The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: violet on April 08, 2011, 06:05:59 pm
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hI I have a 2day old piglet & mum must have stood on him. I found hime shortly after it happened upright on front legs sitting to one side on hip. Cann't tell yet if anything is broken, dislocated or just badly bruised. He is currently in a straw filled cardboard box in our kitchen. All I have is lamb milk & colostrum. Nearest vet 100 miles away & not due to visit 'till monday.
I would really appreciate any help advice.
thank you
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you have done all you can do sometimes they are allright and others you have to let nature take it course :wave:
sorry you have to be realistic in all aspects with this one :wave:
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Am i right in saying that you can give them baby milk?
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I don't really have an answer, but this might be some help http://www.pigpalssanctuary.com/health/baby_pigs.htm (http://www.pigpalssanctuary.com/health/baby_pigs.htm) . In the mean time, fingers crossed. let us know how it goes.
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I would say baby milk (made to half strength) and just keep him comfortable. He's maybe just sore at the moment (fingers crossed for you) At 2 days he'll have had colostrum from mum, so has a better chance than a newborn. Good luck and keep us posted !
Karen x
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Lamb milk is fine, but you need to add some vegetable oil, as pig's milk has a higher oil content. Any veg oil will be fine, and just add a little to the mix- say teaspoon to 1/4 cup milk - don't worry about exact amounts -you are just trying to keep it alive, not grow champoinship stock!
They feed very 1/2 hour or so, and their tummys hold very little, so it is a challenge to keep them going at that age.
If you have a creep area, I would rig a lamp up and put it in there, that way it'll keep the herd smell, and re-integrate quicker as it mends. You can then still feed it there. If you don't have a creep area, suggest you try and improvise one.
They mend pretty quick sometimes - crawling at deaths door in the evening, running round in the morning - depends on what damage she has done, but may well just be a bruise.
But a Lillian says some you win...
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Thanks folks for all that advice - wonderful.
She's now upstairs in the hatching room ( well the usual occupant is at uni ::) ) being fed by my daughter. We'll take back some bedding from the arc, as we don't live on site this arrangment is easier for us.
She seems a little better - sitting back on her haunches rather than to one side, but still not bearing any weight - but looking better than earlier - must be really strange for her ( she's a girl not a boy like I said earlier). But it's made my daughters night, having a piglet to mother :love: - she is realistic though & realises that the outcome may not be what we want.
Fingers crossed,
will keep you posted.
It's been some day ;D
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I'm surprised (or is that amazed) that the vet didn't give you any advice on what to do in the meantime. Wasn't anything suggested? Pain relief (anti-inflammatory) at the very least? I wouldn't have been at all happy with just a "the vet will be there on Monday" reply.
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Sorry if I gave the wrong impression. Our vets give a very good free telephone service and trust us to self-diagnose or find some-one who can. Our problem arises if we need to get hold of drugs that no-one locally has in stock or get a diagnosis of something physical that no-one really has experience of.
I was still in high adrenalin phase when I wrote last night. I've been seperating our other sow from her ( to-be) weaners, some of them escaped & then the boar decided to break out & join them. Fortunately I've good a very good perimeter deer fence, so it's OK to let them wander & the boar's really gentle - everything happens at once........................
Anyhow, Piglet fed well during the night & is nice & snug & very content. But the leg doesn't seem to have improved. Her tail was very pink yesterday, which is gone now & there seems to be swelling at the base (root) of it today. both legs seem to be fine, but one is just hanging, so I'm assuming that there is a problem at the hip on that side. I cann't feel any obvious breaks & she doesn't seem to be in any pain at all. Could it be splay leg ? She's quite mobile, though not really using either of her back legs - though this is probably easier for her than using just three.
Thia is now going to become something of a dilemma as I'm aware that the longer I have to keep her & feed her the harder it will be to reintegrate her. And if her leg doesn't fix then what......... :-\ Yes I will be phoning the vets, but again would appreciate any advice on this. Thank you all :)
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I'm not sure you can do much more but if her leg is hanging uselessly and stays that way you cant reintegrate her IMHO. You'll then be left with the dilemma of asking the vet to euthanaise her or having a disabled pig. I guess this is the harsher realities of keeping stock I guess.. Bloody shame though.
I do hope she does start to regain the use of her leg and it works out for you. If she's in no pain and feeding well then maybe it'll be ok fingers crossed.
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Thanks Helencus,
The leg works, but not from the hip - if that makes sense. I had something like it before in a chick which is why I got confused with splay leg.
I've felt around again & she has a sore bit at the top of her thigh, near her hip. I've been alternating arnica & comfrey ointments. She does seem to be trying to put weight on it though. So yep it is just wait & see isn't it :)
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Not wanting to raise your hopes falsely, but Digby, was quite damaged, including one of his hind legs. At almost 2 years old he has a very slight limp and occasionally has to stop and stretch the leg backwards before walking on. Otherwise he is one happy healthy pig. Hope your girl recovers too.
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HI, we had a piglet who was squashed by mum that we had to seperate and hand feed, she was 4 weeks old so older but couldnt walk due to two injured legs when I brought her inside. After two weeks of being with us she is now back with her brothers and sisters and you can't tell she ever had a problem. Fingers crossed for you :pig:
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Thanks again folks.
Yesterday she was great - recovering well. accepted bottle started making sucking noises for food when she saw us, if she was hungry. Ignored us or pretended she was scared if she wasn't. And started to try to get out of her box - she seemed bored. So I put her box in larger box so she could move about if she wanted. The brusing was also starting to show on her left hip/ thigh area, so we were feeling rather optimistic for her.
But by about 7 o'clock last night things started to change. She was hungry so I tried to feed her & she refused and I've hardly managed to get her to drink through the night at all. She was a little sick twice, just like baby sick. I am worried that 1. either I've done something wrong or 2. she may have internal injuries that are gradually getting worse. Yet neither quite make sense to me. Is there a day/ night difference perhaps. Yes I'm clutching at straws, but it's the relatively sudden change that bothers me. She's peeing & pooing ( usually over me) well. I've ( gently ) syringed milk into her this morning, as I don't want her weakness from lack of food to be the problem, I've also given her some painkiller - and she has perked up a little.
Any help suggestion, as before would be most welcome, thanks
I don't think I can do anything else.
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Hello again,
Just been speaking to my paediatrician, 'across the road', neighbour. who took piglet and had her walking across the grass! Just needs physiotherapy & breast milk, he says. Thinks she was probably breech, as he's seen a similar thing with breech babies, which meant she was already weaker in that area.
So tonight after feeding time I will reintroduce her to mum and see how it goes. I know it's what you adviced in the first place Oakland Pigs, so thanks & sorry, but I guess it's about having the confidence & experience to make these decisions.
At this stage it's worth taking the risk, will let you know tomorrow how it goes.
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When you put it back in spray it with something strong smelling and spray the rest of the piglets too. (Iodene,purple spray, tea tree etc could even be body spray if you've nothing else) not a lot, just a tiny wee scoosh so they all smell the same - this will lessen the chances of it being rejected for smelling different ;)
Hope it goes well :-*
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Thanks Karen, I did do that and it worked fine, she got her breast milk!
Sadly the piglet didn't make it :'( . Really don't know wether it was some sort of neurological damage or something else. Being my first such case it's always harder, an I've gone through the usual analysis.
Sad, but as Lillian said earlier - you win some you lose some. So I'll try not to dwell on it for too long.
Thanks for all the support folks :-*