There are as many as 11 causes of piglet diarrhea, how do you treat the right one according to different ages?
There are as many as 11 causes of piglet diarrhea at different ages! How can you treat the right one?
Cause: Piglet red dysentery
Onset situation: Piglet red dysentery is caused by Clostridium perfringens type C, and is transmitted through the digestive tract via diseased pigs and carriers. Clostridium perfringens type C exists in the intestines of some sows, and after being excreted with the sow's feces, it contaminates the teats, bedding, feed, drinking water, utensils and surrounding environment of the lactating sow. When 1-3 day old piglets suckle colostrum or swallow contaminated material, they become infected. The onset is sudden, and sometimes the piglets die quickly before clinical symptoms can even be detected. Acute cases show red-brown bloody feces with a foul fishy odor, and the mortality rate is extremely high.
Countermeasures: (1) Carefully carry out the sanitation, cleaning and disinfection of the pig house and its surrounding environment. Thoroughly disinfect the sow farrowing room, piglet house, floor, utensils, etc.
Before the sow enters the farrowing room, wash the abdomen, hindquarters skin and udder with warm water, and thoroughly disinfect with a low-irritation disinfectant. Before feeding colostrum, first squeeze out a small amount of milk and discard it, then let the piglets suckle, so as to reduce the probability of occurrence and spread of piglet red dysentery.
(2) Pay attention to immunization. During pregnancy, immunizing the sow with Clostridium perfringens type C vaccine can achieve relatively good results. For first-farrowing or second-parity pregnant sows, immunize once each at 30 days and 15 days before farrowing, with intramuscular injection of Clostridium perfringens type C vaccine at 5-10 ml per dose; for sows that have farrowed 3 or more times, a single intramuscular injection of 3-5 ml per dose can be given 15 days before farrowing.
(3) Drug prevention. Before newborn piglets have suckled colostrum, orally administer 200,000 units each of penicillin potassium and streptomycin per piglet, for 2-3 consecutive days, once a day, which has a certain preventive effect. Doxycycline or compound amoxicillin can also be given orally. In pig farms where this disease commonly occurs, immediately after piglets are born, inject the whole litter of piglets intramuscularly with cefquinome sulfate, etamsylate, etc., 1-2 ml per piglet, twice a day, for 3 consecutive days, and appropriately administer oral rehydration salts or glucose to prevent dehydration and enhance resistance. If conditions permit, injecting 3 ml of anti-piglet red dysentery serum per kg of body weight per pig can provide better protection.
2. 2-3 days of age
Cause: Sow infected with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome
Onset situation: Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome is an infectious disease of pigs caused by the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus. The main clinical features are that sows often show symptoms such as fever, abortion, premature birth, mummified fetuses, stillbirths and weak fetuses; piglets show abnormal respiratory difficulty and high mortality, mostly dying immediately at birth or within a few days after birth. Piglets from normal farrowing mostly develop piglet red dysentery at 2-3 days of age, while premature piglets often have more severe diarrhea. Sick piglets have elevated body temperature, abnormally difficult breathing, and pasty diarrhea; some pass gray or black tarry thin feces, and some feces contain blood.
Countermeasures: Currently there is no effectivetreatmentdrug, only antipyretic, antibacterial, virus purification, and recovery of the body after illness.
The use of vaccines is currently the most effective and feasible way to prevent and control this disease. Many kinds of inactivated vaccines and attenuated vaccines have been developed at home and abroad. For disease-free pig farms andpig farmers, vaccinate once each 1 month before mating and 1 month before farrowing with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome inactivated vaccine; breeding boars are vaccinated once every 4 months, 3 times a year. For affected pig farms andpig farmers, when the epidemic cannot be controlled, vaccinate the sow once each 1 month before mating and 1 month before farrowing with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome attenuated vaccine, and the piglets produced are vaccinated once each 1 day after weaning and 1 month after weaning with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome attenuated vaccine.
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome attenuated vaccine is generally not used, and is only applied when the epidemic cannot be controlled in 3-18 week old piglets; piglets are vaccinated once each 1 day after weaning and 1 month after weaning with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome attenuated vaccine.
3. 1-7 days of age
Cause: Piglet yellow dysentery
Onset situation: It is an acute, fatal diarrheal disease of newborn piglets caused by certain serotypes of pathogenic Escherichia coli. It mostly occurs in piglets from a few hours after birth to 7 days of age. It is mainly characterized by discharge of yellow mucous thin feces, acute dehydration, emaciation and a high mortality rate. It is susceptible when management is poor, environmental temperature is low, and sanitation conditions in the house are poor.
