bring me sunshine
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ParanoiaSo, when I was feeding the pigs this morning, I noticed that one of the gilts was limping. Not sully lame, but definitely favouring one leg.
As she attacked her breakfast with her usual speed, I quickly checked her over and had just established that the problem was the off-fore when she trod on my hand 
I let her finish her food, stopped the matriarch stealing the runt's food, then when peace and calm and descended, persuaded the gilt to lie down for a belly rub.
And discovered a lump on the back of her leg, just below the knee joint.
It looked suspiciously like she'd been attacked by a bramble thorn and as I touched it, it burst and clear liquid spewed forth. Naturally, I kept squeezing until it became evident that nothing more was coming, then shot back to the house to get my purple spray. By the time I got back, she was up and digging an enormous hole in the area they're kindly turning over where the bracken grows and which is still home to too many brambles (hence my thorn theory). The lump had bruised and was solid and got a good spraying.
And then the thought hit me:
A lump. Near her foot. Clear liquid.....
Of course, it's NEAR her foot, not on it, she stuffed herself at breakfast, was happily digging away, isn't at all lethargic and is obviously on top of the world in every way other than her sore leg.
I hate being a worrier. This is going to keep me awake tonight, I can tell.
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dpack
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dont panic
watch
if problem tomorrow ,call vet ,if not a problem probably harmless such as thorn /bite ,etc
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bring me sunshine
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*takes a deep breath*
I know, and like I said, other than being sore, she's fine.
But a little voice keeps whispering nonsense like "notifiable disease" 
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dpack
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have a look at the pictures of such things and compare
the lesion you describe is not panic imho
the bva snaps are good
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mochyn
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How's her temperature? Warm but not hot behind the ears, for example. Is the inside of her mouth a healthy pink?
As you say she's behaving normally I'd just be keeping an eye on her inparticular but ALL the pigs at the same time. So far I'd say you've done the right things.
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bring me sunshine
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Her temp seemed fine to me but I didn't check her mouth, though her snout was muddy but lump free. I've finished lunch so I'll head back down and see how she is. I checked all the others and she was only one who was dodgy, apart from the big fat sow, but she's been miserable since losing her status as matriarch, so it's hard to tell. She wasn't lame though and her appetite was also as ferocious as always 
Cheers, guys! Google is not the worrier's friend!
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bring me sunshine
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| dpack wrote: | have a look at the pictures of such things and compare
the lesion you describe is not panic imho
the bva snaps are good |
It's by her knee, it's a lump like a zit, not a lesion.... Like I said, paranoid.
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dpack
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breathe out 
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bring me sunshine
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Conclusions when I left the farm this evening:
Appetite - fine and dandy
Temp - normal
Colour of mouth - green/yellow This was enough to send me flicking through the pages of my pig health book ... until the penny dropped and I checked the other pigs' mouths. All green. funny that, considering they'd been eating grass all morning 
Severity of limp - still there but you should have seen her run to get to her feeding place before me. Think Jonathan Edwards in pig form!
Volume of 'feed me now' shriek - top notch
Thanks for humouring me
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mochyn
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So: the pig's OK: how are you? 
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mihto
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Hey,
Calm down! Any nastiness that you may think of is vastly different from what you describe.
Enjoy the fact that you sorted out her problem without help. You did the right thing, keep an eye on her but do not lose any sleep over this.
And PM me in case you are still in doubt!
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bring me sunshine
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| mochyn wrote: | | So: the pig's OK: how are you? |
Wondering why on earth why I agreed (well, volunteered, actually) to work til midnight tonight!
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bring me sunshine
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| mihto wrote: | Hey,
Calm down! Any nastiness that you may think of is vastly different from what you describe.
Enjoy the fact that you sorted out her problem without help. You did the right thing, keep an eye on her but do not lose any sleep over this.
And PM me in case you are still in doubt! |
Thanks, Mihto, she's still lame but I feel much better about it now.
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bring me sunshine
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Hurrah! All seems to be back to normal today. The gilt isn't quite sound but you'd only spot it if you knew what you were looking for
Phew!
The lump has gone, the heat in her leg has gone and the swelling has gone down.
I also trimmed her feet last night so that might have helped?
And I've figured out why I got in such a state yesterday. A few weeks ago, I had a horrible dream where all the pigs in my county had to be culled due to an outbreak I'd forgotten all about it til this morning. I'm not going completely crazy then!!
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Chez
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| bring me sunshine wrote: | | I'm not going completely crazy then!! |
Well, only in a way that the rest of us understand and emulate
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Faithmead
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| Chez wrote: | | bring me sunshine wrote: | | I'm not going completely crazy then!! |
Well, only in a way that the rest of us understand and emulate |
Yup 
BSM - glad to hear all well in the end. A friend's Herdwick Ewe had a very swollen leg the other day and when we picked it up - there was suddenly and explosions of blllaaaaaiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrr very yucky watery stuff that came out around the coronet. What a relief for the ewe...and for the owner, who'd been fretting about what the problem was. Phew.
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