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Illness Again.... Poor Piggies!

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Briony_S

Briony_S

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My Girl Lacey is poorly no idea what is wrong as she seems fine but is loosing weight week on week. I weighed her again last night and she had lost again! Not in huge amounts but over time she has gone from around 1100 to 900gms. Off to the vet I go.

In addition I picked up a lunkara girlie on Saturday, she fell out with her herd and was attacking them all. I was told she has been given preventative invermectin, last dose was a week yesterday. So I thought all would be well, she seemed fine and we did the bonding bit (I took my neutered Rupert to bond before taking her home).

she had just had a bath and a trim before I arrived so she looked lovely and white and clean. Anyway I have just left her to it for the last few days to get used to Rupert and keep it stress free for the meantime.

Anyway I was doing my weigh-ins last night so I got her out and she was covered in black spots all over her fur, I presume these to be static lice or hay mites. In addition she seems to scream blue murder if you touch her back so I have a feeling there may be something going on there too!

She is so fluffy like a big sheep. I am going to cut her hair short so I can get a better look at the skin on her back and of course she will be going to the vet. I am going to give her a bath too - even though she only had one on Saturday as I don't see any other option really!

I'll post some pictures shortly of her and people can offer their opinions! I will of course be calling vet as soon as they open and crossing my fingers to get her in this morning as I believe she may be in pain and need Metacam.

I will let you know what they say!

Obviously it goes without saying the cage will be thoroughly scrubbed I have some really good disinfectant used in vets & Rupert will get treatment too!

That is it no more preloved/gumtree piggies! I just want to help them all but in the process I am damaging my current pigs each time!
 
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Sounds like it could be mange mites too as well has haymites for her to be that sensitive. Ask the vet about Ivermectin by injection and pain relief. She will also need a bath for the hay mites in something like Lyclear Creme rinse or whatever you would normally use. It is possible the black specks could be skin debris from mange mites.
 
helen105281 said:
Sounds like it could be mange mites too as well has haymites for her to be that sensitive. Ask the vet about Ivermectin by injection and pain relief. She will also need a bath for the hay mites in something like Lyclear Creme rinse or whatever you would normally use. It is possible the black specks could be skin debris from mange mites.
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What ever they are there are thousands so now I'm really suspicious that they knew
 
Was she from a Gumtree advert?

Always best to quarantine if you can, though I know you are treating Rupert too to be safe.

See what the vet says but if she is that sensitive please go for injection over spot on as it is more effective. Poor baby, at least she is safe now.
 
Good luck at the vets.I got two piggies from preloved and they were fine so I was lucky but would be way about doing it again.Rescue all the way for me now
 
She looks like my lunky boy Rupert :)

I'm very careful bringing in new pigs. I quarantine for 3 weeks before they go into the piggy room. Don't blame yourself mites and lice are easily treated. Hope all goes well at the vets
 
Let us know how she gets on at the vets poor girl x
 
I went to my old vet who I'm not convinced about but I didnt have time to travel to my preferred vet and I really wanted to get them in as angelica may be in pain.

They said she has lice. and precribed invermectin although I know that is not the best treatment for lice I am going to go along with it as she may have mange mites also.

I will bath her in 2 days once it has had time to work and then will see if I can get a flee comb through her hair if not ill chop it short.

I asked for painkiller they have given me cat metacam but I'm sure the dose is high at 0.7ml

the vet also said all my pigs were fat. This is not true ruby is only 900gms but she was round aparently.

Anyway she said she wasnt worried about lacey but I persisted and she gave me antibiotics as her bottom keeps being damp. She said it could be normal weight loss but 200gms over a month seems a lot!
 
Is she eating ok? It would not hurt give her some anyway if she is losing weight. What antibiotics were you given? The dampness, does it smell of urine? That could imply either that she is not moving about and sitting in her wee or that she is leaking wee which could indicate a urine infection, or other bladder issue. How is she in herself? I think the vet should have investigated more to be honest.
 
helen105281 said:
Is she eating ok? It would not hurt give her some anyway if she is losing weight. What antibiotics were you given? The dampness, does it smell of urine? That could imply either that she is not moving about and sitting in her wee or that she is leaking wee which could indicate a urine infection, or other bladder issue. How is she in herself? I think the vet should have investigated more to be honest.
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I no she was basically saying she Is 2 an half this could be her correct weight.

lacey I must point out is a long hair but she does get very soggy even though I cut her hait short. Vet said she was more stained than she would like.

lacey is def eating veg an hay but not 100% sure about pellets.
 
