Treatment of the individual pig
When you decide to treat a pig for a disease or illness, what questions should you be asking yourself beforehand to ensure you are taking the most appropriate action?
9 November 2018
2 minute read
When you decide to treat pigs orally (or by injection) ask yourself the following questions:
- Should the veterinarian be consulted?
- Have all individual affected pigs been identified?
- Is this condition one that has been reliably diagnosed before or is it a new one?
- Is it necessary to treat it?
- Are medicines to treat this condition readily available?
- Are there any welfare or nursing implications?
- Should the affected pig(s) be moved to a hospital pen?
- What methods of administration should be used?
- What dose should be given? Is the correct information on this available?
- How often should the medicine to be given and for how long?
- Are any adverse effects likely?
Then you should:
- Record when the treatment started and its progression.
- Assess the response on a day-by-day basis.
- If there is no response within 24 hours consult your veterinarian.
The most commonly used available treatments for scours and other bacterial infections in suckling piglets.
