veterinary forms of aspirin are marketed with label indications for treatment of pain, fever, and inflammation, the drug has never been approved by the Food and Drug Administration Center for Veterinary Medicine (FDA CVM) for these purposes...
Fever1; or
Pain1—Pigs: Oral, 10 mg per kg of body weight every six to eight hours.{R-25} If a water supply is to be used for administration, then aspirin at 2 mg per kg of body weight per hour (mg/kg/hr) may be used. For this latter purpose, due to the poor solubility of aspirin in water, sodium salicylate at 1.8 mg/kg/hr may be considered as a substitute." https://www.aavpt.org/associations/12658/files/aspirin.pdf
"Two new products are now available for use in drinking water of swine as an aid in reducing pain, fever and inflammation. Oral-Pro sodium salicylate 48.6 percent and Oral-Pro sodium salicylate 60 percent with 5.7 percent caffeine are now available from Aurora Pharmaceutical." https://www.porkbusiness.com/article/pain-relief-pigs
https://www.qcsupply.com/oralpro-sodium-salicylate-concentrate-1gallon.html
"ASPIRIN BOLUSES USP
Usual dose:
Note: Although veterinary forms of aspirin are marketed with label indications for treatment of pain, fever, and inflammation, the drug has never been approved by the Food and Drug Administration Center for Veterinary Medicine (FDA CVM) for these purposes...
Fever1; or
Pain1—Pigs: Oral, 10 mg per kg of body weight every six to eight hours.{R-25} If a water supply is to be used for administration, then aspirin at 2 mg per kg of body weight per hour (mg/kg/hr) may be used. For this latter purpose, due to the poor solubility of aspirin in water, sodium salicylate at 1.8 mg/kg/hr may be considered as a substitute." https://www.aavpt.org/associations/12658/files/aspirin.pdf
- Thread starter
- #26
I appreciate the links, info, and input. Thank you!
Our mystery is becoming less mysterious. Her color has returned today throughout her body. The painful area on her neck, however, the skin has turned black and is crusting and starting to slough off. We’re suspecting some pretty intense frostbite happened. How this happened to her and no other pigs (or any other livestock) I don’t know. I’m fairly sure the bluing on her ears and nose are likewise frost burned skin. They have not really improved in color. Her nose is starting to peel, and the skin in these areas has become crusty.
The only “dead” area are the very tips/edges of her ears, luckily. I imagine this has been painful and explains her discomfort and the guardedness of her neck area. We are treating these burned areas topically.
As for the wobbliness in her back end, after watching her quite a bit I realized it’s most likely the shape of her hooves on the hard floor. I will trim her hooves so she has a flatter walking surface and isn’t sliding around on those pointy toes!
Our mystery is becoming less mysterious. Her color has returned today throughout her body. The painful area on her neck, however, the skin has turned black and is crusting and starting to slough off. We’re suspecting some pretty intense frostbite happened. How this happened to her and no other pigs (or any other livestock) I don’t know. I’m fairly sure the bluing on her ears and nose are likewise frost burned skin. They have not really improved in color. Her nose is starting to peel, and the skin in these areas has become crusty.
The only “dead” area are the very tips/edges of her ears, luckily. I imagine this has been painful and explains her discomfort and the guardedness of her neck area. We are treating these burned areas topically.
As for the wobbliness in her back end, after watching her quite a bit I realized it’s most likely the shape of her hooves on the hard floor. I will trim her hooves so she has a flatter walking surface and isn’t sliding around on those pointy toes!
Mini Horses
Herd Master
Would be great if the frostbite is her only issue 
As to why only her, I would look to her having been "left out of the pile" of her roommates, &/or having been lying in a wind area, etc. where she just got more than she could handle.
It's like a roo who will tuck his head under a wing and one who doesn't.
At any rate, she seems to want to be a good house-guest by "housing breaking" herself.
Obviously she's sharing the bed with that pup! Cute.
As to why only her, I would look to her having been "left out of the pile" of her roommates, &/or having been lying in a wind area, etc. where she just got more than she could handle.
It's like a roo who will tuck his head under a wing and one who doesn't.
At any rate, she seems to want to be a good house-guest by "housing breaking" herself.
Obviously she's sharing the bed with that pup! Cute.
misfitmorgan
Herd Master
Glad to hear she seems to be clearing up. I did not realize the pneumonia had been 3 weeks ago, i know you said it but somehow it didnt stick after i read it. I was thinking she only started pneumonia a week ago. Frostbite can be quite the thing and I imagine very painful. Please keep us updated on her.
- Thread starter
- #29
She's still stable and doing well. Her nose is peeling like a sunburn from hell and her ears are scabbing up. The blackened skin on her shoulders is very hot and is still painful for her. I've been keeping some soothing antiseptic salve on it. The one evening I tried picking at it (since it's all crusty and peeling and gross) she was grinding her teeth for about an hour, so I imagine that was super painful and I haven't messed with her skin like that since.
She went through a lovely phase of going to the door and grunting when she needed to poop or pee, and grunting to be let back in when she was done. She's backsliding a little bit, darn it, but she's still being a good house guest.
All the other piggies are doing great, no signs of discomforts or cold exposure. The kunes have vastly outgrown this little gal, hopefully she'll catch up and still get a chance to breed this year
She went through a lovely phase of going to the door and grunting when she needed to poop or pee, and grunting to be let back in when she was done. She's backsliding a little bit, darn it, but she's still being a good house guest.
All the other piggies are doing great, no signs of discomforts or cold exposure. The kunes have vastly outgrown this little gal, hopefully she'll catch up and still get a chance to breed this year
misfitmorgan
Herd Master
She's still stable and doing well. Her nose is peeling like a sunburn from hell and her ears are scabbing up. The blackened skin on her shoulders is very hot and is still painful for her. I've been keeping some soothing antiseptic salve on it. The one evening I tried picking at it (since it's all crusty and peeling and gross) she was grinding her teeth for about an hour, so I imagine that was super painful and I haven't messed with her skin like that since.
She went through a lovely phase of going to the door and grunting when she needed to poop or pee, and grunting to be let back in when she was done. She's backsliding a little bit, darn it, but she's still being a good house guest.
All the other piggies are doing great, no signs of discomforts or cold exposure. The kunes have vastly outgrown this little gal, hopefully she'll catch up and still get a chance to breed this year
She may not like going outside because it makes the frostbite hurt more. It's similar to getting a burn, heat makes it hurt more...except with cold. You might try a lidocaine topical, something suitable for tattooing or piercing, that should be safe for a wound. I've personally used derma numb which is a numbing spray while getting large tattoos and it does work well though not for long. It may give her some relief and many also have healing products in them.