Would you be able to weigh her daily at the same time each day and update the thread? Also do you have any urine test sticks? Like these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Urinalysis-...90327334&sr=8-2&keywords=urine+testing+sticks

It is always a good start to get a wee sample. Bung her in a clean bucket after a large drink (a good few mls), wait for her to wee, then syringe it up in a sterile syringe (from a sealed packet) and drop wee onto each square. I can help you read it. This would go towards finding out if she had a wee infection to start with.

Also has she had any skin related problems in the past? like fungal?

Does she seem in pain at all?

Can you watch her to see if she eats pellets or not.

Does she mouth at all when he is eating or paw at her mouth, or dribble? Can you sniff her breath, to see if it smells. If it smells of a damp dishcloth that could be oral fungal. Do her incisors look straight or slanted?

Just going through ideas here really but it will all help you discuss with your vet the next steps.
 
Her front teeth are completely normal but I cant speak for back. She recently had moving lice but has cleared up. She seems fine with regards to itching. She gained two friends about three months ago now so maybe that has something to do with it? She is just as tame with me and lets me stroke her in her cage etc...

I know she isnt top sow but she will stand up for herself and when anyone rumbles at her she just ignores them and carries on with whatever shes doing.

I know she has never been able to use a water bottle without dribbling most of it but shes always done that since eight weeks old I think she is dim and doesnt know how it works
 
I have ordered test sticks. The antibiotic is baytril which I no is not ideal but it did work well on an abesses my boar had once. I have pro c to feed also
 
I have been changing nuggets recently but I dont think that is why either because I give half and half and her old food is always available
 
It's difficult, it could be stress related but is a large amount to lose still, best to do a wee test and go from there and weigh her daily too so you can see how she fluctuates on a daily basis.
 
I'm goimg up there to the pig room now going to give lacey some pro c and critical care and I think I may comb through angelicas hair and maybe chop it where it is badly infested it truely is discusting and I really want to bath her but I cant ruin the invermectin.

Can I give her some antihistamines whilst she is on metacam?

I am going to see if I can clean lacey up and see how it lasts
 
Also is there anything I can do to soothe skin tonight for angelica I do have some kwench lotion but dont want to make anything worse
 
Is it sore? do you have any pain relief?

If she is scratching they can have children's Piriton at 0.2ml twice a day. May be an idea to give her some Metatone tonic too if she is run down 0.5ml once a day for 1 week and 0.3ml once a day for another week.
 
Ok should have gone back a page. As far as I know she can have the Piriton whilst on Metacam. It's steroids that are a no no.
 
Ok thanks I have just sorted out the girls lacey managed around 20ml before she got bored of mashed pellets not sure where my cc is :mal:

I have four different nuggets at min as different pigs arrived on different things so i mashed up all four and pro c to make a paste she was begging for it not sure that is a good sign but she ate a ton and i got about 5mls of pro c down her separetely

she had her baytril first. When i put her back i did the veg and she munched away on that too.

angelina i think seems better on the metacam she didnt shout when i touch her back. I cut her hair a bit shorter and brushed out some of the lice until she started to get upset following which i stripped off and put clothez in wash and washed myself
 
That all sounds good. Have you weighed her?
Is it dog or cat Metacam? I think the dose for cat is slightly higher but have never used it myself, and I know on the dog Metacam there is scope to go higher if needed. We have Maddie on 0.2ml twice a day of dog but that is just a maintenance dose.
 
Lacey's weights recently:

14/12/13:1158gms
17/12/13 1059gms
20/12/13 1027gms
30/12/13 1097gms (think this was funny time of day)
8/1/14 996gms
12/1/14 992gms
20/1/14 912gms
21/1/14 904gms
 
Which is on Metacam and is fat? Angelina?

That is quite a significant weight loss, definitely needs further investigation, though the drop between yesterday and today is ok.
 
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