[Kerry]

Hi,
My name is Kerry and I help a friend at an animal sanctuary. We have many animals including pigs. Sadly today-19th November we lost one of our piglets. His name was obviously Babe and he was the runt the litter.
He and his 3 friends arrived with us about 3 months ago when we got to the yard to find a large dog crate outside the gates of the yard. We assumed it was a dog! Low and behold we gained Babe, Florence, George and Fat Boris.
Babe was always the cheekier of the group with him and his best friend Flo getting into all sorts of mischief.
Anyway....
Today we arrived at the yard at 10am to find Babe lying flat out in the mud-the others were in their house. He has a couple of small cuts to his ears and was cold. We brought him into a stable and put a portable heater in there and a blanket. We syringed sugar water and redcell into him and he appeared to rally. It was while syringing that we noticed he wouldn't or couldn't open his mouth. He was up on his feet and wobbly but walking. By 12 we had noticed a deterioration in his condition and managed to contact our large animal vet who came out as soon as she could. She was a bit surprised at his condition and gave him antibiotics, metacam and something I'm sure she said was a toxin that would bind the tetanus?? (At this point it was all going over my head). She advised us that what she had given him would probably not cure him and we were looking at palliative care for him. A couple of minutes after she left he went down hill fast. I sat with him for and stroked him and talked to him for the next few hours. Every now and then his whole body would jerk and his legs would go stiff out in front of him.
We made the decision that the drugs were not working and he was declining fast so our best option was to have him pts. Luckily our local small animal vets agreed to do this as the other option was the 'knackerman'.
Babe went to sleep peacefully this afternoon.
In 20+ years of being involved in animals from dogs and cats to pigs and ponies I have never seen tetanus before and was shocked at just how quick it took him.
Has anyone else ever lost an animal this way?
Should we move the remaining 3?
We have scrubbed our boots and washed everything on hot washes.
We are probably being paranoid but we are now questioning everything we have done in the last couple of weeks.
Could our horses now be at risk???
Sorry to sound so dumb but we are in total shock!

[Berkshire Boy]

Never had it in a pig but we have our horses vaccinated every 2 years.

[Fowgill Farm]

Poor you what a terible thing to have happen, i too have never known tetanus in pigs but given they were dumped on you and you don't know where they came from all sorts of coffs, sneezes & disease are always a possibility.
Your vet will be best to advise as regards your other animals, make sure your own tetanus jab is up to date too. I have lost a sow to blood poisoning which is similar and it was the most horrifc experience and something i never wish to see again but its made me a better stockperson and i've learned from it.
Meanwhile you need to start thinking what you're going to do with the others as they get older as they can start to mate as young as 16wks old, i supect the boys will not be castrated and it would be too late to do it now, it will be hard but i think you need to look at fattening them up and sending them to the butchers which i know will probably be against the principles of an animal santuary but for the pigs will be the best and kindest option. You have to remember that you have given them a great life and raised them ethically and thats the best any meat producing livestock can hope for.
HTH
mandy
 

[nelson]

Hi Kerry - sorry for your loss. Its heartbreaking. 


We live in SW France and breed pigs. We have tetanus on our land. All our piglets are vaccinated with a tetatnus serum at 5 days. Here is our experience of Tetanus.


Our first case was a Berkshire castrate of 15/16 weeks. At feeding times he started to back away from food -I noticed that he wanted to eat but couldn't swallow. I replaced the granules with a wet farine and noticed he was sucking it. We carried him into the barn and he was sensitive to touch and quite stiff - another tell tale sign was the tail it was L shape and stiff. The vet came and diagnosed Tetanus straight away. He immediately went to the paddock where "Chappy" lived and vaccinated the remaining Berkshires there with the serum. He didn't expect Chappy to live - he was given the Tetanus serum, antibiotic and most important the sedative which was called Rompun 2%. This relaxed him and he could breath easier. He said this was used for humans cases. I think the vet would of let him go had he not seen that he could suck water. Chappie spent most of the time sedated and also in the dark with a soft light heat lamp. It took about 3 weeks of constant care to get him back. I had to pick him up - put him on his feet - he was as stiff as a board, massage his legs etc  - gradually he got better. I am sorry that I didn't video/photo this as I too couldn't find anything about tetanus. Chappy went on to have a lovely 2 years.
We had three more cases in very young piglets - (and because we failed to vaccinate) the piglets were 3 weeks old - different litters. One we saved - as I had some Rompun in the fridge and the antibiotic + the serum. The others we lost - you need to spot it quickly.  We do not fail to vaccinate all our piglets now.


  we have not had another case to date - it was wretched to see it happening, massive learning experience  BTW it is so important for you to have your jab too. Hope this helps I have rushed it a bit though.
 Best wishes
Lorraine x

[Mrs Snoodles]

Our Labrador had tetanus 2 years ago - a very very frightening experience. Fortunately, we got things at the onset stage... I knew that 'something' was not quite right and rushed him the vets.  It is extremely rare in dogs but living in East Anglia, there is a higher incident rate and amazingly our vet had seen 2 cases before in his career.   If we had spoken to a vet from another region the chances are that identification would have been missed, and our dog would not have fully recovered (you have treat in time) or would have died.

Treatment was similar to that previously described. An antibiotic to fight any infection in lungs  keep animal very quiet and warm, very low lights.   More antibiotics each day and a big struggle to get him to swallow food and water - his throat area had become totally rigid.  gradually his muscles started to relax and we could get food into him etc. 

On a positive note you only have to see it once in any animal once to be able to recognise it again.   If you have concerns do not wait..... crazy eyes, with enlarged white areas, silly 'smile' and frozen like areas of the body etc

Get your jab done asap.   Be safe.  I was told to get mine done after our dog was diagnosed.

Talk to your vet about how it is transferred and how you can ease your fears. Our dog got it through the soil - he had some cuts in his paws. 

I have a friend that moved up this way from Surrey...her Surrey doctor insisted she had a jab, again citing how common tetanus was in the region.

Our lab fully recovered. We had to wait a while before he could pick up a dummy again, but now a couple of years down the line he is working and has a wonderful life