josiegirl123

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wondering if anyone else has had experience with erysipalas. for the past week or even longer i have noticed our 2 year old sow ginger hasnt been walking that great. i figured it was because she was allowed to get very fat over this month. then yesterday she did not get up to eat. i took temp and it said 104.5. I immediately gave her some duramycin thinking it was pneumonia even tho her breathing was fine. later that day she did get up to eat, but not very enthusiastically i also administered more duramycin. its been hard to get a dose in her because my syringes were much too small. this morning i took her temp and tried to give her more medicine, broke the needle but her tmep was 102.9.

called the vet after and he was sure it was erysipelas. he said it was very common. later i looked up the symptoms and it fits her perfectly with her uneasy movement. he recommended giving her penicillin, he said he'd give her 15 ml in one go. got the larger syringes and penicillin form the store and the dosage said 1 ml per 100 lbs once a day over a max of 4 days. i saw in one other source online that you can give a larger dose once, then again in 48 hours. i wasn't sure which to listen to so i gave her 10 ml this evening, and in 2 days ill give her another 10. i felt that was sort of a happy medium. thoughts on this dosage?

anyway she's vastly improved, so i thought id share for people out there whos pig have those symptoms. i wish i had caught it sooner. i just didnt know what to do as she was breathing fine, she just didnt walk right and her breathing was a little weird when i watched her lahying down almost like she was shaking. the inappetance is what finally made me act.

i did have some questions tho. she is a breeding sow and i have read that erysialas can cause infertility. i havent been able to find ANYTHING about how often that happens tho. it would be such a shame if she became infertile. does anyone have experience with this? thankfully i dont really think the arthritis will be permenant as i know it can be in certain cases. she's walking better already. but i am concerned about fertility.
 

farmerjan

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Just noticed this thread. I have never had it in my hogs that I am aware of. Because it is caused by a bacteria it is easily treated and penicillin is one of the best old time standbys for bacteria infections. You should give the VET RECOMMENDED dosages.... they told you that to k nock it out as fast and with as much "punch" as possible. Like any bacterial infection. if you use too little, then there will be resistant bacteria and then it will be harder to kill.
It is hard to overdose with penicillin and with a hog's fat, it will not hurt to double the dose... the vet gave you a dosage that would hit it hard and fast. If I went to the trouble of asking a vet, I would take their recommendation over any other source unless you don't have confidence in the vet.
Since I have never dealt with it, I cannot tell you about the possibility of abortion or breeding problems. If you get it "cured" then you should not have alot of problems with it unless you have other hogs there that it can catch another dose of it. I believe there is a vaccine for it. I would try to breed her and see..... the worst thing is she will not take or will abort... if so, then she needs to go.
 

josiegirl123

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Ah yes I should do an update to this. Well the vet was absolutely right, we've talked to him since and he's great. I know he was right because that first dose didn't work!! Or not completely. So I called him back and he told me to give her 18 cc. That knocked it out. Afterwards I did read a lot of threads where the pig died, and I bet it's cuz they followed the instructions on the bottle. Now I know.

As for the infertility, she came into heat just days after she got better and he bred her and we are sure she's pregnant. No more heats and her pregnancy indicator is up. She'll be due may 30th I believe. We were so relieved!
 

farmerjan

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Hoping for a good litter of piglets for you.

I don't believe that "more is better" for many things.... but if the vet is saying to use a certain dose, then I certainly would do as recommended. Glad that you talked to him again, and got the dosage into her that knocked it out. I am thinking that it can be passed through the environment too but am not sure.... Been a long time since I studied up on hog/pig diseases.
 

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