[princesspiggy]

wow what a litter. did u flush her before service? or keep her slim? or do they usually have big litters?
congrats 

[SMarshall]

Well after much joy and excitment the last two days have been rather traumatic.

We got up yesterday to find Blossom not wanting to feed the piglets. She'd lie on her teets and not let the little ones feed :-( nor eat herself.  We checked her temp which was normal but just couldn't get her up or interested in food. Call to the vet and we treated her for farrowing fever as he said the temp goes up and then down and maybe we'd got the 'down' part. At this stage we made up some Farrowmate and put some shallow trays in with the piglets and stood them in it to get the drinking something. Thankfully most worked out what they needed to do quickly and got drinking. The rest are now joining in too.

Today the mum is no better and we've diagnosed mastitis :-(  she's had more jabs and we'll see how she does. The little ones are doing ok so far. They get up and go straight to the trays of milk to drink. Some keep trying mum but then just snuggle up next to her.

I have no idea what the future holds for our little ones but we'll be doing all we can to keep them going.

When we spike to our vet this morning he asked if she'd had mastitis before and when we said we'd bought her in-pig he sighed. He thinks she's been sold on as she's had mastitis before  :-s

Keep your fingers crossed for the little ones.

A very sad Steph

[arl]

Hopefully if they got a first feed of colostrum before the mastitis set in thecould be ok i had 2 litters last year at the same time and both sows got it it was a rally hot few days and i think that brought it on.I did the same as you,got them drinking from saucers and eventually little troughs somr sow replacer milk is really good,dont stint do what you pay for it quality does count.Both litters survived but they were small and took longer to get to where they should have been.The sows came back into milk but not lots and its better to leave piglets on her as it will help clear the teats. Have bred with both sows since and never had any problems.
Good luck
Arl

[Berkshire Boy]

Hi Steph,
Stay positive the little ones should do fine. I had a sow die when the piglets were 3 days old and we bottle fed and some drank from trays, we didnt loose any so yours have a good chance. You're lucky that they drink from the tray only half of ours would do that so I was up every few hours during the night bottle in hand,that was a long couple of weeks.

[princesspiggy]

good luck then, a bit of  nightmare but will give u story to tell oneday!!
 

[Tamsaddle]

So sorry to hear your news - I really hope you can get her better and feeding (her piglets) again.  In March I went through 5 weeks of hand feeding just 2 Tamworth piglets night and day.  It was an exhausting nightmare I wouldn't wish on anyone, and you have 16 to deal with.   Is the vet absolutely sure it is farrowing fever/mastitis - and not just a shortage of milk which might respond to oxytocin?   The best short term cure I have used with tetchy, reluctant sows (Tamworths in particular) is a can of Mackeson's stout, mixed with the nuts - it seems to calm them down and finally they allow the babies to suckle and the milk to flow.   (It is also much easier and cheaper than a jab of Stresnil.)   If the problem persists perhaps you would like to call or PM me - there are loads of things you will need to sort out to make the feeding workable, and it gets much worse as they get bigger.   Will send you my details shortly;  got to feed the pigs first - Tamsaddle

[SMarshall]

Hi all thought I'd drop you update. Thank you so much for all the suggestions, positivity and support-it's really useful to be able to pick peoples' brains and experience.

So a week on since things started to go pearshaped and, touch wood, everything is going well. We have been very lucky that all the piglets took to drinking milk from the trays, maybe because they were so young? Maybe they were just starving? but it really has made things simpler and they are growing well with some really podgy piglets! Piccies to follow!

We lost one last weekend and not sure why exactly but the rest are doing well.

Blossom has started to produce milk again (it was defo mastitis) and some do suckle from her whatever they can get out, but when the trays go down it's a feeding frenzy and then nap time.

More concerning is Blossom has something wrong with a back leg and really doesn't want to put much pressure on it. Oral drugs coming from the vet today will hopefully be a nicer experience than the injections for both her and us!

So all good so far but at 9 days old there's a while to go yet!

Thanks again for all the advice and Tamsaddle I'll drop you a line back when I'm on a proper computer and not my iPhone which is too small for easy typing and my iPad won't let me type on this site at all at the mo :-s

Thanks
Steph :-)

[sabrina]

Good that the little ones are doing ok, maybe mum has some nerve damaged caused by giving birth. Seen this in cattle that have had big calves.

[SMarshall]

Piccie from yesterday.  Not all in shot but most!
Steph
 

[SallyintNorth]

I've only just picked up on this thread.

Many congratulations on your lovely litter    and commiserations on the mastitis    Sounds like you're handling the situation well and the wee ones look great 

[princesspiggy]

ahh cute

[Tamsaddle]

They look like they are growing really well.   Well done!

[jaykay]

I'm glad they're doing well and drinking from trays 

One way I know a ewe has mastitis is that she limps on a back leg, because it's pressing on the sore udder. Now I know ewes' udders are more between their back legs than a pig's, but might the back leg problem be that too?

[Tamsaddle]

Re her sore back leg - were any of her injections in her rump?   I don't know if there is any connection, but I have noticed several times over the last few years, especially in the Tamworths, that there seem to be limping problems in the back leg/legs a few days after an injection into the rump area.   I spoke about this with the vet recently, and he thinks the needle may just have hit a nerve or blood vessel causing internal bleeding/bruising.   I was in a complete panic about one of my Tamworth weaners almost unable to use her back legs a week ago, 2 days after an injection into her butt, but she is absolutely fine now.  Just a possibility - Tamsaddle

[Polished Arrow]

Aw, that's really hard but great news on them taking to the tray feeding.  I'd be interested to see a photo of the type of tray you are using.


We tried to bottle feed the runt of Lady Penelope's litter, but he would not take to it, not even after quite considerable attempts were made to entice him.  We put him back with the family, where he seemed happy, but found him dead yesterday morning.  The dish I also tried feeding him from was a disaster - he just ran over and over it, tipping it and so on.  hence my question over what you used.  With 16 of them to feed, that's some achievement.  WELL DONE!!