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Mucus Plug?

L

Larissa98

New Born Pup
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Location
Ontario, Canada
I picked up two beautiful 6 week old female Lunkarya Piggies today, drove about 5 hours to reach a breeder, since they’re very hard to find her in Canada. They’re both scared as can be and hardly moving, so I’m giving them some time to adjust before I handle them much more. They seem to be in good shape- clear breathing, healthy poops, clean noses. They did have some eye crust at the inner corner of the eye, but they were bathed yesterday , so it may have just been a reaction to that- I’ll keep a close eye, but them seem very healthy, just scared at the moment.
However, when I went to put one of the girls in her enclosure, I noticed something white coming from there rear. I grabbed a paper towel to get it out, thinking it was nothing, and ending up pulling out something white that is shaped just like a female reproductive system! It smelled quite bad, but it glided right out and didn’t seem to cause her any pain. However, she isn’t moving much and is a bit wet on her stomach. I’m not sure if this is just because of the shock of being in a totally new place/ having been for her first car ride (And perhaps she just peed on herself), but I’m wondering whether or not I need to panic. Because of COVID, no vets in my area are doing wellness checks- only treating actual medical issues. If this is an indicator of something like a UTI, I can get her into a vet tomorrow- however, she doesn’t have any blood in her urine that I’ve noticed. I’ll attach a picture. I think it may just be her mucus plug. She is around the age when she’s becoming sexually mature, and was placed in a holding cage next to males when I went to pick her up. However, I haven’t found pictures of mucus plugs that look quite like this.
Any help or guidance would be appreciated. I’ve only had her for a couple of hours now, and don’t want to jump the gun getting worried!
Thanks,

Larissa
Ps- I have two older female piggies (2 and 4 years old), but they’ve never had these. I am 100% certain that my new piggies are female :)
 

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Has she perked up any? And how did the vet trip go. Hope everything is ok :)
 
Hello, i have no idea what this is but would say it definitely warrants a trip to the vet. Hope she is ok.
 
Have you managed to get her booked/seen by the vet yet/ far as I know they don’t have mucus plugs. Let us know how you get on.
 
I've got her booked to go to a vet next week (there is still a backlog at most vets in my area due to Covid). This morning I had my first real look at the girls since I wanted to give them a day to settle in, and lo and behold they are riddled with lice! I guess I was a bit too trusting with the breeder. I assumed that since they'd been breeding and showing their pigs for over 30 years, they took good care of them, but that doesn't seem the case. Not to mention I paid hundreds of dollars for the two of them.
Anyways, I have appointments for these two in a week from today, where they'll get a full work up. I think one of the girls may have the beginning of an upper respiratory infection (she has been sneezing a bit), so I'll keep a close eye and if it gets significantly worse, I'll take her to the emergency vet, but it doesn't seem warranted yet (clear breathing, only a few sneezes).
Besides the lice and a few sneezes, they do seem to be doing well, and are becoming a bit more active. Although they wont eat when I'm in the room, they have drank a good amount of water, and are becoming a bit more curious. I have weighed them, and will continue to do so every other day to make sure they're not losing weight. I was so nervous that they weren't eating that I did record them for an hour while I was out of the room, and they did indeed come out and have a nibble, so I'm not too worried on that front.
As for my older two girls, I'm really hoping they wont catch the lice. They are separated from the 'babies' but only by bars covered with a towel (I have a very large custom enclosure that I just divided). At this point I don't really see a point of moving the babies out of the room, considering they've already been in the same room together for nearly 48 hours- if they were going to catch anything, it would already be too late. My older girls have been receiving Ivermectin as a preventative measure for over a year now, and I did give them another dose today for safe measure. Hopefully they wont be very attractive hosts for those little lice .
I definitely don't regret getting these cuties, but I am awfully worried about their well being. I'm hoping their issues will be easily resolved and that they'll be well soon enough.
 
You can weigh every week (at the same time) rather than every other day. They should be putting on weight but weighing too regularly can ’skew the data’. Unfortunately being a breeder doesn’t mean they will necessarily take care of their piggies. And I wouldn’t do the preventative treatment either. with that you run the risk of the meds not working when they’re actually needed. I would try and get them seen sooner if they have lice. Is the plan to bond them with your other girls?
 
