Prevention and Treatment of Common Diseases in Porcupine Farming
During the porcupine farming process, improper management or other reasons can lead to the occurrence of diseases in porcupines. When diseases are discovered, timely diagnosis and treatment are necessary. The common diseases of porcupines mainly include acute pneumonia, enteritis, parasitic diseases, constipation, ascites, trauma, fractures, pica, etc. The following is an introduction to the prevention and treatment methods for these common porcupine diseases, for the reference of fellow practitioners.
I. Acute Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an acute infectious disease caused by bacterial infection with lung inflammation as the main symptom. This disease mostly occurs during the plum rain season and is related to the long-term excessive humidity in porcupine farming houses.
1. Causes: Due to the long-term excessive humidity in porcupine farming houses, or porcupines having undergone long-distance transport and having weak constitutions, etc., at this time, the disease resistance of porcupines suddenly declines, and the pathogenic bacteria hidden in the porcupine respiratory tract or in porcupine farming pools that cause pneumonia (such as pneumococcus, staphylococcus, and streptococcus, etc.) invade the respiratory tract and take the opportunity to multiply in large numbers and produce toxins, poisoning the lungs and causing pneumonia in porcupines.
2. Symptoms: Due to inflammation in the lungs, increased exudate in the lungs causes respiratory dysfunction and various symptoms in infected porcupines: reduced or absent appetite, not eating, depressed spirit, unwillingness to move; difficulty breathing, with sticky nasal discharge often flowing from the nostrils, debris stuck around the nostrils, extremely difficult breathing, and finally death by suffocation. Necropsy of dead porcupines shows red and swollen respiratory tract, bleeding points on the membrane, trachea filled with shed mucosa and mucus, blocking the trachea; lung congestion or atrophy, or local necrosis; digestive tract mucosa congestion, with dry feces accumulated in the large intestine.
3. Treatment (1) Injection of penicillin and streptomycin
Because pneumonia is caused by Gram-negative bacteria or Gram-positive bacteria, in order to achieve good curative effects, penicillin and streptomycin are usually injected separately at the same time, so as to achieve the purpose of rapidly controlling the condition. The dosage can be controlled at 200,000 international units per kg each of penicillin and streptomycin (depending on the severity of the condition). For the first treatment, it is advisable to increase the dosage, because whether the disease can be controlled earlier is the top priority and the most urgent matter. Inject once each morning and evening, generally continuing medication for more than 1 week, with individual severe cases up to about 3 weeks. This disease must be cured in one go to prevent recurrence.
(2) Injection of cefazolin sodium
After dilution with water, inject at a dosage of 0.03 g/kg, once each morning and evening, until full recovery. If the sick porcupine has sticky phlegm in its mouth or breathing accompanied by severe abnormal sounds, an anticholinergic drug—atropine sulfate can be separately injected. This drug has unique efficacy in dilating the trachea, moistening smooth muscle, and forcing phlegm to be expelled smoothly. The dosage should be controlled at 0.02-0.04 mg/kg, intramuscular injection, once daily, twice daily for severe cases, preferably for 7-10 consecutive days.
4. Prevention: If the humidity in the porcupine farming house is too high, quicklime or similar can be used for dehumidification. After porcupines undergo long-distance transport, they should be given a quiet environment, and sufficient food and clean drinking water should be provided, maintaining suitable temperature and humidity, and ensuring good ventilation in the farming house, to prevent the occurrence and spread of this disease.
II. Enteritis Enteritis, also known as mucous diarrhea, is a common acute intestinal infectious disease in young porcupines. This disease spreads quickly, and the mortality rate of young porcupines (especially suckling piglets) is high, becoming a major disease in the growth of young porcupines and must be taken seriously. Enteritis is mostly caused by unsanitary living environments or eating spoiled and deteriorated food.
Suckling porcupine piglets suffering from enteritis is mostly due to malnutrition in the mother porcupine, causing decreased reproductive performance, thereby causing decreased disease resistance in the piglets. After porcupines contract enteritis, they mostly appear dull, emaciated in appearance, unwilling to move, excreting dilute feces of various colors such as white, yellow, and black, eating little or not eating, and severe cases lead to death of the sick porcupine.
1. Causes: Due to the massive proliferation of bacteria in the intestinal tract, causing indigestion in porcupines, leading to intestinal diseases. It is generally believed that it is mainly due to improper feeding and management, feeding spoiled and deteriorated food, causing a sharp decline in gastrointestinal disease resistance. Escherichia coli and various intestinal bacteria in the intestinal tract of young porcupines produce various toxins, poisoning the nervous system of porcupines, disrupting the normal activities of the intestinal tract, and changing the balance of intestinal flora, resulting in this disease. Then through feces contaminating the water in ditches and pools, contaminating breeding pools or utensils, etc., the spread is expanded, so this disease can occur throughout the entire farm in a short period.
