New member - Sick guilt 8mths old

I have a young guilt that started foaming at the mouth and vomiting when trying to eat. This has been going on for about two weeks now. Took her to the vet a week ago (5 days into the problem). He indicated that there is not much concern in my area for swine viruses. He checked her temperature which was normal and concluded that there was no major concern.

The young guilt was given a shot of antibiotics by the vet. He indicated to give her pepto bismol and gatoraid to treat the symptoms. It has been another week with no change. Does anyone know what could be causing her to foam at the mouth and vomit when attempting to eat? She is able to eat. When we give her table scraps, she finishes them off without problem. When given pig feed and rolled corn, she foams at the mouth and vomits while eating.

I think the foaming is from being hungry, and she is salivating at feeding time. She eats a few bites, vomits, then walks away from the food and then lays down in her favorite spot. She is sleeping more, eating and drinking less.

I got her and her brother (barrow) as a rescue about 3 months ago. They were both under weight for their age. Even now they weigh in about 90-100lbs at appx. 7 months of age. She is however bigger than her brother. Any help is appreciated.

Patrick

Howdy Patrick, welcome to permies! I am no expert but it sounds like you have answered your own question? You say she does fine with table scraps? So there is food she can eat without a problem? Maybe there is something wrong with the pig feed? Maybe she is allergic to something in the feed? ( Can pigs be allergic?)
I would stop giving her feed and corn and find a way to feed her what she can keep down. Maybe your local grocers will let you have the fruit and veggies that they throw out?

Is she getting access to too much salt? They can't handle salt.

I'm thinking maybe you should try probiotics. You can buy "ProBios" at the feed store or you can get some cultured buttermilk and just keep making more from that (let it sit out 12 hours to get nice and thick then add it to milk at the ratio of 1:4 buttermilk to milk and let it sit at room temp.). Pigs usually like dairy products pretty well.

My daughter's rabbits kept flipping their food dishes and dumping the pellets. Weeks later there was mold that we could see in the whole bottom of the bag. I think they could tell it was moldy before it showed to us. So it could be your feed went bad and it's making her sick so she doesn't want to eat it. Is she in a pasture where she can eat grass? Does she have access to clean water all the time?

Some of my pigs foam at the mouth for some unknown reason but they digest their food just fine and seem otherwise healthy.

Thanks for all of the comments. I had started her on an antibiotic and over the past three days she seems to be doing better. Not sure what it was, but there must have been some kind of viral issue. When discussing the problem with an old vet (80 something and still practicing) he had suggested that she might have swallowed something that she was not able to pass, and suggested that we use mineral oil. Albeit the antibiotics probably cleaned her out as well.

I keep my feed in the original bag in a metal trash can that is well covered. I go through about two bags of feed per week with the pigs, so it was not moldy. She has been eating the same feed for months without the problem, so no to the allergy guess. I have built a five acre pasture for the horses, but have not set the electric wire to make it suitable for the pigs yet. Yes to plenty of fresh water.

Either way, looks like I may be over this episode. I will continue to watch the other pigs closely to make sure that it was not passed on. Thanks again for all of the advice.

Patrick

Patrick Parker wrote:I had started her on an antibiotic and over the past three days she seems to be doing better. Not sure what it was, but there must have been some kind of viral issue.

Antibiotics are for bacterial infections, not for viral. Were you giving the antibiotics for secondary infection?