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IV
FLUIDS FOR PIGS BY PHYLLIS BATTOE March 2005 Newsletter |
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Where on the pig to give fluids, how to give fluids and when to give IV fluids seem to be the leading questions. Pet Pigs, unlike other pets are much harder to run fluids on. The one vein that most vets prefer is the ear. Unfortunately this is also the vein that disappears first on a sick animal and usually requires cleaning often to keep things moving along. The leg vein also is hard to use for any period of time as is the milk vein. We have had limited luck with the Sub Q injections which is putting the fluids just under the skin usually into the flap of skin on the inside of the flank area which makes a rather large lump, but it is absorbed fairly quickly leaving no after affects. The down side to the Sub Q injections is that you can not get as much volume as you might like in these sites even using both sides of the pig. While Sub Q has its down side it still is preferable to no fluids at all. How important are these fluids with a sick animal? VERY! It can mean the difference on the pig surviving or not. A sick pig that has not been eating is not nearly the problem of a sick pig that will not drink. An older pig having surgery is another case for fluids…although the ideal situation would be that most invasive surgeries be done with some fluids on board. A pig that is running a high temperature is also a candidate for fluids. A temperature will very quickly dehydrate a pig. For a pig that is not in danger at the moment and undergoing simple surgery your vet can determine if fluids are necessary and for this situation the ear vein will work well. What we would like to discuss now is the importance and means of giving IV fluids daily or even more than once daily on a sick or debilitated animal for the purpose of treatment and hydration. We use the stomach IV for these cases and also for the pigs going through recovery from an illness. Some small animal vets have said that they are not comfortable with using it and even some large animal vets don’t seem to know about it. Our vet learned it while he was still a student working on farm pigs in the field. This procedure has probably saved more pigs at our sanctuary than any other one thing that we have learned. We are to the point now that we do the stomach IV ourselves here at home if an animal is down and needs fluids for hydration and we also use it to give meds at the same time. Antibiotics can be put in the bag of ringer solution along with vitamin B 12. I do not suggest that the average pet owner try this themselves, but it would be something that you can discuss with your vet in case it would ever be needed for your pet. Some vets are hesitant because of the potential of peritonitis (inflammation of the membrane covering internal surfaces in the abdomen) from the needle in the stomach, but that is a problem we have never once encountered in the ten years plus of using this method. (And believe me; we don’t always have the most sterile conditions to work with here on the farm.) To our way of thinking if we have a pet that is not waking up after surgery or is down with a high temperature or a pig that is just down period from an illness, than taking a chance with peritonitis would be the least of our worries. Also, thinking about it, a pig that will let you put a needle into the stomach and run fluids through it is not a pig that we would worry much about anything other than trying to save the pig’s life. |
The procedure itself is easy to do and if we can do it ourselves here at the sanctuary than it evidently doesn’t take a rocket scientist to do it. The problem seems to be more that people do not know about it or how it is done. We use a three inch long eighteen gage needle and attach it to an IV line to the bottle. We go into the stomach in the area after the last rib and before the flank of the pig and then with the pig lying on his side we go down the side of the pig three fourths of the way down and that is our point of entry. (Yes we know what your thinking..we ask the same question. What about all the parts inside and will we stick them? The answer we got was no….they will move over during the entry of the needle.) When placing the needle into the stomach you can feel it when it goes through the stomach wall. (Much like the feel of popping a balloon.) Once the needle is in place you can open the valve on the IV line and run the IV fully open. The fluids and medications are put right into the stomach cavity and are absorbed into the body. If for some reason you do not get the needle into the stomach itself you will see a lump start to form around your needle which is an indication that the needle is not in the stomach cavity but is going under the skin instead. This is not harmful to the pig but ends up being a sub Q IV and can be uncomfortable for the pig if the lump gets too large. It has been our experience that the stomach IV appears to not really be too uncomfortable for the pigs. The pigs do not show signs of much discomfort during the process. Some pigs will get up and walk a bit right after the needle is put in but they soon lay back down to finish the process. For those pigs that do get up, we just walk with them holding the bag until they lay down again. The whole process is over with much quicker because the flow is wide open rather than a drip. We have used this method on many many pigs over the years and several pigs had to have as many as four bags of IV fluids with medication given in a day’s time. We feel that the stomach IV has probably saved more pigs than any one thing we have learned to do for these animals throughout the years. As was said before, this is not a procedure that the average pet owner would want to try but it is a tool that your vet may find helpful. You might want to discuss this with your vet or save it for future reference in case you have a problem at some point that warrants the use of the stomach IV. It has certainly proved itself time and time again here at the sanctuary. Phyllis Battoe
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by Phyllis Battoe - All Rights Reserved |
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