2. Symptoms: The main symptom is diarrhea. Due to the large amount of toxins produced by bacteria stimulating the intestinal wall, intestinal peristalsis is accelerated, causing diarrhea in porcupines. Then, the degree of damage to the intestinal wall increases and deepens, the intestinal membrane sheds, capillaries in the intestinal wall are damaged, and the intestinal wall muscles ulcerate, thus causing diarrhea, discharging feces with a foul odor, containing blood, and containing necrotic tissue. Generally, after 3-5 days, the sick porcupine dies from exhaustion. Necropsy of dead animals shows extreme emaciation, skin and bones, dull and loose quills. The stomach is filled with residual food, the intestines are filled with necrotic tissue, putrid chyme, filled with fluid and blood clots, and the gastrointestinal wall is ulcerated.
3. Treatment (1) Intramuscular injection of gentamicin After laboratory testing confirms that the enteritis is caused by Escherichia coli, gentamicin can be the first choice for intramuscular injection, at a dosage of 100,000 international units/kg, generally curable in 3-5 days. Porcupine enteritis caused by Escherichia coli is not prone to recurrence after being cured.
(2) Injection of streptomycin sulfate Take the parallel injection site of the sick porcupine, administer intramuscular injection at a dosage of 80,000 international units/kg, once daily, for 3 consecutive days.
(3) Injection of kanamycin sulfate Administer intramuscular injection at a dosage of 30,000-40,000 international units/kg, once daily, for 3 consecutive days. In addition, drugs such as amikacin, ciprofloxacin, colistin, and chloramphenicol all have good inhibitory effects on porcupine enteritis. Tablets of the above drugs can also be added to the drinking water of porcupines for them to drink freely, thereby increasing the cultivation of beneficial intestinal bacteria and promoting rapid recovery.
4. Prevention: Ensuring food and clean drinking water, as well as the cleanliness of the farm, are effective measures to prevent this disease. It is necessary to keep the breeding pool dry, ventilated, and clean.
III. Parasitic Diseases Diseases caused by parasitic infections are called parasitic diseases, which can be divided into internal parasites and external parasites. Parasitic diseases are also contagious. Although the mortality rate of this disease is low, parasites can affect the growth and reproduction of porcupines and should not be ignored.
1. Causes: Porcupines are infected with parasites mainly because they eat drinking water and feed contaminated with parasitic eggs. There are many kinds of parasites that can parasitize in the porcupine body, commonly including strongyloides, roundworms, tapeworms, hookworms, ascariasis, etc. After these parasites parasitize in the porcupine body, in mild cases they weaken the porcupine's constitution and cause other diseases, directly or indirectly affecting their health, and in severe cases directly causing death.
2. Symptoms: Once parasites parasitize in the porcupine body, they plunder the nutrients of the porcupine's body, causing malnutrition, slow growth, emaciation, reduced litter size, weakened disease resistance, easy infection with other diseases, and obstruction of certain organs in the porcupine body. For example, when a large number of ascariasis parasites are present, it can cause intestinal obstruction; when whipworm parasites are present, it can cause respiratory tract obstruction, causing porcupine death.
3. Treatment: From both economic and practical perspectives, levamisole hydrochloride injection is preferable, as it can not only be taken orally but also has fast and safe absorption through intramuscular injection. The dosage of levamisole hydrochloride is calculated at 10 ml/1 kg of porcupine body weight (Note: pregnant and lactating mother porcupines and young porcupines are strictly prohibited from use). Because the dosage used is relatively small, there is no local irritation to porcupines (deep intramuscular injection is advisable), and its dosage is only half that of tetramisole. If used in combination with trichlorfon, the anti-parasitic spectrum can be expanded. It takes effect within 2-6 hours after administration, and can be used again after an interval of 1 week; it can also be used twice a year for deworming, mostly in spring and autumn.
(1) Deworming Principles
When deworming porcupines, the principle of ”high efficiency, low toxicity, broad spectrum, and low price” should be followed, that is, using a small amount of one anti-parasitic drug can expel multiple parasites. In addition, when conducting deworming treatment or prevention for a large number of porcupines, a small number of porcupines should first be tested, and their reactions and efficacy closely observed, to ensure that the drug is safe and effective before using it comprehensively. Furthermore, whether administering to a large group or conducting pre-test deworming, the characteristics of the deworming drug should be understood in advance, carefully preventing poisoning incidents, and corresponding antidote drugs should be prepared to strictly prevent accidents.