Siikibam said:
You can weigh every week (at the same time) rather than every other day. They should be putting on weight but weighing too regularly can ’skew the data’. Unfortunately being a breeder doesn’t mean they will necessarily take care of their piggies. And I wouldn’t do the preventative treatment either. with that you run the risk of the meds not working when they’re actually needed. I would try and get them seen sooner if they have lice. Is the plan to bond them with your other girls?
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Hi. Tuesday was the earliest I could get them in (Monday is a holiday here). If I were to take them to the emergency vet, I would likely be waiting anywhere from 4-8 hours outside the clinic, since it's priority-based, and lice is not a priority. My emergency vet doesn't do appointments, so I would have to drive there, call to let them know I'd arrived, then wait in my car until they had no priority cases left before I could actually give them the piggies (it's a pretty silly system). And I'd be paying at least double for these emergency services. It's something I like to avoid unless there is an actual emergency.
My vet knows I use Ivermectin as a preventative measure and hasn't expressed any concern about this- however, I'll bring it up again next week and see if it would indeed be best to stop.
I do plan to eventually bond them together. My hope was to bond them this upcoming weekend, but obviously this will have to wait until all is well. I got the girls because my eldest piggy is 4 and has ovarian cysts. She is beginning hormone therapy next week on Tuesday (she isn't a great candidate for surgery), but unfortunately she likely wont have more than a year left in her. My other piggy is only 2, and I didn't want her to be left all alone. I got the two sisters with the intention of having them be my last piggies for a little while, hoping that they will one day pass around the same time, and I wouldn't have to continue to cycle in piggies to prevent loneliness.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE piggies, but I'm also a young adult who is in university, and I dont quite know what my life will look like in 5 years. They have a home with me until the day they pass on, but I also want to make sure I am able to commit to them as much as I need to, and as I mentioned, I dont know what exactly to expect from the future.
I'm an avid rescuer, but unfortunately there haven't been any young (under 3 y/o) female piggies available for adoption for months in my area, which is why I decided to try for a breeder. Every piggy I've every had before these two were rescues.
Things definitely didn't quite turn out as expected, but I'm confident that everything will be worked out. Doing the research on lice, I can see that they definitely don't have the worst case ever, but also understand that without treatment their health will be in jeopardy. Bringing them in sooner would definitely give me greater peace of mind, but I'll do my best to keep them healthy and comfortable until Tuesday. Although I usually clean the enclosure every 2-3 days, I will instead be cleaning it every day until the lice issue is dealt with, and I'll be keeping a close eye on all the piggies to make sure they stay as well as possible. If anyone has advice on how to make them more comfortable, or even how to remove the eggs safely while I wait to go to the vet, I'd love to hear it!
Thanks for everyone's help!
 
As said you shouldn’t use any preventative measures, it’s not necessary. let the vet know you’re available if they have a cancellation. And also have a backup plan in case the bonding doesn’t go well. It should as the new piggies are young and likely don’t pose a threat to your older two. good luck!
 
Absolutely, I always have a back up if bonding doesn't go well, but I'm not too worried about this bunch.
I thought I'd just share an update. I did take the lunkies to an 24 hour vet on Wednesday because one was quite lethargic and I didn't want to risk anything. I called 4 different clinics in order to find one that could squeeze me in, and drove over an hour in the middle of nowhere to get there :P Unfortunately, due to social distancing restrictions, I wasn't able to go in with them/ show the vet the picture, but I was able to describe it to the best of my abilities, and the vet said that although he hasn't seen it often, it very well could have been a mucus plug, especially because of her age and being near (not with) males.
He did give them both thorough physical exams and gave me revolution to treat their lice and put them both on antibiotics to treat potential respiratory issues. They both had nose discharge but their breathing wasn't overly worrisome, however we decided to play it safe. I'm not usually for blindly prescribing antibiotics, but the vet determined that the issue was either viral or bacterial, and it would be better to potentially treat the bacterial issue rather than waiting and hoping a virus would pass.
They've been on antibiotics for 4 days now and they do seem to have much better energy. The one that was lethargic (Nickie) is still a bit off, but definitely has more of an appetite and I'm hopeful that she'll be better off in a few more days. Her sister (May) is doing amazingly and is having a hoot. I will likely hold off on starting intros until the end of the month (until all is well), but I think we are through the worst of it. My two older girls are both going to the vet on Tuesday to ensure they're in good health. Hopefully I'll have four healthy, happy, bonded piggies come October (fingers crossed)!
Thanks everyone for your comments.
 
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