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Low Weight Piggies.

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funnehmare

funnehmare

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One of my two year old sows is particularly skinny, she is the same size as the rest of them (who are all well above 950g) barring one (who is my midget pig) but weighs almost half they do. She is around the 650g mark which is amazing given that she eats for England, always the first one to the hay pile, always the first shouting for veg and the first to barge others out of the way for the pellet ration.

Does anyone else have a piggy who is on the skinny side? Taffy has been seen by the vet on numerous occasions for other things and other than it being mentioned that she is on the light side nothing further has been said. I was wondering if it might be symptomatic of something akin to her not being able to absorb the nutrition from food or the like or that simply she is just skinny and possibly the runt of her litter?

Thoughts please! :)
 
Has she ever been checked for a heart condition? Failure to thrive (I.e. weigh loss) is one of many symptoms. For example my Fuzzy was 600g when she arrived but is now in the 900gs on heart meds.

I can think more tomorrow about other possibilities.
 
helen105281 said:
Has she ever been checked for a heart condition? Failure to thrive (I.e. weigh loss) is one of many symptoms. For example my Fuzzy was 600g when she arrived but is now in the 900gs on heart meds.

I can think more tomorrow about other possibilities.
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Hi Helen, thanks for your thoughts. She hasn't specifcally been tested for heart related issues but the vet has listened to it and had an xray to check her spine as she has some curvature, though I dont know if this wouldve shown her heart clearly enough to indicate an issue? Her weight hasn't dropped as such, no more than the usual pre/post veg gorge. She has remained pretty much constant since I adopted her. It has only really come to the fore since the others have started to gain a little due to increasing lawn time whereas Taffy is remaining stable.
 
Maybe you could try giving her little feeding sessions by herself. A few veggies while you're have breakfast or tea.
 
Stewybus said:
Maybe you could try giving her little feeding sessions by herself. A few veggies while you're have breakfast or tea.
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I think that will be more beneficial to the rest of the girls in the herd Stewybus! Taffy is most definitely the top sow and has the lions share of everything!
 
I have two males the same, both been checked for heart problems and are fine just a small boned piggies. Some piggies are just smaller sized. If she is eating well and ok in herself then it might just be the size she is meant to be.
 
funnehmare said:
I think that will be more beneficial to the rest of the girls in the herd Stewybus! Taffy is most definitely the top sow and has the lions share of everything!
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I meant for you to bring her out of her cage & let her have some extra veggies by herself. This way you can be certain she's getting sufficient.
 
Stewybus said:
I meant for you to bring her out of her cage & let her have some extra veggies by herself. This way you can be certain she's getting sufficient.
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Ah right, yes I see what you mean now. They do get individual veg times but maybe I'll have a go at increasing hers. Though she does eat and eat and eat, of all ten she is the one I see eating most. Think I might pop her to vets at our next check up and have a chat with the vet.
 
funnehmare said:
Hi Helen, thanks for your thoughts. She hasn't specifcally been tested for heart related issues but the vet has listened to it and had an xray to check her spine as she has some curvature, though I dont know if this wouldve shown her heart clearly enough to indicate an issue? Her weight hasn't dropped as such, no more than the usual pre/post veg gorge. She has remained pretty much constant since I adopted her. It has only really come to the fore since the others have started to gain a little due to increasing lawn time whereas Taffy is remaining stable.
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It may be worth getting them to revisit the xray if they still have it. Sadly not all vets know what to spot on an xray for a heart condition, my local vets don't until I point it out. Not saying this is what is up with your girl, but would be worth checking. I can also give you the other symptoms if needed. Nigel was the same as Mrs Fuzzy, tiny when he arrived and gradually put on weight once on heart meds though sadly for him the diagnosis was too late and we didn't have long with him. Fuzzy is thriving though.
 
helen105281 said:
It may be worth getting them to revisit the xray if they still have it. Sadly not all vets know what to spot on an xray for a heart condition, my local vets don't until I point it out. Not saying this is what is up with your girl, but would be worth checking. I can also give you the other symptoms if needed. Nigel was the same as Mrs Fuzzy, tiny when he arrived and gradually put on weight once on heart meds though sadly for him the diagnosis was too late and we didn't have long with him. Fuzzy is thriving though.
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Popped to the vets with Stan today so took Taffy along with me as I thought I'd have her checked out again. I asked about the previous xray and whether it would show her heart but the vet said it was of her lower spine so wouldn't have shown the heart too well. So I had her rexray taff and turns out her heart is very much bigger than it should be so she is on medication and we are to review it in a few months time (same time as Dodger's next review luckily). Thankyou Helen for prompting me to enquire about heart issues, it had occurred to me that it might be a possibility, but was good to have someone confirm my suspicions.
 
Happy to help. Glad you have a diagnosis now, what meds is she on? Is Dodger also a heart pig?
 
helen105281 said:
Happy to help. Glad you have a diagnosis now, what meds is she on? Is Dodger also a heart pig?
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She is on a low dose of Frusol and fortekor (My vet is quite reserved with the ACE inhibitors initially due to the problems associated with fainting) but we are monitoring her weight gain and whether she plateaus and therefore readjust her dosage. Yes Dodger is a heart piggy too. She is on the same meds but we've been having issues with her hooting again (once or twice in the last month), so it's possible her dosage isn't quite right, so she is back in again and the vet said we might as well reassess Taffy at the same time to see how she is doing. I have been back to read the article you mentioned, it has proven invaluable, thankyou for putting me on to it!
 
You're welcome. I had another pig diagnosed today and she too is starting on a low dose so I think it depends on the individual circumstances of the pig. I remember giving you the article now too, I forget who has seen it and who hasn't.
 
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