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ABSCESS AND YOUR PIG BY PHYLLIS BATTOE Originally Presented at the Pot-Bellied Pig Congress - June 2006 |
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Most of us have seen the abscess problem at one time or another. This is a fairly common thing with our pigs. An abscess is usually the result of some injury but can also be from an infection that we had no idea was even there. It seems that our pig friends have the dubious ability to wall off any intruding bacteria from an injury or local infection…thus the abscess forms. This protects the rest of the body from the infection. An abscess is no more than a pocket of pus and infection and the consistency can be anywhere from partial liquid to cottage cheese but always accompanied by a very bad odor. If we think that an abscess is a possibility than once again our theory is prevention rather than the cure. With an injury we usually know that it is there and we treat the injury with oral antibiotics which can prevent an abscess from forming. What we do not want to do is to put heavy antibiotic creams or in any way cover up the hole from the injury. We want it to drain on its own if at all possible. We don’t mean that with every little scratch your pig should have antibiotics but if the injury is a puncture wound or very deep and has fluid coming from it than the antibiotic therapy is called for. What does an abscess look like? It is a lump, usually in the general area of the injury. It starts off small and grows in size until you either break it or it comes to a head on its own and bursts. The lump starts out fairly soft and gets more firm as it grows. To drain it, an incision is made at the softest center spot on the lump and preferably at the lowest point to encourage drainage. If you are very lucky and catch it soon enough, sometimes the antibiotics will correct it. The body will absorb what is in there and the lump disappears. Treating an abscess is time consuming but is the only way to keep it from healing on the outside without healing on the inside which perpetuates the problem. Because pigs heal so quickly that can be a challenge in itself. This is why we seldom sew an injury up unless the pig is on large doses of antibiotics or a drain is left in place. |
Once we see that an abscess is forming we start antibiotics immediately at the high end of the scale. If it continues to form and grow larger and is indeed a full blown abscess we start treating it as such in conjunction with the antibiotics. To treat an abscess we soak the swelling in very warm Epsom salts by laying wet towels on it. This can be done several times a day to help bring it to a head. Once it opens on its own or we open it with an incision and the foul smelling stuff comes out, the wound needs to be cleaned and irrigated several times a day. We use a syringe without the needle and shoot warm water and some sort of liquid antiseptic into the wound. (Our preference is Betadine) You will see the wound healing and filling in with healthy tissue which means you will need to do less as the healing continues. Not all abscesses are caused by an injury. When a pig develops an abscess on the face or under the jaw or in the jowl area it is usually from something that has gone wrong in the mouth or even the ears. The face abscess is usually smaller and there may be more than one depending on how bad the infection is. They tend to be like hard knots and resemble a boil or cyst on a human as they get close to breaking open. The most prevalent cause is a bad tooth or an infection in the gum line. Sometimes the antibiotics used to treat the abscess will fix the problem with the tooth or gums and no further treatment is needed but more often the case will be that the problem will come back again until the cause of the abscess is found and eliminated. Some pigs are notorious for having left over food in pockets around the tooth at the gum line. This can lead to infection which leads to an abscess. Are abscesses dangerous or just inconvenient? Yes, they can be dangerous depending on where and how bad they are. Anywhere on the face is cause for worry and aggressive treatment. There is a possibility of an untreated abscess going into the brain causing major problems. These things are nothing more than a growing pocket of bacteria that left untreated can burst internally affecting other things through the blood stream. The antibiotic therapy helps to prevent this from happening. The antibiotics are the first line of defense and if caught soon enough there are times when it will stop an abscess from forming. That small lump may be absorbed into the body leaving nothing behind but a small swelling which thought about becoming an abscess. Copyrighted
by Phyllis Battoe - All Rights Reserved |
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