UK Piggy - Anselmo's Medical Thread

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Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Mon Jun 06, 2016 4:20 am


I ran out of his orange juice at the weekend so decided to try him on some barley water as we'd just bought some for a recipe for us.

The water is pink when it's boiled! Anyway, does anyone know if we can add something to change the taste, something that pigs seem to enjoy? We're looking for different options for summer time as orange goes rancid far too quickly when the weather is warm.

Anselmo really wasn't impressed. For an arthritic pig he can reverse very quickly!

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Jun 06, 2016 8:24 am


I wonder if you could freeze cubes of it?

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Jessie
Supporter in '13

Post   » Mon Jun 06, 2016 8:37 am


Have you tried something like Pro-c? It has a flavour to it, some pigs love it. The only downside is that there is added vitamin c, which could be a problem for arthritic pigs if they're already getting enough in their diet.

Maybe a very small amount of a natural cordial/dilute juice? Just enough to give a bit of flavour without adding tons of sugar.

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Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Mon Jun 06, 2016 10:14 am


Ooh, I never thought of Pro-C. Jon has it sometimes for his rumbly tum and he loves it. I'll give it a try! Even if it's just a couple of syringes here and then it's better than not having any.

I asked Kim about cordial, and she said that she wouldn't recommend it. She'd prefer for him to just have his juice when we were around to change the bottle, and wet his veg.

I'm a little bit wary of cold stuff around him as once when he got bloat the only thing I could think of causing it was his veg was colder than usual. I'll try it though when I'm around all day to watch him. I have no idea what he thinks of cold things, but it's worth a try.

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Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Wed Jul 13, 2016 4:24 am


Just another note for myself so I can recall dates if needed.

July 12th 2016
Check up appointment and med's top up.
Weight up to 1.26kg, urine output good. Protein level lowest that it's ever been.
Lungs a little bit noisy, as always. Nebulise when needed.
Vet happy to reduce appointments to 6 monthly intervals with repeat prescriptions available in between.

Med's:
Metacam (1.5 - dog version)- 0.2ml once a day (can be upped to 0.4ml twice a day max)
Bendrofluazide - 1/8 of 5mg tablet once a day
Cystassist - 1/3 of a capsule once a day (41mg I think)
Potassium - 1/5 capsule once a day (20mg)

Wet veg twice a day, and dilute fresh orange juice to drink.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed Jul 13, 2016 7:11 am


I notice we need some nebulizing pictures! Do you have a setup you can photograph and describe? What are you nebulizing?

I hope the combination works well.

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Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Wed Jul 13, 2016 2:34 pm


Sure! Next time he's in there I'll take a few photos, step by step of what we do.

Currently he's nebulised only when needed and we use an antiseptic solution called F10. It doesn't have any medicine content but he doesn't have a URI according to the vet. We'll try Gentimycin on him if his condition ever worsens and looks to be turning into a URI.

He was nebulised for 30mins on Monday evening as he was a bit hooty from having rhe windows open at the weekend. And before that I think it was probably 6 weeks ago he had 2 treatments of 30mins, morning and evening. Again he had a bit of honky breathing.

2 treatments usually clear his airways for him, on occasion he has had 3.

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GP_mum
Supporter in '13

Post   » Thu Jul 14, 2016 4:58 am


Glad to that his vet visit went well and the wet vegetables and juice look like they are keeping him well hydrated and the protein levels low.

My sow who also had on-off congested breathing (she was on 2 courses of antibiotics as initially we suspected URI) but in the end, even with nublisations, she still had on-off raspy breathing. In the end we did what you are doing and I nublised her as needed with pure saline, which sounds like what the F10 solution is.

For reference, I started with weekly, then tapered to fortnightly and then monthly and finally to as needed which was about every 4-5 months.

I hope he continues to do well, especially under your vigilant care.

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Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Tue Aug 23, 2016 3:37 am


Quick question.

Anselmo is 6.5 years old, and takes 0.2ml a day of Metacam for his arthritis.

Since mid July he's been slowly losing weight, and is now just over 1.2kg, so a loss of about 60g, so nothing major.

I've never had a pig get to 6.5 so I wonder if it's just an age thing?

He's still eating just as much as always, except he's decided he doesn't like carrot, which he only gets a tiny slice anyway each day.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Tue Aug 23, 2016 9:21 am


Probably. Most senior pigs that I know about slowly lose weight, usually restabilizing for a while and then slowly losing a little more.

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Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Tue Aug 23, 2016 9:28 am


I was wondering whether I should start to supplement with pellets or critical care and run the risk of stones again, but I'll leave him for now.

He's been hovering between 1.15 and 1.3kg during the past year, and 1.2kg was his norm after I stopped feeding pellets a couple of years ago, so it's nothing significant as yet.

Thanks for answering bpatters. I'm always learning new things!

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Tue Aug 23, 2016 10:02 am


I know one person who's obsessive about her 7.5 year old pig losing weight, and feeds him Critical Care to keep his weight up. It works, but I'd worry a lot about stones. That particular pig has never had any calcium issues no matter what he ate, so he's probably safe, but I'd think surgery for a stone would be much worse on a pig than the loss of a little weight.

I've seen several people recommend sprinkling a few rolled oats on a pig's veggies as a way of increasing weight.

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