hog help..

[jasper]

Ok.. I bought a market hog  about 6 weeks ago. He has been sick with scours off and on for about 3 weeks.
I treated him with aeromicin (?sp)  scour meds, that you put on bread.
had the vet come last Friday and give a shot of  lincomax- still not much improvement. still has the scours and eating very little.
I pulled his automatic feeder and have been hand feeding him mac & cheese, rice, peas- I did this because he literally was not eating. I think late last week he had really started to get dehydrated.

Yesterday I gave him a shot of about 3ml of pennicillan. still just very lathargic.

here's my problem:
I have not been able to get back in touch with the vet- gone on vacation.
I dont want to prolong his suffering-
they have other hogs at the barn and I don't want to continue putting them at risk. ( I have moved him to the very end pen , to try to keep him away from them)
how much time do you think I should continue to let this go ?
should I stop w/ the pennicillan ? weight is under 100#'s
I have covered the soil w/ lyme several times to try to kill any germs w/ bad soil or previous hogs that had been on the soil.
any suggestions ?
thanks !!

 

[the_cowgirl_in_me]

try to get in contact with another vet. just one to talk to maybe , they dont have to actually come out.

 

[vc]

If you think that the hog is becoming dehydrated try giving it pedia-lite, Gatorade has to much sugar, you may have to use a syringe. Dry oatmeal & bananas will help with the scours also.
Make sure it has a warm dry area, do you have a heat lamps on the hog?

 

[Cattle Fan]

We had a show pig have similar symptoms at about the same size and it tunred out he had whip worms.  If you haven't wormed him you may want to look at that as an option.  Be carefull what kind of wormer you use though most of the injectables do not affect whip worms.

 

[jasper]

If you think that the hog is becoming dehydrated try giving it pedia-lite, Gatorade has to much sugar, you may have to use a syringe. Dry oatmeal & bananas will help with the scours also.
Make sure it has a warm dry area, do you have a heat lamps on the hog?

will try the pedialite.. I do not hve a lamp on him. It has been really hot here ( FL)  I also put a big wooden pallet in his pen to keep him off the ground.
We're all just scratching our heads ??

and yes, I had wormed him. I have just never seen a hog get this sick, and stay sick.... usually a shot will clear 'em up fairly quickly.
thanks  to you all

 

[showcattlegal]

try some yougurt. it always worked for us.

 

[yousesteers]

give him an antibiotic shot Draxxin works well and make sure he get up every day some times a hog will just give up and lay there to die also may want to get some medicated feed check with another vet if yours is on vacation frind a swine vet around here there are lots of vets but only a couple that deal with hogs day in and day out may have to draw blood to find out what he has

 

[CAB]

  Sounds to me like it's more intestinal instead of respiratory. You may want to call a college vet clinic like Iowa State, Kansas State, or Oklahoma State where there are more porcine specialists. Lincomix for some days repeatedly may help. Is the pig breathing hard? Are it's stools loose? What color are it's stools? I don't know if having the pallet is the best idea. Hogs like to burrow in. I would bed it deep. The pallet would seem to make it possible to create a draft. Hogs don't like it drafty. Could be Ileitis, bloody dysentery, or a host of other chronic intestinal diseases. Good luck, Brent

 

[j3cattleco]

You need Spectam Scour-Halt.  I worked at a huge hog farm after College and this is absolutely the best stuff for scours.  I would also use a drench and just drench water with electorlytes with the scour halt.

Here is a link from valley vet. Our local feed store carrries it so maybe someone close can help you find some. 

  http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30e07677-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5

 

[BCCC]

When I first saw this I thought I migght be able to add something. But so far all the info you have gotten is great advice. I also advise to remove the pallet form his pen and bed him deep in straw or wood chips.

 

[jasper]

oh thank you all so much !!
so far I have removed the pallet, gave him another dose of pennicillan, started giving him syringes of gatorade and he got up and went to the bucket and actually started drinking it.  I also got some pediaalite and done the same thing gave him about  1.5 cups of that thru the syringe and then put that in his auto water  for the evening.
I already had the gatorade at the barn, keep that on hand all the time for the steer.
anyway he did get up and move around for a little while so I'm hoping this will help. I'll go out to a couple of places and try to find the scour meds listed above.. THANK YOU ALL !!

It really didnt dawn on me until this afternoon that he could REALLY be severly dehydrated, but considering how long he's been sick... it's worth a shot.
I also noticed today that his backside wasnt "wet" he was actually dry.
Cab: he doesnt seem to have labored breathing at all. Stools had no blood and it's just dark brown color. Up until today it has just been almost constantly wet .. Will update tommorow after I recheck.

Jasper

 

[GREENHAND]

ONE OF THE OTHER POSTERS MENTIONED YOGART, WE USE BUTTERMILK THE GET THE STOMICH BACK ON TRACK.  WE HAVE FED PIGS FOR A LONG TIME, IF YOU HAVE ONE WITH SEVERE SCOURS, WE USE HUMAN GRADE TREATMENTS LIKE AMODEAM AD. YES WE WOULD CATCH THEM AND FORCE THE MEDS DOWN THE THROAT.  CAN'T GET OVER THE DEHIDRATION WITH SCOURS.  I CAN GIVE YOU THE NUMBER TO A PIG VET IN OKLA WHO CAN HELP YOU GET IT BACK ON TRACK, PIG VETS ARE FAR A FEW BETWEEN.