Sick Pig

This post is long overdue. That is because I have been in Texas on National Guard orders for the last two weeks and it was a very busy course. Early mornings, late nights, long days of computer work. Boring!

This all took place at the end of May. Remember, Gertrude was bred on the 8th of May. She was a bit cranky after that, but we thought it was just because she didn’t like being pushed around by Big Pig. Also, when he mounted her he just crushed her straight to the ground. The size difference was too drastic.

We took him back to his owner on May 18th. Gertrude was not sorry to see him go.

Shortly after that we had quite a warm day, and she spent a good chunk of the day like this.

The problem with this is that this was a relatively small tank, and when she climbs in and out she breaks the float off so it doesn’t refill. We had to refill it daily, sometimes twice per day.

So we bought her a bigger bathtub.

This leaves room for a medium sized pig, and because the float valve is on the side that she won’t be getting in and out on, she should not be breaking it off.

This was on the morning of Friday the 22nd.

By evening on the 22nd she had left almost all of her food behind…

She had not gotten into the tub, and she was limping badly on her hind left leg.

A pig that won’t eat is always a red flag. She was also really cranky now. Gertrude usually loves getting her ears scratched, but now she did not want anyone near her, and if we did try to get close to her she would complain, and hoist herself painfully to her feet and hobble away.

Pigs do not sweat, and it was a very hot day, so I built some shade over her water trough…

And tried to spray her down with the hose, but she did not like that.

She hobbled off as fast as she could, so instead I just made her a mud wallow. Her whole demeanor was wrong. Her head was hanging instead of held up, and she didn’t want any feed. I noticed that she was trying to eat the grass that was growing under the bottom of the fence.

So we set up an electric net to close off the driveway, and let her out into the orchard. I also put some salt in her salt pan, but she wasn’t interested in that.

She ate a bunch of grass, and nosed around in the thistles a bit.

She even seemed to be looking a little more lively.

The next morning this is where we found her. So much for any hope of getting asparagus from that bed.

She ate a little feed, but nothing like the 4 lbs per feeding she had been eating. She mostly wanted to eat grass, and although she looked a little more alert, she was still cranky and limping.

So we had some hypotheses, at this point.

1. Big pig strained her left hip and it wasn’t healing properly.
2. Pregnancy related hormones.
3. Heat.
4. Some sort of uterine or other infection.
5. Some combination of the above.

Now, ideally you would want to get a rectal temperature, but not when the pig won’t stand still, and limps away every time you try to get close.

And she was nibbling food, and eating a ton of grass.

By Sunday she was looking a little more herself. We had tried to reach out to a vet, but they don’t respond to non-established patients on the weekends. On Tuesday the 26th she was down and sluggish again, so we tried to get a hold of the vet, but they were busy and didn’t get back until after hours.

Wednesday morning she still didn’t eat much, and there was pearly white discharge from her vulva, so we made an appointment, and loaded her up on the trailer.

Evie did an amazing job helping out with this. She had the idea of making a trail of bits of focaccia (our lunch) across the pen, out the gate, and up onto the trailer. Gertrude was not interested in feed, but she thought the focaccia was delicious, and it got her front legs up on the trailer. I had to pick her hind legs up on (she did not like that much). The black towel was something the vet techs gave us while we were waiting so we could keep her cool.

At the vet she did not have a fever, and an ultrasound showed fluid in her uterus, but not much else. However they were able to take a slide of the discharge and that showed copious white blood cells and bacteria. So reproductive and/or urinary tract infection is the diagnosis.

Also, the vet staff were all fascinated by a pig that can eat an animal cracker right off your hand without biting you.

They did an anti-inflammatory shot, and a shot of an antibiotic, with some take home meloxicam and another dose of antibiotics for 3 days later.

Long story short, she seems to be back to herself (so I hear, I haven’t seen her since the last dose of antibiotics, but Adam says she is back to normal, with just a very slight limp). We still do not know if she is pregnant or not. Stay tuned over the next two months.