Piglet with a temp.

[karen]

A week ago, yesterday Thursday was born. She is the only survivor of 11--most born dead. Mom is making a great recovery and is up and eating now (passed last piglet 7 days after the rest of them, even though I did reach up there and pull one from way up in the birth canal and didn't feel anymore --she actually passed another one before that 24 hours after the rest too)

Thursday was the second one born (first live one).

She is eating really good--have her on goat milk. She even likes to play at times.

She has been running a temp.

She has been to the vet twice, yesterday and the day before and he gave her a shot of something to lower the temp. It does seem to work but not completely.

When I took her in she was 106. the first time. It went down but climbed up to 105.4 the second time.

She was down to 104.9 this afternoon, but I think it is climbing some--but she fought me and won with not keeping the thermometer in long enough.

Her pee has always been like water and lots of it. Poop was more infrequent, but she did 2 pinky sized poops this morning.

she is sleeping a lot, but then she is a baby. She comes to get me when she wants her bottle or starts rolling it around the floor.




We had her mother on Penicillin with Procaine and then I was feeding her yogurt with Vit.C and B when she was not eating along with water.

I just mashed up some Vit. C and B and added it to some fresh yogurt and gave her a small dose. very small.

Any suggestions on what else I could do?

Vet set to monitor her temp and eating and bathroom functions.

Thanks

[suzorse]

did she get any colostrum ? sounds like your sow had stalled labor and lost most of the babies , I would also give the piglet some pen g or oxitect 200-300 less shots
also what are you feeding her ?
Suzanne

[haecklers]

There's only a 40% survival for piglets that don't nurse the first 2 weeks. Not trying to be a downer, but you can't assume it's a little problem, they're very high-risk. Not sure what to tell you to do, tho. I'd be giving the piglet some probiotics and free range raw egg yolk in the milk. The egg yolk has lots of vitamin A, D & K, plus the Omega 3's that its immune system really needs.

[karen]

She did nurse the first night

She was the 2nd one born and nursed right away before mom dried up.

I will add the egg to the milk. Thanks

The vet gave her two shots (on two separate days)---don't know what it was.

She is drinking goat milk--most of the time it is room temp as I don't heat it up in the middle of the night.

[jerseylovinliz]

I like Excede for piglet illnesses. If she is running a high fever Banamine would be a good thing to give her.

Is she ever outside or did she get iron supplement? She needs iron rich dirt or iron.

[haecklers]

I think heating it up is pretty important. At the wrong temperature it can make it hard for her to digest, especially if she's not in a brooder or somewhere warm - they can't maintain their body temperature very well the first 2 weeks. At low body temp. the enzymes don't work to break down the food and it curdles/rots in them. If she were with her mom she'd huddle with her whenever she needed to get warm.

[suzorse]

I use a heat source for piglets as they need to stay at around 90 temp wise , and you do need to warm her milk same as a calf and for the same reason , this is the formula I made for baby pigs I got it off here
2 egg yokes
1 cup cream
2 cups milk
dollop molasses
splash of lemon juice
I made up a gallon at a time
and just estimated on the milk and cream
Suzanne

[jerseylovinliz]

Don't put her under, on or by a heat source if she can't get away from it. 105+ is a very high temp for a piglet that young. She will quickly overheat if she's stuck in a laundry basket with a heat lamp on top. Personally if your fall is anything like mine she's probably fine you just want her in a draft free spot with maybe some shavings or something to hunker down in IF she gets cool.

How's her attitude today?

[karen]

We have been keeping Thursday in the house on a dog bed with blankets. She crawls under them and is pretty warm. She especially loves the afghan. Yesterday it was 89 out, but has been in the mid 70s-mid 80s.

I did add some egg to the milk last night. I thought her temp had dropped as she didn't feel that hot, but she started with diarrhea (squeezable mustard consistency)

I will have to stock up on some pig meds. This used to be big pig country, and dairy but not any more. I talked to the Vet (he used to raise pigs too) and he said the right meds are hard to come by--I called Tractor Supply, the Co-op and another farm store and they didn't have much, so the vet gave me some oral drops to give her twice a day (Antirobe Aquadrops)

She is acting the same. She still has a temp, and the vet said her resisting having it taken could raise her body temp. I got it up to 106.1 before it was finished because she was pitching such a fit. The dogs ran to her rescue but didn't know what to do.

I took her out back to see her mom and dad, but she was not interested in them. Guster came to check her out first and she ran away, then Sierra came and followed her a little, but there was no recognition by either of them. Thursday decided she had enough and took off toward the house. She followed me back and ran up the stairs and into her bed.

[kellyhensing]

Sounds like she has energy, so that is good. Keep on doing what you are doing. When they are lethargic & not gaining weight, I worry. I wouldn't worry too much about the runny poo. I am supplementing a litter of piglets right now also & they have the "milk poos" too.
Good luck with her.
-Kelly

[karen]

Thanks everyone

[suzorse]

if you can find or order some spectrum scour halt for pigs , it is also good for lambs or calves Suzanne

[karen]

Sunday Thursday had a temp of 107. I kept her hydrated.

I did a few things to her bottle

Added and egg, yogurt and had some medicated calf starter added which had electrolytes and other stuff.

Her fever broke that evening and is down to 104.00 today which is OK

She definitely has a lot more energy now.

Here she is today.



Thanks for all the help

[elnini]

She's a cutie :-)

[dinee]

So cute, glad she is on the mend.

[haecklers]

She's a real beauty! So happy that her fever broke! Let's hope it's all smooth sailing now!

[MameeT]

So happy she's doing g better! What a cutie!

[flowersnmygarden]

I wish I read this thread before we drove and picked up(and paid for) a little piglet who's mom didn't make it. He's a week old. They said he was eating well from a bottle....but he hasn't taken more than 1/2 oz all day. I'd already read that piglets were fragile, and how to feed them, what they needed, but only a 40% chance? We wouldn't have wasted our money/time/hearts of my girls who wanted to raise him

[briarrose]

I put mine on a drinking bowl at about 3 days old. I found that bounce back is some awesome stuff for baby pigs that seem like they need just that little bit extra. On the plus side they love the stuff. Seems to help with the runny stool also. Just don't panic when it turns blue!

[flowersnmygarden]

After not eating much all day, we tried some in a deep lid and he sucked it up! Glad we finally got some in him.