swelling from castration ?

Hi all; Just got my three piggys for the summer, normally i get apx 8 week old weiners. This year due to a shortage of pigs here in montana, i was delivered 3 roasting size pigs (same price as wieners) all 3 are barrows and were cut only the day or so before i got them. one of them has fairly large swollen area, another has a much smaller swelling and the last has almost no swelling at all. The piggy with the most swelling is less active than the other two, he eats & drinks fine, his poop is regular & solid (other two are softer) his pee is clear. I get my pigs from the same place every year and they have always been youngsters before and any boys were cut before i got them, never any sign of swelling. I wonder if this normal for an older piggy who is more developed than a young weiner ? I can talk to my vet by phone ,but to have him visit is an $80 bill plus any meds. taking piggy to him is 1 1/2 hour drive one way. my current plan is wait a week or so and see how he is doing but thought i would check with the experts here also. Thank you tom

thomas rubino wrote:Hi all; Just got my three piggys for the summer, normally i get apx 8 week old weiners. This year due to a shortage of pigs here in montana, i was delivered 3 roasting size pigs (same price as wieners) all 3 are barrows and were cut only the day or so before i got them. one of them has fairly large swollen area, another has a much smaller swelling and the last has almost no swelling at all. The piggy with the most swelling is less active than the other two, he eats & drinks fine, his poop is regular & solid (other two are softer) his pee is clear. I get my pigs from the same place every year and they have always been youngsters before and any boys were cut before i got them, never any sign of swelling. I wonder if this normal for an older piggy who is more developed than a young weiner ? I can talk to my vet by phone ,but to have him visit is an $80 bill plus any meds. taking piggy to him is 1 1/2 hour drive one way. my current plan is wait a week or so and see how he is doing but thought i would check with the experts here also. Thank you tom

Sounds like an infection from the castration. Usually when that happens it's localized, and the swelling doesn't cause problems - but if they start getting lethargic, or the swelling gets very large it's best to give AB. Our vet recommends penicillin G which you can get at a lot of farm stores or from a vet. Directions are on the bottle - in some cases the vet may recommend more than the recommended dose.

You may have only a few days with the lethargic one - once they get to that point they can (not always, but sometimes) succumb quickly to it. Once you start treatment they mend up fast.

Chad; when i came home from work this evening, i checked on the pigs first thing and he was definitely worse, way more lethargic, found him sleeping in their straw pile inside and he let me walk rite up touch him ,did not drink while standing at the water, no grain on his snout from eating . luckily my wife saw your post and called the vet earlier today, antibiotics are on the way ! I will post more info as soon as i can. thank you for responding.

thomas rubino wrote: Chad; when i came home from work this evening, i checked on the pigs first thing and he was definitely worse, way more lethargic, found him sleeping in their straw pile inside and he let me walk rite up touch him ,did not drink while standing at the water, no grain on his snout from eating . luckily my wife saw your post and called the vet earlier today, antibiotics are on the way ! I will post more info as soon as i can. thank you for responding.

No problem - keep a bottle around in the future for cases like this. It lasts a long time.

My wife did a post on some basic wound care and what to keep in a simple animal emergency kit a while back. It's probably not complete, but you might look through it and see if there is anything else helpful. Having all this stuff on hand will save an animals life someday if you don't already have a kit like this.

Hope he makes it!

http://mytotalpv.blogspot.com/2012/03/first-aid-on-ewe-and-basic-kit.html

He Made it ! Was a close call , antibiotic from the vet was not due till saturday. On thurs evening i contacted one of the neighbors who raises cattle and they had an antibiotic and needles that would work on piggys. gave oreo a shot thursday eavning, he didn't look good !Friday morning he was looking a little better. I talked to the vet and he said to give him another shot on saturday and that it was a ten day shot and should fix him right up. Saturday arrived and oreo was looking poorly but not so lethargic as thurs/friday , still badly swollen, not very interested in food & water . Gave him the new shot and it did the trick ! Took a few days to really kick in but his energy came back first , then he started eating & drinking and finally his swelling started going down ! Now it's 11 days later and he has still got some swelling but is up running around and fighting over scraps ! Lesson learned... keep antibiotics and other trauma items on hand at all times ! Also ALWAYS ASK here at permies , the advice that you get could save your piggys life !

Super psyched to hear he made it! Thanks for letting me know!