Opinions please! Pig Runt has horrible scabs?

[Newchick7]

We received our (what we were told was a 3 month old) runt about 4 days ago. We were given her to us for free when we bought two other pigs from a pig farmer. What the guy said was "you guys want this runt? The mom just didn't have enough milk so she got pushed out and she never grew" so mind you this pig is suppose to be 3 months old and only weighs 7 lbs and is the size of a 6 week pig. I don't think anyone paid her any attention kinda like "if she dies she dies". She is very alert. Loves human contact. But not spunky as a piglet should be. She's wobbly on her back legs. She has mucas coming from her nose. Her eyes are a bit goopy. And she coughs and sounds suuuuuuuper congested when she does. She is often times able to clear her lungs. I notice she is nowgetting sore on her front legs/shin area. They dont look pussy yet but seem to be growing fast within the past 48 hours. She also has about 20 small scab she on her back. I thought It might be dried mud but it may be more suspicious than that. She has no appetite for any solid food. We have been feeding her goats milk (which she begs for ) and we give her a shot of Tylan 50 once a day and she lays in complete happiness in a wooden box in our garage with dry hay and a heat lamp. Any suggestions of what it could be or more to do? We are trying our best to nurture her back to health.

 

[Latestarter]

Greetings and welcome to BYH. Sorry you're having issues with your new "free" pig(let)... I'll tag a few folks who have hog experience that may be able to help. Hope the little one comes around and begins to flourish for you and hope it's nothing serious. Meanwhile, browse around and make yourself at home! Glad to have you here with us.

@misfitmorgan @Mini Horses @farmerjan @NH homesteader and I'm sure there are others.

 

[NH homesteader]

Sorry, I have no idea. I have never seen that before. Are the other pigs healthy? If she has respiratory issues I would keep an eye on them. Beyond that? I haven't a clue. One of the others will though, I'm sure!

 

[farmerjan]

Tylan 50 is probably not going to address the coughing, wheezing, congestion issues. Do you have a regular vet? Call them. They will usually give advice over the phone if you are a regular customer. The scabs could be from the other piglets biting at her as she tried to find a teat to nurse. Could be other issues. To me, they are the least of your worries. It sounds like a case of severe pnuemonia, coupled with the fact that she is also severely stunted from malnutrition. Mix some pig starter in the milk to make a "gruel" so that she is getting some nutrition as the milk alone will also wind up giving her the scours simply because her body needs more nutrition. A heavy duty antibiotic like Draxxin or Nuflor or something from the vet is probably in order.

I do not condone a farmer figuring if "she dies, she dies" but understand that this pig will be 99% most likely to never do well, and will most likely not grow well, and have constant health issues. She will cost 3x what she is worth to raise and feed more likely than not. Sometimes you have to be practical, but the kinder thing would have been to put her down rather than suffer. That said, if you talk to a vet and can get her healthy, then you might get her turned around. This is not something you can deal with without some professional knowledge and without seeing her in person, it is very hard to diagnose her except that it is pretty obvious that the pnuemonia type symptoms need to be dealt with immediately.

 

[misfitmorgan]

I completely agree with @farmerjan she needs to see a vet and the sooner the better. She sounds like she is very ill and not going to get better on her own. I don't think tylan is enough to get her well either.

As far as the scabs i have no idea but her body will have a hard time healing any kind of "damage" with her malnutrition and being so ill.

She may have more problems then just being a runt. At 3 months old she should be much large then 7lbs, most piglets are 7lbs at a week or two old even runts. At 3 months old the farmer also should have had her and all the piglets well established on feed and weaned off milk. Commercial piglets are weaned are 4-6weeks old and farm raised are generally weaned at 6-8weeks old. Solid food/feed should have started being offered to them at 2 weeks old.

I also think a wet mash would be best for her. Try adding a little ot her milk and slowly add more feed and less milk until she is eating mostly dry feed. Also try adding an egg and a little corn syrup to help up the calories until she gets onto full feed.

Definitely take that piglet to the vet.

