2 Lame pigs and one with a cough

General swine health questions, bio-security, vet recommendations
Post Reply
Kt13
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 8:41 am

2 Lame pigs and one with a cough

Post by Kt13 » Wed Apr 10, 2019 9:28 am

Hello! We are new to raising show pigs, my husband and I raised 4h pigs Growing up but things have definitely changed since then. In all our years combined we never had a sick pig. Our son is now old enough to join 4h so we decided to let him take a pig to the fair. We were on 3 breeders lists over the course of us trying to find pigs to show. The first breeders pigs didn’t take with an attempted AI, the second breeder wasn’t sure she would have enough pigs for the number of people on her list, the 3rd had just enough allowing us to buy the last 2 pigs he had available. When we went to pick up the pigs, we noticed they were not walking much but thought the tenderfoot flooring was making their feet sore. When we got them home, they were still reluctant to walk, and when standing would tap their back feet, shifting their weight back and forth. I also noticed one had a swollen spot on her front leg. I began researching and decided to treat with Lincomycin for mycoplasma arthritis, as it seemed to be the worst case scenario. We treated them for 4 days without much improvement. Realizing the chance of these pigs making weight was very slim, I contacted a guy down the road with bigger cheaper pigs for sale. The first pig I picked, upon inspection in daylight, had an unbilical hernia and terrible mange, so I put her back. I picked a second pig to buy, and the breeder said as we were driving off that she’s had a cough and we should give her some LA 200. We didn’t really feel we had any other choice at this point so we brought her home and gave her 3 doses of biomycin.
Now we have 2 (40 lb) lame pigs and one (70 lb) still with a cough. I was planning to give the first 2 pigs Biomycin for a couple days to see if that helps. What else can I do for them. I gave them one dose of Dexamethasone and that seemed to help
but that was all the vet gave me. What should I try next? We’ve had them one week today. My goal now is to get the small lame pigs up to butchering weight eventually and to get the bigger pig over her cough and to make weight to show at the fair in july. And advice welcome
Some lessons already learned:
Don’t rush to buy, give each pig a good look over for health issues
Don’t purchase from more than one place,
Don’t expect healthy pigs, honesty, or integrity

BerkBabe
Power User
Power User
Posts: 67
Joined: Mon Nov 20, 2017 6:53 am

Re: 2 Lame pigs and one with a cough

Post by BerkBabe » Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:23 pm

The symptoms sound similar to mycoplasma arthritis. If it is that, lincomycin is the medicine of choice. However, since they haven't responded to that, you might ask your vet for another antibiotic to try. One time, I had young pigs that exhibited lameness as you describe. My vet had given me Excede antibiotic, and that worked for me. I would also treat your coughing pig with that as well. You might want to also ask for a few shots of banamine for the pigs. This helps with inflammation and pain. I would also make sure you've dewormed all of the pigs, especially the coughing pig. Sometimes a bad case of parasites can make them cough.

If it is mycoplasma arthritis, sometimes it settles in their joints as well, and there's not much that can be done for that (that I'm aware of anyway if it gets too far along).

Good luck!

mict71
Showpig Specialist
Showpig Specialist
Posts: 145
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2015 8:47 am
Location: Wisconsin

Re: 2 Lame pigs and one with a cough

Post by mict71 » Thu Apr 11, 2019 6:20 pm

Those two breeders you bought from should be ashamed for letting pigs off their farm who arent healrhy. I have never let a pig off my farm that i wouldn't have bought myself. They give everyone who does a good job a bad name. I cant help you with the lame pigs, but the one with the cough you might try worming. If there was a mange issue there then i would guess you might have a lung worm issue also.

Post Reply