[Helencus]

How can I tell if my sow has mastitis? Her boobs for want of a better word look red and swollen lumpy even. Can't tell if hot as she doesn't want me to touch them. She still seems to be feeding but not so keen. Can I do anything to help if that's what it is.

[oaklandspigs]

Red and swollen lumpy - yep sounds like mastitus to me, particularly if they are sore, and not letting you touch them adds strength.  How many teats are affected?

Generally the cure is to treat at weaning with long acting antibiotic.

Presume she is feeding - how old are the piglets? and how many in relation to useable teats?
link to pigsite on mastitis - follow the link at the bottom as well for treatment

http://www.thepigsite.com/diseaseinfo/65/mastitis

[Helencus]

Thanks oaklands about 4 teats seem to be affected. She was feeding when I went down and was ok but they look a bit painful. 9 piglets and she has 14 teats so they're getting what they need but feel for her. Thanks for the link.

[oaklandspigs]

Keep an eye on her, and consider weaning earlier if you can.

With 9 piglets you could consider weaning at 6 maybe 7 weeks, and if some are getting ahead, maybe wean half earlier (say 6 weeks), giving her relief from the larger more pushy ones who put pressure on the painful underline, whilst still giving milk to the smaller ones.

Once treated (vet should give you long acting (LA) jab for her from phone diagnosis), see if the teats respond. Some sows fully recover, and teats return to normal.  However some sows lose the function of these teats, giving additional pressure on later large litters.  Unfortunately you should consider culling if she is prone to large litters with failed teats.

[Helencus]

Sounds ominous... Truthfully I'd never cull her got too attached and this is a hobby not my living. She's feeding ok tonight so maybe it's me being paranoid. It's been known oaklands :-))
I'll keep an eye on things and if it does look like it is I'll wean early. Thanks for advice as always much appreciated.

[Fowgill Farm]

Don't want to scare you helencus but DO NOT WAIT until weaning to give her antibiotics get some NOW as a matter of urgency.
I lost my best girl last year to an infection caused by mastitis she went down hill at a vast rate of knots and i would  never wish seeing her dieing on anyoneelse. Ring the vet and get him to put a jab (amoxcyliin i think)out for you as soon as you can. he may also be able to give you some tubes of cream to put on her udder (its for cows but should help)
DO NOT DELAY.Sorry if i'm scaring you but better safe than sorry.
Bets regards
Mandy 

[Helencus]

Ok rang the vet so waiting for her to call me back. Better safe than sorry.

[HappyHippy]

Hiya Helen,
Only just caught this thread, I agree with Mandy, treat her asap ! Anti-biotics and udder cream (if she'll let you) I've seen stuff which is minty, so it cools the udder too - it will be hot and uncomfortable for her. Teats tend to get red, a bit lumpy and uneven when rearing a litter anyway (just think of breast feeding in humans) but mastitus is a different thing and should be treated straight away. I wouldn't advise early weaning (sorry to be contraversial) keeping the piglets there, suckling, will reduce the amount of milk in the udder, relieve the pressure and make her more comfortable. Mastitus doesn't always result in failed teats, so don't panic about that at this stage.
Karen x

[Helencus]

Thanks karen hopefully vet will give me antibiotics as she's seen kimmie once anyway. She is definately off not keen to feed for long but piglets seem ok. Looks to me like 1 or 2 teats are empty whilst others look swelled is that normal?

[HappyHippy]

The empty looking ones could either be failed teats or just empty because the piglets have taken all the milk from them. If they always look empty though they're most likely to be unviable / failed. As Oaklands said, if she's having high litter numbers and hasn't enough teats to feed all the piglets you'll have to reconsider breeding from her. She should have at least 12 'sound' teats to be sure of successful rearing.
HTH
Karen x

[Helencus]

Probably empty I seem to remember squeezing milk out of them for the runt when she first gave birth. I'll keep an eye on them.

[Fowgill Farm]

Was just going to say as Karen posted its normal that 1 or 2 teats might be dry as possiby tthe piglets haven't used these.
The other thing i was going to mention was to keep her bed and where she feeds the piglets as dry as possible, the bugs that cause mastitis thrive in damp warm conditions. She may try to pee on her bedding to lay on as a way of cooling her teats, clear it away and replace. When you let her away from the piglets for feeding see if she will let you sponge her teats down with cold water with a drop of antiseptic in it or use antibacterial baby wipes. This will help keep bugs at bay and cool her teats so she might be happier to feed the babies.
let us know how you go.
Best Mandy

[Helencus]

Thanks Mandy. Still waiting for vet to get back to me.. Grr.
She's actually very clean peeing away from her bed so that's good, I still change anything that looks remotely damp daily though. Will get some wipes and see if she'll let me near.

[Helencus]

So gave her a jag of antibiotics what an experience that was..  Went mad after for about 5 mins kept looking round to see what was hurting her bum. Used the masterject for the first time. Found it hard to get the stuff in the syringe using it without getting loads of air in even though needle was submersed. Then only managed to get half in her and there was no way she was going to keep still whilst I did the rest. I have to give her 9 ml for a week.. I seriously doubt she's going to tolerate that without starting to make it difficult for me to go near her which will make mucking out her pen a tad difficult.
Not sure about the masterject must say. Yes I could do it from the safety of the being the otherside of the pen gate but needle is huge and seems a load of antibiotic came out the wound and didn't go into her also the air bubble thing worried me so I filled it manually in the end then it was a fiddle to get it into the machine.
Like everything I guess it'll get easier with practice and pigs make a fuss but I think I'd have a fit if you stuck a needle like that in me.
Anyway she's eating like a horse or pig even tonight so hopefully will be fine.

[HappyHippy]

Good to hear you got the anti-biotics Helen, they'll probably take 3 days before you see much improvement - but they'll do the trick.
I thought the masterject looked quite big & cumbersome - so glad I saved my pennies It also looked (from the demo clip) to make a bit of a noise when it goes off - maybe she got a fright ? I prefer to use just the standard syringe. Thinner needles, so they don't tend to react quite as badly (you're right though, sometimes I think they squeal just because they can  ) plus it's easier to hide the standard syringes from them, so they don't suspect a thing and you can get up nice and close
If she's really not keen for you to come near her you might have to try 'pinning' her in a corner with a pig board to administer the jags, I don't mean actually on top of her or anything - just corner her and make it clear to her that she's not going anywhere (might take 2 of you for that) but persevere without it if you can - don't want to traumatise your poor piggy too much.
Karen x