What are the prevention and treatment methods for pig mange?
In veterinary clinical practice, one often encounters some 2 to 4-month-old piglets whose whole body skin is covered with brownish scabs and which show symptoms such as dull spirits, reduced appetite, whole-body itching and stunted growth. People habitually call this "pig mange."
Piglet scabies is mainly caused by the following factors:
Piglets lack niacinamide among the B vitamins. Nicotinamide is a component of a coenzyme indispensable in animal metabolism. Experimental research results show that a certain amino acid such as tryptophan can be converted into nicotinamide in the animal body. Therefore, providing piglets with feed rich in tryptophan can prevent the occurrence of scabies.
Zinc deficiency. It has been reported that zinc deficiency in young pigs can also present symptoms similar to scabies, which in veterinary clinical practice is called parakeratosis of young pigs, with the whole body of the young pig covered with gray scabs.
Eczema. The causes of eczema include mechanical causes, such as friction and insect bites; physical causes, such as burns and sunburn; chemical causes, such as the application of various chemicals (acids, alkalis and corrosive substances), and the irritation to the skin of ointments containing turpentine oil and croton oil; and skin infection by microorganisms. The course of eczema often occurs with constipation, chronic indigestion, liver disease, poisoning, and disorders of the central and autonomic nervous systems, that is, neuropathic eczema.
Only by clarifying the causes of piglet scabies can symptomatic treatment be carried out.
When diagnosed as niacinamide deficiency, piglets can be given niacinamide tablets. Each pig is given 30 to 50 mg orally each time, 3 times a day, for 10 consecutive days as one course of treatment. Yeast tablets can also be fed or compound vitamin B injected. At the same time, adjust the feed and provide feed rich in tryptophan. If it is confirmed to be caused by a deficiency of the trace element zinc, 0.5 to 1 g of zinc sulfate can be mixed into each kg of feed, with 10 days as one course of treatment, and it generally takes effect within one course of treatment. If it is caused by parasitic mites, avermectin can be mixed into the feed (mix 3 to 4 g of a 0.2 percent powder into each kg of feed) or avermectin or ivermectin can be injected; the medicated feed should be fed continuously for 15 days. If it is eczema, drying or covering powders or ointments can be selected for treatment, and autohaemotherapy can also be used, that is, collect 30 to 40 ml of the animal's own blood and inject it subcutaneously or intramuscularly, increase by 10 ml on the second day, and increase by another 10 ml on the third day. For local symptoms, sterilized gauze soaked in the animal's own blood can be used for hot compress every day.