Diarreah and Discharge from the eyes

Haskins418

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Hello! This is my second year raising pigs. Last year we had no problems and I guess we were lucky...cause this year we've been having problems with our pigs who we picked up from what seemed like a reputable breeder. He had many litters of different ages in a large commercial farm. Both pigs have been having diarrhea on and off from the start. They have been acting,eating and drinking normally all along, however. It keeps getting better then coming back and I haven't changed the feed except giving some kitchen scraps. I dewormed them with Ivomec about three weeks ago. The guy we got them from gave one of them a shot of penicillin as well (it cleared up for a short time after that). Now one of them has red, watery eyes with discharge an it seems like he's not gaining weight. Again, he's acting normal. We just put them out on pasture yesterday hoping that this will clear some of the confinement issues. They are loving the pasture but still having diarrhea, and now this with the eye discharge. I don't know what more we could do besides giving more ivomec or penicillin which I don't really want to do. We are going to change the food because it's the only thing that has remained constant. I also wonder if it's the bedding we put them in because some of it is moldy. Help! What do you think could be the problem and are there other natural ways to deal with something like this? I am afraid they have some obscure commercial pig virus that won't go away.
 

mysunwolf

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I've never had this happen before, but... I would consider giving some sort of scour-stop just to get them to stop the diarrhea while you are figuring out what to do about it. I wouldn't change the food as that could cause even more digestive upset--unless you have reason to believe the food is contaminated, in which case you could feed plain cracked corn for a few days. Give yogurt or something for probios. I wouldn't worry too much about moldy bedding if it was hay or straw, but it wouldn't hurt to change it out for fresh. Is the poop actual liquid or just runny?
 

Haskins418

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It's just runny. I am worried about the discharge in eyes as well. We changed the food to see what would happen because it's the only thing that's remained the same throughout all of this and they've had diarrhea on and off the whole time.
 

mysunwolf

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Guess you can't take a temp of a pig that size... ;) but I would guess pneumonia. Honestly I would give them antibiotics at this point, I think Nuflor is preferred but Tylan might be acceptable.
 

Haskins418

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I was wait until the vet comes Friday to give antibiotics but now the poor thing's eyes are completely crusted shut. They didn't have that stuff at TSC. They only had penicillin. Will that work? How much do I give?
 

mysunwolf

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From here, intramuscular 1ml per 100lbs body weight once daily for a max of 4 days.

My other thought is that if they did not respond to antibiotics before, that it might be something more serious and/or viral, but the vet should be able to tell you.
 

Haskins418

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Thanks for your help! Waiting for the vet...
 

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