The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: Helencus on January 23, 2011, 07:21:42 pm
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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.
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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 (http://www.thepigsite.com/diseaseinfo/65/mastitis)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 :pig:
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Ok rang the vet so waiting for her to call me back. Better safe than sorry.
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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
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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?
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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Thanks Karen im hoping it gets easier with practice! I've order smaller needles on express delivery as 13g 1.5 m are huge and I bet that's not helping.
Hoping she forgives me and is feeling better soon.
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I sent my Masterject back because I found it too cumbersome and difficult to use. The pigs clearly felt intimidated by it - like I was aiming a rifle at them. No hiding it, because it's so big.
I'm sure it comes into its own outdoors, but I don't think it works in an indoor situation.
I bought a (fairly cheap) Slap-shot a couple of weeks ago, and have used it much more effectively.
Good luck with the ongoing treatment. Hope it all goes well and she's feeling better soon x
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Thanks liz given they're less than 20 quid I'm going to get one for indoor use. Like you say no doubt masterject is great for outdoors but in a pen not so easy to hide, if it was coming at me I'd run too!
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The problem with pigs is their intelligence. The first injection can be administered whilst they are laying down for a tummy rub, the second whilst they are eating. After that its round up time and even that gets tougher.
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Good news is it was alot easier to inject her tonight have to say. Masterject was a godsend as I managed to practically stand outside the barn and still jag here. She'd no idea where it came from so lots less fuss. A few teats still lumpy but definately cooler.
Is general opinion that she will be prone to mastitis in the future? She's managing to feed 9 piglets fine still, milk seems to still be coming through all used teats.
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Generally yes but as they say nothing surprises you like breeding pigs!! ;D so she may or may not succumb to it again. We had a sow that was prone but she was a wet the bed pig and as i have aready mentioned this provides a breeding ground for the bugs that cause it.
You also generally find sows whose piglets who have not had their teeth clipped are more prone as they get little cuts & nicks on their teats and undercarriage from squabbling piglets and again this is a source for infection to enter the sows system.
Glad to hear your girls recovering, just keeping any eye on my gilt who's just farrowed as her mother was prone and it would be interesting to see if there was an inheritance factor.
best Mandy
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Thanks Mandy. I spent a long while watching tonight and she's more comfy but piglets seem to be not desperate but more aggressive about trying to get milk I'm wondering if she's not actually letting down much, they aren't fractious just nudging very hard at teats. Aggies brood latch on and soon settle these don't they stay agitated until she gets up. Maybe she's feeding better at night seeing as they're growing well. Antibiotics are definitely helping her with soreness though. Fingers crossed we will get them to at least 6 weeks with her but I may have to give a milk supplement I think, they're also nicking a bit of her feed so seem to be ok thankfully.
Good luck with yours I hope she doesn't get it.
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Your hungry monsters could probably go onto creep and this would help take the pressure off her. We buy a bag of grower pig food as its very tiny nuts and give it to them on rimmed baking tray, they dance and snuffle on it to start with but soon get the hang that its good to eat. They'll also need some access to a water tray too. We have a low drinker and our babies who are only 4 days old are sucking the rim of that! They're nutters, walls of death around the stable, if the weather stays fine will let them out into the big wide world at the weekend. Clover seems to be doing ok, been sponging her undecarriage down with cool water andmaking sure she has time out from the little scamps. 4 of them are right belly busters ;D
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Thanks Mandy i'll try the creep feed as well. Mine are still inside as it's easier to give mom jabs. I'd planned to put them all out Sunday but weather is turning really cold and she has a few more days of jabs to go so will have to be week after that. Also we need to put some chicken wire round the stock fencing else they'll be out!
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There's a cold snap supposed to come next week Helen - just so you bear it in mind before putting them out.
I don't know if it will affect pigs the same, but a wee while after one of my kids was born I was given a course of anti-b's and it affected my milk supply - maybe the same for pigs, but not sure (just thinking out loud lol!)
Another good way of feeding piglets is to get a length of guttering (doesn't need to be huge) and screw it to a couple of sturdy blocks of wood. That way it stays upright, but provides a nice shallow trough for them AND a stage to dance on ;) Just leave 6 inches either end without food so it doesn't all end up on the floor. My wee runt in the last litter used to get on one end and push it's way up to the other, eating as he went - sooooo cute to watch :love:
Mandy, glad everything went well with Clover ;D :pig: :pig: :pig: :pig:
I'm patiently waiting out my last week before Adelaide's due hers - she was served on 10-10-10, wonder if it'll be 10 piglets......................................... ;) :wave:
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Thanks Karen, the milk supplement came today so soaked some feed in that and gave them that, they seemed to start to get the hang of it but I guess it'll take a while for them to take it well.
The thing that saddens me is that it's probably a bad idea to breed her again I guess.. She is feeding them enough that they're not starving but her udder is still lumpy but not hot any more which is good. I'll have to give it a lot of thought I guess but I'd hate to breed her only to find she can't feed them at all next time. I guess I need to think long and hard.
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Helen,
I know what you're saying - it's a tough call and if she was in a commercial piggery she'd probably have been earmarked for slaughter after weaning BUT you're not a commercial piggery, she was a maiden gilt and tbh if it was me I'd be tempted to let her have one more go at it before making a decision. After all, she's not been aggresive to the point of killing any of them and she is still managing to feed them, even if it does mean supplimenting a wee bit. Yes, I'm a big softy, but as has been said before, pigs have a way of surprising you ;) I wasn't the best mum first baby I had, I had to learn so I was better next time round. Poor piggy's not had all the midwifes to keep her right ::) and everybody deserves a second chance :love: :pig:
Karen x
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Thanks Karen, the pig with mastitis is Kim she took to things beautifully right from the start so it's a real shame this has happened. She's doing her best but just isn't that milky now. Either way I'm just as big a softie as you so we'll probably end up with a 'pet' pig if things don't work out with breeding.
Aggie who was aggressive at first is now the model mom, managing just fine with 11 and very happy with them now.
It's all been a huge learning curve and just when I heaved a sigh of relief Kim got mastitis. She had a bit of a temp when she farrowed but we gave abs and she's very clean in her bed so I guess maybe it was their teeth.. Who knows. Anyway heed luck with Adelaide :-)
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I think all pig keepers are big softies at heart thats why i have 2 x 6 1/2yr old lardies who are not productive at all!!
A tip might be to give Kim next time she farrows a jab of long acting antibiotic as soon as she's farrowed as a precautionary, won't do her any harm and may prevent the onset. Like Karen i would give her another chance and decide after that.
Karen, Clover is being a wonderful mum, she has all the qualites of a regimental seargant major and theres some cracking little pigs, she did stand on one whcih was very sad as it was a gilt (why is it always a gilt!!?) so we've got 11 now. Good luck with Adelaide, i'm sure she'll be fine. i think we get more stressed than they do!! ;D
Best Mandy
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Checked Clover this morning, think she's starting with this rotten lurgy! :(
Her udder is very hot at the back between her legs and feels very solid, off to ring the vet and will collect a jab for her this afternoon. Makes me now wonder if its inherited.
Wil keep you posted Mandy
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Oh damn Mandy that's too bad. Hope she's ok soon. Kim seems ok after her course of ABs bit constipated now but will have to give her some bran mash.