Common_Illnesses_and

   COMMON ILLNESSES AND DISEASES

Lice:
Lice are annoying little buggers. They are small wriggly brownish white worms. They are not exactly worms, they just look like worms. They can be found close to the skin. When you try to touch them, they will scatter. The treatment for them is fairly easy. You can buy, over the counter, a flea shampoo that is formulated for kittens, please make sure it says for kittens.The active ingredient should be.05% of Pyrethrins. Be very careful not to get soap in his eyes or nose. Putting a little sterile eye lubricant in his/her eyes first will help repel any soap that gets to close, or have an eye dropper handy in case you need to flush soap from his eyes. Use a soapy finger to carefully shampoo the ears and face. Follow directions for amount of time, usually 3-5 minutes, then rinse well, being especially careful not to get any water in his eyes, nose or mouth. Comb out the wet coat with an ordinary comb to remove any matting and to make sure the strands of hair are separate. Then, use a fine tooth comb or you can use your fingers, to remove the nits. Separate the hair into strands and check one strand at a time, run the comb or your finger nail down the strand of hair until the nits are gone. Continue until the hair is free of nits. Wipe any nits from the comb or your finger with a tissue fairly often and get rid of nits in a plastic or paper bag. Towel dry your piggies and check again for nits. A second treatment is usually recommended 7-10 days after the first to thoroughly kill all of the lice. Remember at the same time you shampoo your pig, make sure to thoroughly clean the cage out. Bedding and all. Lice are species specific meaning that they will only go to other piggies, not humans!

   Mites:
Mites prefer hairless skin thus leaving the ear flaps, elbows, and all around the anus at highest risk. It is the burrowing, egg laying and hatching that will cause your piggy to go wild with itching. When your piggy scratches itself, it breaks open the tunnels that the mites have burrowed into and the mites are killed, but, the itching persists due to toxins released into the skin. This is what causes the redness, infection, crusty skin, hairloss, scabs, etc. If a mite problem is left unattended, there will be significant hairloss and a general deterioration of the remaining hair. Mites cannot be seen with the naked eye. They must be analyzed through a microscope. In order for the vet to see the mites under the scope, he must do what is called a skin scraping. Skin scrapings are extremely painful. The vet takes a razor blade and literally scraps off a layer of the pigs skin. Skin scrapings do not always show signs of mites the first time. Sometimes it can take 2 or 3 or 4 scrapings for mites to show up. After all of this time, the pig is in pain not only from the mites that are already calling his body home, but from the scrapings that the vet has done. Skin scrapings are NOT needed to diagnose mites! A vet, well one that is good with pigs, will bypass the "maybe mite" test and treat with a drug called Ivermectin providing the pig is showing symptoms of mites. Ivermectin can be given without any ill effects to the pig. It can also be given to pregnant sows.The vet should give three injections spaced no less than 10 days apart. This should rid your pig(s) of mites. Mites are transferred by direct contact from host to host and different varieties affect different kinds of animals. While mites can live off of a host for days to weeks depending on their life stages, they can only live away from a host for 48 hours. If you are bringing a bale of hay home from a local feed store, make sure the hay is "quarantined" for a couple of days. Piggies can also pick up mites from other 4 legged friends, grooming tools, pet carriers, show tables..etc.

Ringworm:
   Years ago ringworm was believed to be caused by a worm that was present under the skin and expanding. It is now known that the ring shaped lesions are caused by your body's response to the advancing fungi. "Ringworm" is NOT a parasite, it is a fungus. It looks similar to the fungus that causes athletes foot. Ringworm looks like a red, flaky, scaly circle shaped patch on the skin, sometimes donut shaped, usually the size from a dime to a quarter. The lesion has a raised border from the growth moving upward and away from the area of initial infection. The middle of the lesion appears clear and tends to heal as the infection spreads. However, if there are several lesions present instead of one they may team up to form larger infected areas, often having a healed central area. The lesions can itch intensely, especially in warm weather. In the early stages, hair in the infected areas may stand up from the rest of the coat. These tufts then fall out-hairs are stuck together by a crust of exudate-sticky stuff to you and me. The skin beneath may exude serum. When this dries up the lesions become dry and scaly. In other cases the hair breaks off and the lesions are dry and scaly from the start. The patches enlarge as the fungus spreads outward. Infected animals must be isolated immediately! All equipment should be soaked in an anti-fungicidal solution. Wear protective clothing when handling infected animals. Always wash your hands. Bedding should be removed and burned. Cages should be scrubbed then washed with a fungicide. Ringworm can be killed by an anti-fungal topical treatment. For humans it is usually a cream such as "Tinactin", or, "Lotrimin" cream. For piggies treatment is Griseofulvin, (THIS DRUG CAN BE HARD ON PIGS! IT IS IMPORTANT TO DOSE ACCURATELY AND WATCH PIGS CLOSELY FOR SIGNS OF TROUBLE!) an antifungal tablet given by mouth-and a topical cream- Panalog. Clean the infected area with betadine 4 times a day to keep it very clean. The dose in "Ferrets, Rabbits, and Rodents-Clinical Medicine and Surgery" for griseofulvin for pigs is 25mg/kg given every 24 hours for 14-28 days. You can also purchase some excellent antifungal shampoos from your vet. Finally, if it wasn't clear enough, RINGWORM IS TRANSFERABLE BETWEEN SPECIES! HUMANS CAN GET IT FROM PIGGIES!

Scurvy:
    Scurvy is a Vitamin C deficiency. If Vitamin C is not incorporated into their diet, it will develop scurvy. Signs and symptoms are lethargy, weight loss, swollen limb joints, dragging the legs, not eating, rough hair coat, and diarrhea.
    A pig with Scurvy can die within 3 or 4 weeks.

Upper Respiratory Infections:
     Also known as URI. It can be lethal to a pig if not treated promptly and properly! Signs of a URI are crusties in the eyes and nose, lethargy, not eating, sometimes not drinking. The pig may feel hot also, but not always.The treatment for a URI is Baytril. It should not be given to young piggies. It effects their growth and should only be given to pigs who are done growing. Bactrim, Tetrycycline, and Doxycycline are safe drugs for young pigs. You cannot get Baytril over the counter, only from a vet. If you suspect a URI, please get your pig to the vet as soon as possible!

Urinary Tract Infections:
   Wheeping and or squealing during or right after urination are usually signs of a UTI, although they can also be signs of a bladder/kidney stone. Baytril, again, is the drug for this and again, only from the vet.

   Blood:
   Outside of minor surface wounds in pigs, bleeding from anywhere is NOT normal! Pigs do NOT bleed for ANY reason what so ever! Sows do NOT bleed when they are in heat! If your pig is bleeding at all, take her to the vet as soon as possible!

*This page is not meant to take the place of any advice and/or treatment a vet can give!**

*This page was created with the help of Andrew Harvie and the members of the Cavies Galore forums. If it weren't for the help of these awesome people, I would not know half of the things I do today about theses precious little creatures we love.*