The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: WoodlandsDevon on July 29, 2015, 05:57:12 pm
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A bought two weaners 2 weeks ago and one is doing diarrhoea and has had a cough which has now spread to the other one. Both have been vaccinated (M+PAC) for enzootic pneumonia by the farmer I bought them off. Is there any thing I need to be doing or will these ailments clear up themselves? The pigs seem healthy otherwise....
Thanks
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Speak to your vet.
you may also have been sent a kit for testing for porcine epidemic diarrhoea by the government vets, so worth checking this out too.
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Were they wormed by the breeder?
Have they had diarrhoea since arriving?
Are their temperatures normal or raised?
Do they seem bright, eating, etc?
There could be 101 things causing it, I'd get the answers to the above questions then give your vet a ring.
HTH
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No they weren't wormed by the breeder he said the vet said that worming wasn't effective until 12 weeks old.
It is just one that has diarrhoea and it has been on and off since it has arrived (I thought this one would be fine as it did do some solid poo)
Not sure on the temperature.
They are certainly bright and eating! They haven't slowed eating and they are still vibrant and 'healthy' in every other respect.
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Is the diarrhoea at any time of day or only mornings or evenings or so?
I had weaners having diarrhoea every morning, I cut back on their food in the evenings and that sorted it.
The cough is more worrying though. Did the breeder worm the sow before farrowing as that would have been passed on to the weaners. Not sure about the 12 weeks thing, I doubt that to be honest (but I'm not a vet!). Any wheezing?
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I've never heard that wormers don't work before 12 weeks and I sat and drew up a pig herd health plan with my vet which included worming at approx 8 weeks of age, I'm pretty sure he'd have said something :-\
I'd get them both wormed asap - by injection (most effective way and you're sure they've had the right dose)
I'm guessing they're around 10 weeks old? They should be getting about 2 pounds of pig nuts each per day (split into 2 feeds) more than that, as Eve says, will cause scour. A sudden change of diet can also cause scour, but if it was that I'd expect it to have cleared up by now.
Definitely worm them asap.
HTH
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As a vet, I recommend puppies and kittens be workewormedd from 2 weeks so can't see why it "wouldn't work" in pigs under 12 weeks. It is common practice to wowormrk mothers around birth as this is often where worms come from in the young, so many dogs, cats, sows, ewes and goats would receive this worming to protect the young.