Drooling, not eating

Post » Fri Apr 17, 2015 5:35 am

What you would see is the mouth hanging slightly open if the jaw muscles are weak. Pigs usually have their mouths closed and lips together.

Rufi · Post » Fri Apr 17, 2015 7:31 am

His mouth is closed. Anyway, in a few hours I will take Rufi and a healthy pig to the vet together with your printed post. I hope he then can give a diagnosis. I hope.

Talishan · Post » Fri Apr 17, 2015 11:59 am

Taking a healthy pig for comparison should help. Good luck and please keep us posted.

Lynx, thanks for adding that.

Rufi · Post » Fri Apr 17, 2015 2:24 pm

I got back from the vet. He said that there is no need for comparison with another pig, he looked at the chin, x-rays and said that the jaw position is, in his opinion, Ok.

According to the vet, the problem could be weak muscles. He made a chin-sling on the spot (he already knew about it). He said that this is the first time he made it, I hope it is working.

Post » Fri Apr 17, 2015 3:07 pm

Personally, I do not recommend "making one on the spot". This is a patented product, not to mention you can get an excellent pattern to make your own from neoprene along with most excellent advice on tweaking it, sizing, and use from the designer. I would consider getting an offical pattern instead from Pinta.

Rufi · Post » Fri Apr 17, 2015 3:21 pm

Lynx, you are right, but I was just happy that there is something done. After a long time I am a little bit optimistic.

Talishan · Post » Fri Apr 17, 2015 6:29 pm

What did he make it out of?

Post » Fri Apr 17, 2015 11:05 pm

Yes, I was wondering too. The neoprene is stretchy.

Rufi · Post » Sat Apr 18, 2015 1:49 am

It is not neoprene, but it is rubbery. The vet knew how the Chin-Sling works (though he knew the device under an another name). The drawback is that is not custom made by a somebody experienced.
The best option for me would be to order a custom made Chin-Sling, but it would take a few weeks to get them.

Unfortunately, his teeth (at least the incisors) have overgrown again, they will have to be clipped.

Post » Sat Apr 18, 2015 10:18 am

Do you have access to neoprene in Romania?

Post » Sat Apr 18, 2015 1:06 pm

There is no other name for it.

I'd be very interested in where he heard of it.

Rufi · Post » Sat Apr 18, 2015 3:20 pm

I bought an ankle neoprene brace. I will try to make Chin-Sling myself.

@Pinta: When I will take Rufi to the vet, if you want, I will ask him.

Talishan · Post » Sat Apr 18, 2015 3:21 pm

Do NOT repeat DO NOT let them clip his incisors too short!!!

If they do, you'll be back to square one again, with him not being able to pick anything up.

Talishan · Post » Sat Apr 18, 2015 3:23 pm

Rufi -- the Chin-Sling is a medical appliance.

Trying to rig one yourself could very well do more harm than good. If you have the neoprene from the brace, that's a great start, but if it were me I'd order the pattern from Pinta.

Her design has been tested, tweaked, tested some more, tweaked some more, and is copyrighted. Again, this is a medical appliance -- it isn't something you can rig up reliably and safely on your own on the fly.

Post » Sat Apr 18, 2015 3:59 pm

No worries. He has ordered the pattern.

Rufi · Post » Sat Apr 18, 2015 4:00 pm

Now I have some experience with incisors clipped too short, I will try to make sure they will be cut to the right size.

I have Pinta's pattern. The problem is that I have two left hands. I would have ordered a custom made sling, but from my previous experiences, it takes a month to be delivered something from America (though I ordered only from USA, not Canada).

Post » Sat Apr 18, 2015 4:23 pm

You can get things delivered in Europe in 2 or 3 days but it costs a lot. Usually in the $70. range.

Snail mail is supposed to take 6-10 business days but there is no guarantees or tracking.

That said, snail mail has worked well for deliveries to Australia.

Post » Sat Apr 18, 2015 5:32 pm

See if someone can help you. If you cut it out according to the pattern, hand sewing it is not too bad. I think (but am not 100% sure) that I may have sewn part of one many years ago? When you were in VA, Pinta?

Read over gl/teeth_broken.html for an idea of how bad cutting the incisors too short is!

Post » Sun Apr 19, 2015 12:03 am

There is not a lot of hand sewing necessary. Mostly sewing velcro to the straps and then there are two stitches to join the top of the Chin-Sling. I don't recommend the self stick velcro - it pulls away too easily and is almost impossible to get a needle through to reinforce with stitching.

It is still a bit of a fight to hand stitch the velcro to the neoprene - a thimble helps.

The neoprene should be about 1/8"thick.

The most important thing is to get the measurement of the head right. Most people don't get the tape measure tight enough. I recommend measuring 3 times.

A 1kg pig is usually about 6" Head measurement. If your pig is 750 grams and you've measured 6 1/2 " you've measured wrong.

Rufi · Post » Tue Apr 21, 2015 1:52 am

I couldn't get velcro in the weekend, so I got ready with the Chin-Sling just now. I had to make it a little bit shorter, Rufi has only 430g, he is a small pig. He doesn't like it (hand feeding is harder), so I will increase the wearing time gradually.

As a good news, he has on his menu a new item: cabbage(he also eats on his own the soft part of cucumber).