Uri Or Dust Sensitivity?

[Dilly's Piggies]

All of my 8 pigs have made this nasally snuffling/wheezing sound during the past 8ish months, mostly when eating but it can be at random times such as when they're just resting. I first noticed this sound in my sow Tizzie not long after I brought her home, I took her to the vet and all was good. I then heard it in another sow, I've taken her to the vet twice about it, both times all seems good according to the vet, they said she is most likely eating her food too fast and getting it stuck. I then heard it in a 3rd sow, took her to the vet and because the wheezing was present whilst she was there, they diagnosed a URI and prescribed her antibiotics, she just finished the course 2 weeks ago although I am still hearing snuffling from her at random times, she was fine whilst on them, so I don't think it has cleared. Tizzie, the very first sow I heard this in has been on antibiotics for the last 2 months for a stubborn UTI, and since being on the antibiotic I haven't heard her snuffle or wheeze at all, which makes me think this noise I'm hearing in most of my pigs is a respiratory infection and they ALL need antibiotics, but the fact it comes and goes and is not constant, and has been happening at random for months throws me off, I always thought a URI progresses extremely fast and I'd be seeing more obvious symptoms by now, like running eyes/nose. I've also noticed their noisy breathing starts when the heating is off and it's cold, when I put the heating back on the noises go away again.

All pigs are acting completely normal and the only symptom is the noise, they also wipe their noses a lot and sneeze, they have no other symptoms and it doesn't seem to be progressing into a full URI, they just wheeze every so often, some pigs more than others but the main concern is that all of them do it, it's unusual.

My pigs live indoors on fleece and are fed oxbow timothy hay, I have started buying in bulk the past 5 weeks and the hay is more dusty than the smaller bags I've always bought before, I try to shake it as best I can before feeding to the pigs. I also feed my hay in hay bags made from fleece, the pigs love to sit inside these and I can imagine that can't be healthy, I am making some new bags with smaller holes so they can't get inside and gas themselves with dust.

I'm just not sure what is going on here, has anyone else experienced this with multiple pigs? Is it a spreading URI or is it environmental (dust)?

 

[Wiebke]

It rather shounds environmental to me, as otherwise you have been dealing with a progressive illness.
Maybe a different hay product might bring a change? It can take a few days before the noses clear, but what you are reporting are more signs of irritation and than a bacterial infection

 

[Dilly's Piggies]

It rather shounds environmental to me, as otherwise you have been dealing with a progressive illness.
Maybe a different hay product might bring a change? It can take a few days before the noses clear, but what you are reporting are more signs of irritation and than a bacterial infection

Hey Wiebke! What kind of progressive illness would cause this? 2 of my pigs have had this for a very long time and it hasn't progressed, and another 2 are new, within the last 3 weeks, one actually started last night hence my panic, she has been hormonal and stressed lately and I worry that made her vulnerable to a URI, plus the bitterly cold weather and hay dust... She has been perfectly fine health wise up until last night. It just seems to be spreading and affecting my pigs one by one. All pigs are also recovering from mites, they've had their treatment now but they did suffer for a while before we caught it and took them to the vet, they have definitely been stressed by that and their skin is still healing. Would it be a good idea to give my worst, most recent girl a dose of septrin and see if the noisy breathing improves, or is that unnecessary?

 

[Wiebke]

Hey Wiebke! What kind of progressive illness would cause this? 2 of my pigs have had this for a very long time and it hasn't progressed, and another 2 are new, within the last 3 weeks, one actually started last night hence my panic, she has been hormonal and stressed lately and I worry that made her vulnerable to a URI, plus the bitterly cold weather and hay dust... She has been perfectly fine health wise up until last night. It just seems to be spreading and affecting my pigs one by one. All pigs are also recovering from mites, they've had their treatment now but they did suffer for a while before we caught it and took them to the vet, they have definitely been stressed by that and their skin is still healing. Would it be a good idea to give my worst, most recent girl a dose of septrin and see if the noisy breathing improves, or is that unnecessary?

A URI will develop the whole range of crackly breathing, yellow crusty eyes/nose, loss of appetite and laboured breathing etc. The fact that none of your piggies has ever gone there argues most strongly that you are not dealing with one.

I would recommend to start looking for another brand of dust-extracted hay. Some are better than others.