We have already lost two pigs since I arrived at the Eco-Farm and last weekend a third pig was on the verge of dying, others are coughing or suffering from pain. There’s just too many parasites like lice, worms, ticks or bacteria and viruses that weaken the immune system of the pigs. In combination with the climate this causes a lot of stress to the animals which can lead to death after only a few days.
Pauley, one of the older piglets, suffered heavily from a type of louse that goes underneath the skin and obviously cause a lot of pain. Several times a day he went berserk, squealing loudly, running around and scratching himself on the ear with his legs or on whatever was around, even on his brothers and sisters. After a while he usually jumped in the water and tried to cover his ears with mud, which seemed to soothe him a bit. It was really terrible to see him like that. We tried to medicate him a couple of times but it didn’t work for a couple of weeks. So I told Claudia it was better if we redeemed him from that suffering. We gave it another try and had our vet inject him some medicine. Luckily it worked this time. He is still very small, maybe half the size of his brothers and sisters, and his skin looks a bit different. Maybe it’s because of the genes but we don’t know for sure. A couple of days ago one of the young piglets started to behave in the same way, so we try to treat it as well.
Vicky, who gave birth to 6 strong piglets only 2 months ago was getting weaker and weaker during the last couple of weeks. She became thinner and thinner every day and didn’t eat properly. We thought it was just because of the six piglets that suckled too much. She was already very weak when Claudia had left 3 weeks ago, so I decided to not let the pigs suckle throughout the day and as she didn’t get better I even separated the piglets from her mother completely as they were already strong enough and ate any food. The vet checked on her again and injected vitamins and antibiotics. She still got worse and we tried everything to make her eat. We even tried to feed her manually. One day she couldn’t even stand up anymore and didn’t respond as she used to do. As the sun was shining on her, we decided to carry her inside. I really thought that this was the last time I saw her alive so I informed Claudia in Switzerland. It seemed to end like when I went for Safari and Peter and Lisa (also adult pigs) died in the same way. I again called the vet, who was also supposed to take some blood samples as we wanted badly to find out the cause for her problems, even if it might not help her anymore. For whatever reason Vicky managed to get up and eat a bit again and we were all very happy to see her leaving the pigsty. The vet didn’t come that day, not even the day after. Luckily Vicky was getting a lot better and her appetite seemed to come back. On the third day, after Claudia arrived at the Eco-Farm, the vet also showed up and took the blood samples that we need to bring to a laboratory in Kampala. I hope they’ll find out what the problem was.
Anyways, it’s difficult to rear pigs around here. Even though one provides proper food, tries to keep the pigsty clean, vaccinates, sprays and treats the pigs one can’t be sure that they survive in the end.
How will local people, who usually cannot afford treatment for their pigs, manage to rearing pigs if even we do not seem to succeed in spite of our above average prerequisites and collaboration with a vet?
This guy suffers from parasites that are located underneath its skin and cause pain. The piglet tries to ease the pain by scratching on whatever is around, even on things with sharp edges like the fence which caused the wound behind the ear.
Pauley, the piglet next to the gate, suffered from the same parasites. He’s significantly smaller than his brothers and sisters who are at the exact same age
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