The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: mrsbeckett on September 17, 2013, 08:33:45 am
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hi again, Percy, for those who don't know, is a piglet who someone found newborn and badly sunburned walked beside a country road. he was brought to me to look after as the RSPCA wanted nothing to do with him and no farms would take him, he became a part of our family like a puppy. he is about 8 weeks old now and seemed to be doing great. until yesterday when i went to get him up in the morning and his whole body was swollen with bubbles of water under the skin, so much that he could barely walk and his neck was swollen so his breathing was laboured. we are not a well off family, and would not have planned to get a pig, but decided to try and deal with it here rather than face vet costs that we might not be able to pay. Advice online said this happens and to lance them and drain, keeping them clean. i spent all day yesterday doing so, and as his temperature was shockingly low, he was cuddled up in a wam bed with hot water bottle under his blanket. by the evening the swelling was less and he looked better. this morning however, he is colder despite the warm attempts, he wont eat or move, he just lays limp in my arms with laboured breathing. we are doing all we can but it seems to be too late. has anyone experienced this????
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I've never heard of anything like this :-\ nor has my OH (who worked in commercial piggeries when younger)
If you don't want to get the vet out (and a long acting anti-biotic might help him), do you have a farming neighbour who might have a way of dispatching him humanely to save him suffering ?
I really feel for you, you've done really well to keep him going this long........poor Percy and poor you :hug:
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Sorry I can't offer any advice but this is so sad after all that you have done for him. :fc: That he gets better
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Could be an allergic reaction?
I've never seen it in pigs, but once had a horse with a barley allergy. He would become covered in hives (urticaria) at the smallest wiff of barley. If I remember correctly, Vet treatment was hydrocortisone injections? (was a few years ago).
I would be telephoning the vet for advise - good luck.
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I don't have much experience of pigs but just wanted to say how sad I was to read your post. You have done so well with him to date and so this is a horrible thing to happen now after all your hard work. I am keeping everything crossed for a good outcome, but if you can try and get him to a vet it would probably be best. :fc:
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Our vets don't charge for advice given over the phone.
Best of luck, hope Percy pulls through. :fc:
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So sorry to hear this :hug: I hope it ends well, please keep us posted.
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hello again all thank you for the comments nice to know you're rooting for Percy! Well its been a mad couple of days, like having a newborn baby again! after his worrying morning i honetly thought we would lose him and even had our oldest daughter (3) say goodbye to percy before she went to preschool. He was freezing cold, his heart rate had plummeted and he was wetting himself and wouldnt open his eyes, but we refused to give up and gave ourselves 12 ours to try and get him on the up! i then set to work with three (yes three!) hot water bottles, 5 blankets, antibiotic and salt water washing to prevent/deal with starter infections at the lance sites all over his body, back to formula milk on the bottle as he was so weak he didnt want to eat (and for a piggy thats a shocker!) Well by evening he was trying to walk again (HURRAH!) he is still wibbly but defecating and urinating as normal again where he had been wetting himself in my arms that frighening morning which he hadnt even done as a teeny piglet! I was up in the night with him changing hot water bottles and bedding since he has been losing plenty of fluid from his lance sites, and I even found the dog licking him through his crate bars which was very sweet. this morning he is a lot more Percy than he has been for about 48 hours, walking still a bit wobbly and his breathing is still a wheeze but he is a lot better and im no longer thinking its the end! I ruled out pneumonia since he has no temperature in fact was prone towards hypothermic readings, and no cough, though he does have dirty eyes but i think thats just him, he always had eye gunk even before gettng ill. i just read one of the comments about allergies so will give him a shot of benadryl to see if that helps, that would certain explain his eyes, and will be ready to ask my vet for antibiotics if the wheeze progresses to a cough. any further thoughts on cause of this weird sickness would be appreciated, i can only find one reference in books and online about water retention under their skin and no cause for why it happens so we are going off the cuff a bit!
We are all extremely glad he is pulling through though, we realised how much he has meant to us when we nearly lost him! It was strange to think how awful it would be to lose him to a sickness and yet we would be fine with him going to slaughter at the appropriate age! I can't work out whether it has put me off more pigs or made me determined to get more!!!!
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Great to hear that he is looking a bit better. :fc: That he is on the mend now
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:fc: for Percy :love:
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Percy is an incredibly lucky pig to have ended up living with you!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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Glad he is making progress in the right direction :fc: all continues, well done you. He is one lucky little piggy. Just a thought have you used anything like shake n vac in the house? as a contact allergy.
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Just wondering if he'd been outside and rubbing/rolling in plants which could have caused an allergic reaction? sometimes sun can create a blistering after contact with certain plants?
