So important to weigh them

ladyveg · Post » Wed Jun 05, 2002 10:42 pm

I am near-religious about weighing the pigs every Wednesday (also check nails, eyes, etc. Overall health of pig). Last Wed. we had so many visitors that it was late before we could get started, and I decided to skip it because I didn´t have any pigs I was worried about.

Well, I noticed Sunday that Hermie was looking peaked--just not right. Hunched up, slightly fluffed, not diving into his hay. Sent him to the vet since Rocco had an appt. anyway. She noticed a "slightly overgrown" molar but wanted to wait for the other vet to fix it. So she sent me home with Rimadyl (YAY, finally) and we´ll talk about him again tomorrow. I weighed him when he got home--he had lost FIVE ounces in two weeks. I would have caught it before this past weekend if I´d weighed him last Wednesday. Well, I gave him 3 ccs of Critical Care with Rimadyl, and he slurped 5 more ccs of Critical Care before deciding he´d had enough.

I shouldn´t have missed a week.

Post » Wed Jun 05, 2002 10:44 pm

My vet says it´s the single most important and easiest thing you can do to monitor their general health.

Evangeline · Post » Wed Jun 05, 2002 10:58 pm

Pinta-
Is she heading for the wood chipper, too?

Post » Wed Jun 05, 2002 11:00 pm

No, but you are.

KarasKavies · Post » Thu Jun 06, 2002 3:24 am

This is the second thread that has referenced the wood chipper. Where did I miss the story?!

ladyveg · Post » Thu Jun 06, 2002 11:09 pm

I talked to the vet today. She asked me to keep supplementing with Critical Care and give Rimadyl and when his weight is up, they will put him under and fully investigate his teeth and trim the one overgrown "cheek tooth" she called it. He was so much feistier tonight. He was trying to help himself to the bowl of Critical Care and pulling the syringe with his teeth when I was trying to refill it. I stopped counting at about 12 ccs.

Evangeline · Post » Thu Jun 06, 2002 11:13 pm

Great news. You really need to take a new picture of him, though. On the one you have up, he looks like a caterpillar!

ladyveg · Post » Fri Jun 07, 2002 7:42 am

You are right. That picture was taken on the day I got 9 pigs in and I didn´t even care what the pictures looked like--I just plopped the pigs down on a towel, one by one, and snapped the pic. Hermie is much cuter than that. And he´s also extremely sweet.

What do you think--Dr. Bearman gave him a full exam and the only thing she found wrong was that overgrown tooth. But I find that he gets slightly crusty eyes, all the way around the rim of his eyes, like dried tears. I thought that was a sign of URI, but she listened to his lungs. Maybe he hasn´t felt well enough to keep himself groomed well? He isn´t fluffed out anymore, which is encouraging.