[pinkylol]

i have a piglet - just over 3weeks old. It was unsteady on its   back legs and now its started to drag them - also doesn't seem to be eating.

Have spoken to my local vet but she mainly does horses so is not sure what it could be.I suspect meningitis but carnt get close to take its temperature.I had one piglet from the same litter die about aweek ago - it couldn't open its jaw - the vet came and put it down as i couldn't face killing it myself. HELP!

                      Anybody got any advice?   
                                                               

[Farmer]

Could be menengitis...what breed of pigs? Are you sure it hasn't been squashed by Mum? Have you removed it from the others? Is it feeding? ...are any others showing signs of illness? How does the sow react to it?

Lots & lots of questions...but try and give more information please

Farmer
 

[pinkylol]

  They are saddlebacks,they are in a stable which has access to an outside paddock at the back .

A friend checked its back legs and they are not broken, it was walking/wobbling on its back legs yesterday, but has got worse today.

All the rest are fine ,i haven't separated it-do you think i should?

The sow doesn't really bother,but the piglet sits near her and tries to feed by nursling as they do to get milk.
The mother ( laura) is very friendly but like all mothers is protective of her babies and as soon as she hears one of them squel she comes to see whats wrong.

The piglets are friendly and will come up to me when i have bananas for them.

But im at my wits end as to what to do for the poorly one as he wont let me near him and is not talking food.

The piglet that died, the vet put him downlast week ,its jaw couldn't open but was still running around.Not sure what i will find in the morning.

[doganjo]

I cannot understand this - I am sorry if I offend but I think anyone taking on young animals should do all they can to learn about them first.  I have bred dogs for 30 years and even before my first litter I asked so many questions of a local breeder of my breed and read so many books before I mated my bitch.  If that pig is still alive tomorrow morning for gods sake get a different vet in. If your own vet doesn't know about pigs he is useless to you, you should have gone to another one the first time. I don't meant to offend and I am sure you think you are doing your best by asking on here but answers on here are not instant and young lives can go up and down in an extremely short time!

[Hilarysmum]

First thing remove piglet.  Feed mum as far from piglet as pos.  Have a cardboard box at the ready.  Put piglet in box, it will stop squealing.

You can try feeding the piglet, but personally I think this may be a case of kinder to let vet put it down.

[pinkylol]

Thanks hillarysmum,nice to hear some kind words.
I have just saved one piglet from another litter,mum stood on it,it had a big gash on its side, the vet stitched it up and i have been caring for it over the past 4 days.One the day it was due to have its stitches out it suddenly died.What a heart breaker as she was a real fighter and was feeding well and having penicillin injections.

Then i noticed this one ( different litter), i have checked on him this morning ,and hes the same, gonna try and get some penicillin in him, but it may be kinda if i let the vet put him  down.
And in reply to doganjo , i sat down last night after a day out in field with my pigs, trawled through all the pig sites i could find,asked a vet on line,but as yet no reply,and thought maybe people on this site have had a similar experience,as i thought that is what this site is for,exchange of ideas and advice.And i will be speaking to another vet,just thought i would try and get some advice from people with more experience as i do not know everything about pigs but im learning.And i love my pigs very much and give them lots of TLC,i rescued them all from the slaughter house in the first place,and Berti ,our Boar,is the royal show reserve champion 2007 and his breeders have been to see us and said " we were doing a brilliant job as they all looked healthy".And they have been breeding pigs for many years.
So i"ll stop now,go and see to my animals and check in later to see if there is any usefull advice.

[BadgerFace]

Morning Pinky

You say the first piglet that died couldn't open it's jaws, that sets bells ringing for me as possible tetanus ? (having seen a horse with it many years ago). I have luckily never seen a pig with it, so have no idea how it affects pigs. I've copied this over form the the pigsite, in the hope it may help.

