12 Common Misconceptions in Pig Disease Prevention and Treatment - Have You Fallen for Any of Them?

Pigs getting sick is something that gives pig farmers a real headache, and in the process of raising pigs, it is very difficult to keep every pig healthy all the time. When a pig gets sick, it needs treatment, and in terms of prevention and treatment we often fall into certain misconceptions. Let's see whether you have fallen for any of them?

1. No isolation, treating on the spot

This phenomenon can be seen everywhere on pig farms: in a pen of pigs, a few individual pigs have marks on their bodies - that is the mark of a sick pig, or a pig that has been injected. In fact, this is very dangerous. Most sick pigs will have a fever, and pigs with fever generally have an infectious disease. If such pigs are not isolated and treated, they will spread the disease to other pigs, which is no different from putting a dangerous source of infection in the pig house. The consequences are very serious.

2. Not taking the temperature

When a pig gets sick, many pig farmers are unwilling to take its temperature because they find it troublesome, and instead judge the temperature by feel. When consulting others this way, it is easy to mislead them, and even when treating the pig yourself, it is not good for medication. In fact, when a pig gets sick, you should still take the time to measure its temperature accurately, so as to roughly judge the direction of the pig disease and the medication to use. If there is a fever, the possibility of an infectious disease is relatively high, and isolation and treatment are needed; if the temperature is normal and only individual pigs have problems, then non-infectious factors should be considered, such as calcium deficiency, constipation and the like.

3. Continuous high-dose use of antipyretics

Antipyretics: when treating pig diseases, many pig farmers generally cannot do without antipyretics, and they use them in large doses and continuously. Some sick pigs that have no fever symptoms, or some pigs whose body temperature has already dropped to normal, are still being given antipyretics. This is a very incorrect practice. Long-term, high-dose use will cause a decrease in pig white blood cells and reduce immunity. Pigs whose body temperature has dropped to normal should stop the medication immediately.

4. Using virazole to treat all viral diseases

There are many diseases in pigs caused by viral infection, and virazole sounds like a miracle antiviral drug, so people often use virazole in large quantities and widely when treating pig diseases. In fact, virazole cannot treat viral diseases at all. In veterinary clinical practice, virazole has been strictly prohibited. For viral diseases in pigs, Chinese herbal medicines with antiviral effects such as astragalus polysaccharide, houttuynia, Andrographis paniculata, and Senecio scandens can be used, together with dexamethasone, antibiotics and the like for treatment.

5. Using only antibiotics to treat dyspeptic diarrhea

Diarrhea is one of the common ailments in pigs, and quite a few sick pigs with diarrhea are suffering from indigestion. For this type of diarrhea, people also often use antibiotics for treatment, and of course the effect is very poor. For this type of dyspeptic diarrhea, oral digestive aids should be used, such as rhubarb soda powder, multienzyme tablets, yeast tablets and the like.

6. Deworming pigs only once in their lifetime

The incidence of parasitic diseases in pigs is especially high, so deworming pigs is very important, and deworming should be carried out regularly. It should not be done only once in a pig's lifetime. After a pig is dewormed once, it may still be infected again by worm eggs, which develop into adult worms after about a month and can still harm the pig's body. Therefore, pigs should be dewormed about once every 45 days.

7. Using penicillin to treat gastrointestinal infections

Penicillin has strong antibacterial power and very few side effects, and is a very good antibiotic for treating pig diseases. Using penicillin to treat gastrointestinal infections, gastroenteritis, colibacillosis and the like is incorrect; instead, lincomycin, berberine and the like should be used for treatment.

8. Using diuretics to treat urinary retention

In clinical practice, pigs with urinary retention and oliguria are commonly seen. When encountering such sick pigs, people habitually use diuretics for treatment, and inject them intramuscularly. In fact, urinary retention in pigs is mostly caused by inflammation of the bladder or urethra, or stones and the like. Obviously, this urinary retention is not caused by a low volume of urine production, but by poor urination. Therefore, treating it with diuretics such as furosemide is not targeted at the cause, because diuretics such as furosemide are drugs that increase urine production by the kidneys. For this, urinary tract anti-inflammatory agents, Chinese herbal medicines for expelling stones and treating strangury, or surgical treatment should be used.

9. Using antidotes to treat sudden-onset sick pigs with neurological symptoms

In clinical practice, there are many sudden-onset sick pigs with neurological symptoms: convulsions, circling, running wildly, screaming and other symptoms. Because the symptoms of such sick pigs are very similar to those of poisoning, people mistakenly think it is poisoning and treat it with detoxification methods. In fact, most such sick pigs are not caused by poisoning, but are a kind of neurological disorder manifested by many epidemic diseases (porcine pseudorabies, swine streptococcosis). We should use drugs such as diazepam and encephalitis clearance for treatment.

10. Believing that the more vaccines are given, the better

Some farmers believe that the more vaccines are given, the better, thinking that as long as a certain vaccine is given, this disease can definitely be prevented; some use antibacterial drugs and other drugs with immunosuppressive effects, such as dexamethasone and other corticosteroids, before and after vaccination, resulting in immunization failure; some do not disinfect strictly when injecting vaccines, turning disease prevention into disease transmission.

11. Simply stopping vomiting when seeing a pig vomit

The main causes of vomiting are gastric ulcers, viral diseases, and T-2 toxin poisoning. Vomiting is only one symptom of a disease. Only by finding the primary disease and taking treatment measures against the primary disease can the fundamental problem be solved. Treating it simply with drugs such as metoclopramide and vitamin B is like scratching an itch through a boot - it does not help at all.

12. Not paying attention to drug quality

Veterinary drugs on the market are hard to distinguish as genuine or fake, especially some low-priced veterinary drugs. When purchasing, you must keep your eyes open and not ruin the treatment of pig diseases by being greedy for cheap prices. If inferior veterinary drugs are used, not only will treatment be delayed, but we may also be led in the wrong direction of treatment. Such drugs are not cheap; they are the most expensive.

In fact, in the process of pig disease prevention and treatment, all kinds of problems often arise. Only by continuous learning can we keep pigs healthy and at the same time reduce losses for ourselves!