(2) Precautions for Deworming
① Deworming drugs should be targeted at specific parasites, that is, use the appropriate drug for the specific parasite, and do not blindly use drugs for deworming, as this will not only fail to achieve results but also bring adverse side effects.
② When deciding to use drugs for deworming, a deworming experiment should be conducted, that is, first select porcupines of medium weight for medication experiments, and when safety and efficacy are confirmed, then conduct deworming for a large number of porcupines.
③ The dosage must be accurate. If the dosage is too small, the parasites will not be expelled, and if the dosage is too large, poisoning will occur.
④ Repeated deworming is necessary. The deworming drugs currently used have excellent effects on killing adult worms but poor ability to kill larvae. Therefore, deworming should be conducted again 7-10 days after the first deworming, to kill the adult worms that have developed from larvae, achieving thorough deworming and ensuring the health of porcupines.
4. Prevention: First, clean and properly handle porcupine feces;
Second, do a good job in cleaning the porcupine living environment, with particular attention to the cleanliness of drinking water and food;
Third, disinfect regularly.
IV. Ascites 1. Causes: Ascites is caused by increased blood pressure in the vascular system, causing congestion of the portal vein, resulting in fluid exudation and accumulation in the abdominal cavity. Ascites is caused by liver lesions, tuberculosis, and parasitic diseases, and can also occur in diseases caused by compression of venous blood vessels. In addition, protein deficiency and diseases that thin the blood, such as chronic nephritis and chronic anemia, can all cause the occurrence of this disease.
2. Symptoms: Sick porcupines are emaciated, with rough and dull coat, pale or cyanotic visible mucous membranes, and depressed spirit. Reduced appetite, increased abdominal circumference, and a fluctuating sensation when touching the abdomen. This disease mostly has a chronic course and a poor prognosis.
3. Diagnosis: Diagnosis can be confirmed based on clinical symptoms and abdominal condition.
4. Treatment: After diagnosis, the primary disease should be controlled and the pathogen eliminated. Generally, measures include controlling water intake, strengthening protein feed, and oral administration of diuretics and vitamin C.
V. Constipation Constipation is an acute abdominal pain disease caused by internal and external pathogenic factors that disrupt intestinal motor function, causing feces to stagnate in a certain intestinal segment and causing obstruction, with colon constipation being the most common.
1. Causes: Constipation is caused by improper feed formulation, insufficient fat content, or poor feed quality that is difficult to digest, or insufficient drinking water or lack of exercise, causing intestinal motor disorders and secretory disturbances, resulting in complete or incomplete intestinal obstruction. This disease mostly occurs in newly captured porcupines, because porcupines have just moved from the wild environment into small breeding pools, the breeding environment has changed, activity has decreased, and metabolic function has declined, making them very prone to constipation.
2. Symptoms: In the early stage of the disease, porcupines still have some appetite, but appear restless, with dry mouth and tongue, yellow coating on the tongue, red mouth color, bad breath, reduced or absent appetite, abdominal distension. In the early stage, a small amount of dry and hard feces is passed, followed by continuous postures of defecation, but no feces are seen being expelled; when the rectal mucosa is damaged, the surface of the small amount of dry and hard fecal pellets passed is attached with bright red blood.
3. Treatment: Instill a few drops of vegetable oil, or liquid paraffin and warm soapy water, into the porcupine's rectum. Administer 5 sodium sulfate or magnesium sulfate, or liquid paraffin, vegetable oil, etc. orally. Drink 5% artificial salt water.
Phenolphthalein tablets can be taken orally. Use 9% glucose saline for enema, to soften the feces, then assist with abdominal massage and pressure, and the feces can be expelled. In addition, soapy water enema can also be used, or oral administration of 2.5 mg of artificial salt, which also has good efficacy. Surgery can be performed depending on the severity of the condition.
4. Prevention: Careful feeding, strengthened management, providing sufficient drinking water, doing moderate exercise, and feeding easily digestible high-quality food.
VI. Trauma 1. Causes: Due to limitations in breeding conditions, people inevitably cause some trauma to porcupines when catching or transporting them. If the wound surface is infected by bacteria and not treated in time, serious consequences, or even death, can result. Especially porcupines captured from the wild, due to the use of improper capture tools and methods, often suffer trauma.