Tetanus
(386) Tetanus is caused by the bacterium Clostridium tetani which produces toxins that affect the central nervous system. The organism, which can form spores, lives in the large intestines and faeces of many mammals, including pigs and in certain soils. It must enter through a dirty abrasion or a cut. In the sucking pig the most common source is castration. Tetanus spores are found in the soil and this disease can be a problem in outdoor pigs. The incubation period is from 1 to 10 weeks. It would be uncommon to see disease in the sucking piglet under 2 weeks of age. The affected piglet is hypersensitive, shows stiffness of legs and muscles, an erect tail and muscular spasms of the ears and face. A multivalent clostridium vaccine containing tetanus toxoid is highly efficient in preventing disease and could be used in pregnant sows if a herd has a problem. Castration techniques should also be checked because unhygienic methods can lead to infection and tetanus 2-8 weeks later.

I would try and find a local pig vet ASAP - Good luck, (and I hope I'm totally barking up the wrong tree) 

[carole]

Good luck with this situation, I agree you will need to look elsewhere for a piggie vet.

Keep us updated please. I dont know where you are located as there maybe someone on here who could recommend a vet for you close by.

Carole

[pinkylol]

 

     Thanks carole, iv got a large animal vet comming over in the next 1/2 hour,but i think i may be tetanus or meningitis,iv managed to separate it from mum but it wasn't happy at all,neither was mum!
The farm was a dairy farm before we came, so may be something in the soil,will ask the vet.
  Will keep you informed.

                                                                         

[pinkylol]

  It was meningitis,as i suspected.The vet came and gave him a painkiller and antibiotic and it is best staying withits mother.

And there is hope it will recover,plenty of fluids and TLC.But this is not something you generally vaccinate against,he said he must have been a bit week and picked it up from the soil.So im going to move them all at the weekend and clean the stable out but not sure what i can do about the paddock.Any advice?

Does  anybody give their pigs multivitamin injections,just thinking of ways to prevent this happening again.

Thanks for all the help.

[jameslindsay]

That's good and encouraging news. I will keep my fingers crossed for a full recovery.

[doganjo]

Glad to hear you have now found a sensible and knowledgeable  vet - didn't mean to offend, just don't like to hear of delays when babies are concerned.  As I said before, internet advice is very good usually - although sometimes you get widely different opinions - but it is rarely fast enough because young animals go up and down so quickly.  I hope he continues to progress to being a  healthy animal.

[Unicorn]

As a pig breeder for seven years, we offer pig keeping courses to cover things like this with new pig keepers, and also we advise that you MUST get a PIG VET.
Pigs are different to other animals and an ordinary vet just will not do.


The reason why pigs have such big litters is because it is not expected that they will all survive
(in the wild or otherwise).
Any pig breeder who tells you that is not normal to lose one or two pigs per litter would be telling lies - this is why the BPA have the provision to show piglets born, and piglets weaned.

The mothers sometimes stand on a piglet, it is hard for her when she has up to 15 babies running around her, and it is upsetting.   You usually also have at least two runts with a big litter, and these will have to fight for survival.  The boys and the biggest usually survive and will knock the weaker ones off the teats - this is nature.
Also pigs have 12 teats usually, and saddlebacks we have have given birth to 15 piglets.  So theres a pointer that nature will take its course - or there will be a few slimmer ones not getting as much milk.

You will get used to it, you have to harden a little, you will never be able to save them all and have to accept that when you have livestock you have deadstock - its not a small animal that only has three or four babies at a time, and pigs have the easiest birth if you look at the size of the pig, compared to the size of the piglet.

I wish you luck in your pig keeping, and I hope that I have not upset you, cause thats not my aim, it is difficult with your first litter, and I do know how you feel, believe me - we have three breeds and every sow is different, some are great mothers, some useless and some even eat their piglets - they usually end up as sausages and again we have only had that problem with saddlebacks that we bought in from someone whom was getting out of pigs. 

Get a good pig vet, and get a book on pig keeping, our friend Richard Lutwiche has a book out, he runs the saddleback and the GOS breeders clubs -
google them or amazon for his book - The Saddleback Breeders Club is a good one to Join too - and the website is great.

Enjoy watching the little piglets - and do post us a picture won't you x

[Hilarysmum]

So glad he is surviving.  We have a specialist pig vet, however, before we became customers they were used only to going out to farms where a few pigs had died.  Its normal here.  If its weak leave it to die.  Not my way.  We have a runt pig whose mum stood on him and who was "stitched up" by the vet.  At 11 weeks he is fast catching up with his siblings, but not back in with the other pigs, he prefers the good life.  Hope your little one survives.
HM