I have to admit, I expected the worst, well done for keeping going with him and not giving up. :fc:
Maybe others would know better but would his low temperature be due to shock from an allergic reaction?
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Hi So pleased to hear that he is getting better, but just something with the antibiotics, I suggest you check over the phone with a vet or someone who knows (perhaps a pig farmer, or someone here) that the medications you give him are safe for pigs. Not related obviously but some animals such as hedgehogs can react to penicillen, and i have a feeling pigs react to some meds too. However maybe you have used these meds before with him, so I dont want to be alarmist! Over 20 years ago some farmers i new had a pig that got into their garden and ate beetroot leaves, and had an allergic reaction, bruised all over, and almost didnt make it, but did survive in the end after vet treatment.
It sounds a bit like hives? but they normally go down. hives i THINK is an allergic reaction, could be from a bee sting or something like that ?- a spider or snake?
Good luck
Fabulous that he has done so well, great that you are dedicated to him. Best of luck.
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:bouquet: :fc: :love:
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Hi again! Percy still doing ok but not 100% yet. still a bit of a wheeze but not that bad. the water bubbles are reforming though so will have to keep draining them as before. I dont think it is allergic, if it is i cant think what on earth has caused it. i wash his blankets with the same powder i always have, our garden is grass and the occassional stinger that gets removed for the kids, nothing obnoxious out there. the only thing could be that he keeps munching on the apples falling from the tree but would that make him react?? no weird stuff used in the house, dogs are wormed and de-flead in the kennels so he cant have rubbed on them or anything. thanks for all the support, will keep on posting any updates on our little mystery pig!! :)
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How's he doing now? :fc:
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Hi all again! Percy still with us and still very much with it which is great! am beginning to wonder if this continual relapse of getting weak then pulling through might be anaemia as i am doubtful he would have ever had a shot of iron when he was brought to us at such a young age? He does root around in the garden a lot but i think ill look into getting a shot or tablets from the vet for him. I've heard mixed opinions of iron in food, the debate of giving raw egg or not is confusing to me! Anyone had any experience of anaemia? His diet is mostly apples (cheeky sod) and peelings from the kitchen, bread scraps sometimes, milk and cereals. He eats well but is a tad fussy on some peelings, not to keen on raw carrot but will eat cooked (spoilt little piggy!) should i change any of this? Pig farmer friends of ours advised not to give commercial pig feed as its full of all sorts he doesnt need as a free range pig.
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Firstly it is illegal to feed a pig anything from the kitchen. Proper pig feed is what he needs it is full of all the vitamins and minerals that he needs. The most likely reason he is not doing well is that his diet is wrong.
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Under absolutely NO circumstances should he get anything from your kitchen :o It's illegal for one thing and a disease risk for another.
If stuff is peeled/cooked outside that's another matter and he will benefit from a bit of variety in his diet but I'd avoid bread as it will make him over fat without providing any real nutritional value.
I would disagree with your pig farming friends, he does need some form of 'hard feed' - pig food is especially formulated to contain all the vitamins & minerals he needs for healthy growth and development. Without it he just won't go and do as well as he should (especially if he's a commercial 'white' pig - they need good levels of feeding) I'd go for 1lb of hard feed for every month of age, up to a maximum of around 5lbs per day. If he's not been in the habit of getting hard feed build him up gradually, two or maybe even 3 feeds per day, plenty of water available for him and don't give in when he squeals for tasty stuff and tries to tell you he doesn't like the pig nuts :innocent:
I think you'll see quite a difference in him once he's eating as he should - he'll do much better :thumbsup:
HTH
Karen
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ok thanks guys!!! thought it was only illegal to give them meat and meat by-products! mostly its peelings from our own garden anyway as we grow our veg so hopefully nothing nasty been going to him that way! going to get some proper pig food today for the fella and will wean him slowly from his current food to that :)
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he definitely needs real commercial pig food.
some people can mix their own feeds and feed the "natural" way but this requires alot of research and commitment to get the nutrients right. free ranging isnt enough - unless he has access to wild kill, a woodland full of slugs and plenty of veg and nuts etc. my traditonal breed pigs were kept in 20 acres of woods but they still needed proper pig food to kept healthy, a suprising amount when it is cold and windy.
remember the hybrid type of pig will have this hardiness bred out of them so must be fed properly, especially if he has had a bad start to life.
keeping warm is tricky when hes on his own as they tend to lie on top of each other in a heap when its cold.
when you lanced the lumps - did anything come out? when my pig had lumps - it was her lymph nodes swollen rather than an abcess filled with pus.
is he still on milk? if so what kind?