2. Symptoms: In the early stage of the disease, the skin at the trauma site is red, swollen, and bleeding, then the wound becomes purulent and ulcerated, discharging pus with a foul odor, and at this time the sick porcupine neither drinks water nor eats. If not treated in time, abscess sepsis and poisoning death often occur.
3. Treatment: During treatment, first rinse the wound with disinfectant, then apply gentian violet solution to the affected area, or apply 1%-2% iodine tincture, 2 or 3 times daily, until healed. If the wound is found to have become purulent, oxytetracycline or medemycin crushed into powder can be sprinkled on the affected area, and pressed with the hand to make the powder stick to the wound and prevent it from falling off. If some wounds are deeply ulcerated, or if the leg is broken, after debridement of the wound, bandaging should be performed.
4. Prevention: Under artificial breeding conditions, sharp tools must not be used when catching or transporting porcupines. The movements for catching porcupines should be gentle to avoid trauma; strict disinfection should be carried out during intramuscular injection; breeding density should not be too high; when unfamiliar porcupines are placed in the same cage, careful observation should be made to prevent biting and fighting that cause trauma. These are all important measures to prevent trauma.
VII. Fractures 1. Causes: Mainly occurs in newly introduced porcupines. It is caused by hunters using iron traps to capture them. Fractures of varying degrees in the leg bones are commonly seen.
2. Symptoms: The affected site is mostly in the forelimbs, some at the wrist, some at the lower radius, and even humerus fractures. Due to long-distance transport and lack of timely treatment, the fracture site becomes rotten and purulent due to bacterial infection, with severe cases even having a foul odor, bone ends exposed, extremely poor mental state in the sick porcupine, elevated body temperature, reduced or absent appetite, and some even experiencing dehydration.
3. Treatment: Sick porcupines generally should not immediately undergo amputation surgery. Antibiotics can first be injected intramuscularly to control inflammation, and general surgical treatment performed. If there is appetite, feed favorite foods. After the constitution improves, surgery can be performed. For anesthesia during surgery, intramuscular injection of ketamine is used, at a dosage of 10-12 mg per kg of body weight, injected intramuscularly once. The animal falls down after 3-5 minutes, and the anesthesia duration can be maintained for 1-1.5 hours. After the surgery is completed, an additional 1/2 dose can be appropriately administered to extend the anesthesia time.
The surgery should be performed according to the injured site. If the fracture is at the proximal end of the metacarpal bone, elbow joint amputation surgery is required. If it occurs at the middle-distal end of the radius, ulnar-radius bone cutting can be performed. Before surgery, ligation should be done above the amputation site, and routine hair clipping and disinfection should be performed.
For elbow joint amputation, a circular incision can be made in the skin 3-4 cm below the joint, and stripped upward until the olecranon is exposed. At this time, strip the triceps brachii and biceps brachii above the joint, ligate the brachial artery and brachial vein, then cut off the affected limb along the elbow joint, clean the wound surface, apply anti-inflammatory drugs, perform nodular suturing of the skin, disinfect the wound surface, and bandage. For wrist joint amputation, first make a circular incision in the skin, then ligate the dorsal interosseous artery above the wrist joint, ligate the superficial palmar artery on the ventral side, and remove along between the ulna and the proximal carpal bone, then suture and bandage.
After surgery, continuously inject antibiotics intramuscularly for 7-15 days. If the wound surface is moist, 0.2% rivanol (preferably prepared with refined cod liver oil) can be sprayed, 3-4 times daily. During surgery, attention should be paid to:
① The surgical site should be selected at 1-2 cm above the fracture in healthy bone, which is beneficial for future healing.
② The skin circular incision line should be selected at 2-4 cm below the bone cut, to facilitate suturing.
③ Before suturing, necrotic tissue must be thoroughly removed.
④ During suturing, muscle must not be used to encapsulate the bone end.
⑤ Strengthen management after surgery, keep the cage dry, which is beneficial for wound healing.
VIII. Pica 1. Causes: The low protein level in the nutritional composition of the porcupine diet is the main cause of pica in porcupines.
2. Symptoms: Porcupines suffering from this disease usually bite the quills on other porcupines in the same pool, and even bite their own quills, causing the quills on the porcupine's body to be left only half-length in patches.
3. Diagnosis: Diagnosis can be confirmed based on clinical symptoms.
4. Treatment: For this special pica in porcupines, there is currently no effective therapeutic drug.
5. Preventive Measures: Strictly feed according to the porcupine diet standards, ensure the protein content in the daily diet, which can effectively prevent the occurrence of this disease.