[Abigail]

Hi,

One of my pot belly pigs is not doing so well. He started acting strangely yesterday and is not eating normally. He is eating a small amount but not with his normal enthusiasm which I understand means he is sick. I took his temperature and it is normal 100.4 (pot belly temperatures are lower)

He has a cut on his stomach and one on his ear. The one on his ear I think might be infected so maybe this is causing him pain? Therefore stopping him from wanting to eat normally. He is also just started to form his testicles so possibly it could be a testosterone related? Although I don't think so as he just seems a little sad.

We recently added a new male and female to the pen and the new male has started becoming very dominant so this could have something to do with it?

I have the vet coming out today to check on him but wanted to ask you all your advice as the vet doesn't have much experience with these things.

Thank you for your help!

[HappyHippy]

It could be an infection or it could be that he's been hurt by the other male 

Cuts and scrapes should always get cleaned up straight away and given a quick spray of antibiotic spray (like Teramycin) to stop infection setting in  You'll probably need to give a jab of antibiotics for the infection. Acting quickly in the first instance saves a lot of trouble in the long run 

What age is he ? and what age is the other male ?

I would NEVER recommend mixing uncastrated males, ESPECIALLY when there is a female in the mix. Uncastrated male pigs will fight (sometimes with fatal consequences) and having a female present will make it much worse. You need to seperate them straight away and have one or both castrated as a matter of urgency if you want them to mix.

I'd seperate out the one who's not quite himself and keep him on his own til he's recovered and back to his usual happy self, don't mix him til you sort out the castration issue.
HTH
Karen

[Abigail]

Yes the vet has been and said that he thinks the cuts were from the males fighting. I wasn't sure because there is a lot of bracken and undergrowth around and didn't know if he has just snagged himself as we spend a lot of time outdoors with the pigs and haven't really seen them being that aggressive towards each other.

The little one is only 8 months old and the other male is about 3 years old but he has a bad limp so when he first arrived he felt a little sorry for himself but recently he has started establishing himself as the leader.

We have cleaned the wounds up with some iodine I think that the vet gave us and squeezed the ear to get rid of pus (wasn't easy!!). The vet said he didn't think an antibiotic jab was necessary so we will see. The cuts aren't really bad but they are definitely causing him discomfort as you could see his pain when we cleaned them up.

We have separated the little one now and put him in with the sheep for the time being as he seems to get on quite well with them. We want to get them castrated but the vets on this area have absolutely no experience castrating Vietnamese potbellies and there uncertainty didn't instill a lot of confidence in me. But I spoke to another vet in a different region and he said that it was a very similar procedure to cats.

Thanks so much for the advice!