[Pigglewiggle]

  One of the new weaners we bought yesterday has had its ear tag ripped out. It looks awful poor thing, the ear is split in two and very red.  I am not sure what to do today as it is Sunday and the vets is closed.
 What is the best thing to do with the ear, is there a spray I can use to help it heal ? or will it need closing up properly. It looks like he will always have a split ear.
 What would anyone recommend to use on the ear ? All advice gratefully received.

 Debbie

[gavo]

Do you have alamycin spray [it's used for sheeps feet mainly] but is a good general antibiotic spray;or perhaps aloe vera spray.Generally pigs heal pretty quick and although he /she wont look the prettiest they'll be ok. Spray at least morning and night keep an eye to see it's clean; it should settle in a day or two.

[Pigglewiggle]

 Thanks,

 I will get some spray in the morning, he seemed fine apart from the cut. didn't seem to of affected his appetite !

 Debbie

[pigsatlesrues]

For today!

"Treat infected wounds with honey. There is scientific proof that honey can help heal infected wounds. The reason why a wound is infected, is because some microorganism got into the wound and started living in it. Well, honey does not allow for growth of microorganisms in the wound. Honey can absorb water from the wound and also has a very low water content. Microorganisms need water to survive. By the honey taking away the water from the wound, the microorganisms die. When the microorganisms die, the wound is able to heal from the infection. Honey also has hydrogen peroxide in it, which is used to treat infected wounds and heal them fast."

We had a pig with exactly the same problem - we did have the spray and she healed fine.  Honey apparently works  just as well though.

Kate

[Hilarysmum]

PLR wouldn't  honey  attact flies?

Pigglewiggle, the spray is best.  We had a similar injury some years ago.  Waited for the vet for 8 hours, when they arrived they said they could not stitch the wound.  We had already cleaned the wound.  They advised to continue with the spray, (probably Alcymin) and to keep an eye on it.  It cleaned up, dried up and she always had a bit of ear missing.  Other than that no problem at all.

[pigsatlesrues]

As first aid this time of night no HM. First aid ahead of the vets visit tommorrow will give some protection and start the healing process.

Kate

[little blue]

if theres a garage open nearby... we've used Dettol antibiotic spray before, ok its expensive but does the job!

[little blue]

if theres a garage open nearby... we've used Savlon antibiotic iodine spray (for people!) before, ok its expensive but does the job!

[Pigglewiggle]

Thanks for all the advice, off to buy some spray first thing in morning. I imagine it must of hurt loads poor thing, it would be like having an earring pulled out OUCH..

 Debbie

[egglady]

we had that with one of our boys in february.  the only thing we had was purple spray that we use for the horses, so we used that and he is absolutely fine. of course it didnt come back together but he isn't bothered by it at all

[Hilarysmum]

We always keep a tin of purple spray handy.  Even used it on the OH although he had some trouble explaining why he had a purple hand the following day at work.  Some things just dont translate well.

[Brucklay]

Although not a pig - one of my pygmy goat wethers had the same problem last summer - out to do their feed and found Cole with his ear ripped totally in half - it must have happened in the afternoon and as my parents were visiting I'd not checked on them since lunchtime so I felt totally guilty. It wasn't bleeding so I sprayed with antiseptic spray and called the vet - they said it would be too late to stick and was very common in cattle and they don't seem to worry about it. We spent ages checking fence lines, around the shed etc and never found the tag or where it could have happened but since then I have seen my large wether chewing/nibbling ears and not so sure he didn't pull out the tag - but Cole was perfectly OK and never seems to bother about his wonky ear.

[Micko]

Hi Debbie....we got our first ever pigs 2 weeks ago now (2 OSB / Tam crosses) and noticed after the first day the ear tag was hanging out of an ear with a fair sized rip. Looked horrible but had some spray and used that. Didn't seem to be clearing up that well and day or 2 later the tag totally ripped out and wound was bloody and manky. During the day the pig decided to chill out in the sun laying next to the gate...and along came our mad aggressive dog (usually snarls at both the pigs through the netting) and promptly lay down alongside the pig and started licking the wound on the pigs ear!! Weird and we were gobsmacked. She carried onto until the wound was all cleaned up (both sides!) and since then its all healed up brilliantly.

Go get yourself a mad dog!!!

[egglady]

what a brill story!  animals are sooooooo much cleverer and wiser than us humans....