 

[Newchick7]

Tylan 50 is probably not going to address the coughing, wheezing, congestion issues. Do you have a regular vet? Call them. They will usually give advice over the phone if you are a regular customer. The scabs could be from the other piglets biting at her as she tried to find a teat to nurse. Could be other issues. To me, they are the least of your worries. It sounds like a case of severe pnuemonia, coupled with the fact that she is also severely stunted from malnutrition. Mix some pig starter in the milk to make a "gruel" so that she is getting some nutrition as the milk alone will also wind up giving her the scours simply because her body needs more nutrition. A heavy duty antibiotic like Draxxin or Nuflor or something from the vet is probably in order.

I do not condone a farmer figuring if "she dies, she dies" but understand that this pig will be 99% most likely to never do well, and will most likely not grow well, and have constant health issues. She will cost 3x what she is worth to raise and feed more likely than not. Sometimes you have to be practical, but the kinder thing would have been to put her down rather than suffer. That said, if you talk to a vet and can get her healthy, then you might get her turned around. This is not something you can deal with without some professional knowledge and without seeing her in person, it is very hard to diagnose her except that it is pretty obvious that the pnuemonia type symptoms need to be dealt with immediately.

Thank you for your information. We do not have a livestock vet in the area. However we will be calling our regular vet to see what he suggest or prescribed. We knew when we took her she would be a bit of a challenge. And we do understand that she will end up costing us some money. Thanks for all you help!

 

[Newchick7]

I completely agree with @farmerjan she needs to see a vet and the sooner the better. She sounds like she is very ill and not going to get better on her own. I don't think tylan is enough to get her well either.

As far as the scabs i have no idea but her body will have a hard time healing any kind of "damage" with her malnutrition and being so ill.

She may have more problems then just being a runt. At 3 months old she should be much large then 7lbs, most piglets are 7lbs at a week or two old even runts. At 3 months old the farmer also should have had her and all the piglets well established on feed and weaned off milk. Commercial piglets are weaned are 4-6weeks old and farm raised are generally weaned at 6-8weeks old. Solid food/feed should have started being offered to them at 2 weeks old.

I also think a wet mash would be best for her. Try adding a little ot her milk and slowly add more feed and less milk until she is eating mostly dry feed. Also try adding an egg and a little corn syrup to help up the calories until she gets onto full feed.

Definitely take that piglet to the vet.

We will be taking her to the vet as suggested by a few people.

 

[Newchick7]

Tylan 50 is probably not going to address the coughing, wheezing, congestion issues. Do you have a regular vet? Call them. They will usually give advice over the phone if you are a regular customer. The scabs could be from the other piglets biting at her as she tried to find a teat to nurse. Could be other issues. To me, they are the least of your worries. It sounds like a case of severe pnuemonia, coupled with the fact that she is also severely stunted from malnutrition. Mix some pig starter in the milk to make a "gruel" so that she is getting some nutrition as the milk alone will also wind up giving her the scours simply because her body needs more nutrition. A heavy duty antibiotic like Draxxin or Nuflor or something from the vet is probably in order.

I do not condone a farmer figuring if "she dies, she dies" but understand that this pig will be 99% most likely to never do well, and will most likely not grow well, and have constant health issues. She will cost 3x what she is worth to raise and feed more likely than not. Sometimes you have to be practical, but the kinder thing would have been to put her down rather than suffer. That said, if you talk to a vet and can get her healthy, then you might get her turned around. This is not something you can deal with without some professional knowledge and without seeing her in person, it is very hard to diagnose her except that it is pretty obvious that the pnuemonia type symptoms need to be dealt with immediately.

We took because when he showed us to her we couldn't leave her there We wanted to help her. Our other pigs we bought from the guy seem healthy! We are on the phone now trying to find more of a livestock vet. Thanks for everything.

 

[farmerjan]

Don't blame you in the slightest for taking her and wanting to do something for her. Most all of us on here would have probably done the same in a heartbeat. When you stop having compassion for an animal then you need to not have any animals.

Keep us posted on what you find out and WELCOME to BYH.

 

[NH homesteader]

Couldn't agree more @farmerjan