Countermeasures: After onset, regulating the sow's milk is crucial. The sow's diet must be reasonably matched, and the diet nutrition must be complete. Restrict feeding during the first month after mating, and pay more attention to the comprehensiveness of diet nutrition after 80 days of mating, to ensure balanced nutrition and sufficient quantity of postpartum milk. From one week before farrowing to one week after farrowing, the sow's udder must be wiped and massaged with a hot towel every day. Strictly enforce the disinfection system, carefully disinfect every corner of the pig house, control the micro-environment temperature and humidity of the farrowing house, and attach importance to ventilation.
Use trivalent Escherichia coli vaccine, inject once 30 days before farrowing and once again 15 days after farrowing, which can achieve an ideal protective effect for piglets. For piglets with diarrhea and dehydration, oral rehydration salts can be given (10 ml of 10% glucose saline, 2 ml of 10% vitamin C) for fluid replacement.
4. 1-10 days of age
Cause: Transmissible gastroenteritis and epidemic diarrhea of pigs
Onset situation: Piglets in this age range mostly develop diarrhea in the cold winter and spring seasons. Usually vomiting is seen first, followed by acute watery diarrhea; the feces are mostly yellow-green or gray-brown, accompanied by flocculent curd lumps. Piglets quickly become dehydrated, emaciated, eat little or not at all, and mostly die in the later stage; even piglets that do not die become stunted pigs due to arrested growth.
Countermeasures: Every winter and spring, for all sows about to farrow, inject 3 ml of porcine epidemic diarrhea - transmissible gastroenteritis inactivated vaccine at the Houhai acupoint 30 days before farrowing, which can achieve a very good protective effect.
Once this disease appears, drugtreatmenthas no obvious effect, but while using gentamicin, kanamycin, chloramphenicol and quinolone drugs for antibacterial and anti-inflammatory purposes, fluid replacement is also a good way to control death. For fluid replacement, 20-30 ml of 5% glucose sodium chloride injection, 250 mg of vitamin C, and 250 mg of vitamin B6 can be used, injected intravenously once, once each morning and evening.
5. 8-15 days of age
Cause: Coccidiosis
Onset situation: After piglets are infected with coccidiosis, they also show diarrhea symptoms. Piglets mostly develop diarrhea around 10 days of age; the feces are mostly white or yellow, ranging from porridge-like to watery, but bloody feces are generally not seen. Diarrheic piglets gradually become emaciated and their growth is arrested, and the growth and development of piglets in the same litter are uneven.
Countermeasures: Piglets and adult pigs must not be raised in mixed groups; keep the pen clean and dry, and promptly isolate diseased pigstreatment。
treatmentFor piglet coccidiosis, potentiated sulfonamides can be given orally or by intramuscular injection, 25-30 mg per kg of body weight, for 5-7 consecutive days. In addition, robenidine hydrochloride, monensin, maduramicin, "Sanzi" coccidiostat powder, etc., also have relatively good efficacy.
6. 10-30 days of age
Cause: Piglet white dysentery
Onset situation: A diarrheal disease caused by certain specific serotypes of pathogenic Escherichia coli. Diseased piglets pass gray-white pasty thin feces with a foul fishy odor, contaminating the area around the anus and the hind limbs; diseased pigs eat little or not at all, become dehydrated, gradually emaciated, and die of exhaustion.
Countermeasures:Prevention and controlmethods refer to piglet yellow dysentery.
7. 10-60 days of age
Cause: Rotavirus disease
Onset situation: Porcine rotavirus disease is an infectious disease of pigs caused by rotavirus with diarrhea as the main clinical feature. Piglets mostly develop it in the cold winter and spring seasons, mainly showing listlessness, not eating or eating little, frequent vomiting, watery or pasty diarrhea that is yellow-white or dark black, rapid dehydration, etc. Adult pigs and growing pigs are mostly subclinically infected, and it is a common cause of porcine gastroenteritis.
Countermeasures: Currently there is no specific drugtreatment. However, the use of antibiotics and sulfonamides can reduce deaths caused by secondary bacterial infection. After onset, stop suckling, immediately allow free drinking of electrolyte fluid containing glucose-glycine, or intravenously inject 5%-10% glucose saline and 3%-10% sodium bicarbonate solution, so as to prevent dehydration and acidosis to the greatest extent. Build and maintain a good micro-environment in the pig house, prevent drafts from entering and exiting, and maintain a relatively constant temperature.
8. 15-90 days of age
Cause: Strongyloidiasis
Onset situation: Piglet strongyloidiasis is a parasitic nematode disease caused by Strongyloides ransomi parasitizing the small intestine of pigs. The infection rate is high in 15-30 day old piglets, and gradually decreases in 60-90 day old pigs. It is mostly prevalent in the rainy season and summer, and is more likely to occur when the pigpen is unclean and humid. When a large number of larvae parasitize the lungs of piglets, it often causes eczema, bronchitis, pneumonia and pleurisy; when a large number of adult Strongyloides parasitize the small intestine of piglets, vomiting, abdominal pain, emaciation, anemia and diarrhea occur, with blood or mucus in the feces, and finally death due to extreme exhaustion. Necropsy shows congestion, hemorrhage and ulcers.
Countermeasures: Disinfect frequently, and keep the pig house environment dry and clean.treatmentLevamisole, albendazole, ivermectin and thiabendazole can be given orally or mixed into feed, and can expel all the worms.
9. After weaning
Cause: Atypical swine fever, pseudorabies
Onset situation: It is mostly infected from sows suffering from atypical swine fever. Piglets born to sows with atypical swine fever mostly grow well during the suckling period, but once weaned, the piglets show elevated body temperature, generally reaching above 41°C, not eating or eating little, intractable diarrhea, with feces changing from brown to yellow, and in the later stage fecal incontinence, with feces running down along the hind legs, extremely foul-smelling, rapid emaciation, and the skin of the lower abdomen and ear base appearing purplish-red; varioustreatmentsare all ineffective, and death occurs after about 1 week.
Weaned piglets infected with pseudorabies mainly show neurological symptoms, diarrhea and vomiting, with an incidence rate of 20%-40% and a mortality rate of 10%-20%.
Countermeasures: Both diseases are caused by viruses, and there is currently no effectivetreatmentmethod. Doing immunization well is the foundation of prevention. According to the local epidemic pattern, antibody levels, pig herd health status, and the type of vaccine selected, formulate a "personalized" immunization program suitable for the actual situation of the farm, and standardize immunization operations, ensuring no animal is missed. Where conditions permit, localities and pig farms should also carry out timely pathogen and antibody testing, evaluate the immunization effect, and continuously revise and improve the immunization program.
10. 50-90 days of age
Cause: Piglet dysentery (swine bloody dysentery)
Onset situation: Swine dysentery (swine bloody dysentery) is a serious intestinal infectious disease caused by Brachyspira hyodysenteriae, with acute hemorrhagic diarrhea and subacute and chronic mucous diarrhea as the main clinical features. Although pigs of all ages and breeds can be infected, it mainly affects 50-90 day old pigs.
The peracute type often dies within a few hours without any symptoms being seen. Acute cases begin to pass yellow to gray soft feces, eat little, and have body temperature rising to 40-40.5°C; as the disease progresses, feces containing large amounts of mucus or blood streaks are continuously passed, with arched back, sunken abdomen, dehydration, increased drinking, emaciation, weakness and ataxia. Subacute and chronic cases have milder symptoms, showing recurrent diarrhea, occasionally passing gray-white thin feces with mucus, anemia, emaciation, and arrested growth and development, becoming stunted pigs.
Countermeasures: 0.5% mequindox solution can be injected intramuscularly at 0.5 ml per kg of body weight, or erythromycin can be injected intramuscularly at 1-3 mg per kg of body weight, twice a day, for 2-3 consecutive days. At the same time, carry out fluid replacement and cardiac support.
11. 60-120 days of age
Cause: Piglet paratyphoid
Onset situation: Piglet paratyphoid, also called swine salmonellosis, is an infectious disease caused by Salmonella infection. The acute form is septicemia, while the chronic form of necrotizing enteritis is more commonly seen clinically. This disease often occurs in piglets under 180 days of age, especially 60-120 day old piglets. Although it can occur in all four seasons, it is more common during rainy and humid, cold, and season-transition periods. Diseased pigs mostly have elevated body temperature and periodic diarrhea; the feces are pale yellow, yellow-brown or green, extremely foul-smelling, sometimes mixed with blood streaks and pseudomembranes, and some diseased pigs also show coughing, with a few developing skin rash patches.
Countermeasures: For piglets over 30 days of age, intramuscular injection of 1 ml of piglet paratyphoid attenuated freeze-dried vaccine can achieve a relatively good preventive effect. For affected pigs, the use of enrofloxacin, gentamicin, etc., has satisfactorytreatmenteffects. (Source: China Breeding)