Pig acting oddly, a brief google mentions pregnancy!! Please come and tell me it's not!!

[HairyPotter]

Ok, so we adopted two sows at the beginning of July. Lovely wee things both of them. They have put on a bit of weight but I probably over feed them.

Tonight one of them is behaving oddly. She is drinking lots, (I started a thread a while ago because neither of them ever went near the bottle and I was worried) She is lying on her side outside of her wee hidey house and every 30 secs or so, her belly sort of spasms. She is also starving and hoovering up the dried food she doesn't usually bother too much with.

She hasn't eaten anything new that could have disagreed with her. What on earth could it be? Should I call the vet?

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Oooh, (I know MN loves a PeeOnAStick Thread but maybe not unexpected animal pg).

Gestation for GPs is 63 - 70 days. (9-10 weeks). So if she DTD before you got her, she's right on time.

Is she a pg guinea shape? (I've had 2 sows that gave us surprise piglets when I was a child. One a mis-sexed pair. One already pg) . They had a definate bulge at the side, very firm even though the pigs were quite slim.
And the bump 'rippled'
Is she producing milk?

If it's not an imminant birth, the only other things could be:

bloat - but the chubby sides wouldn't be the same, they'd feel hollow
blockage (like eating plastic) but as above, it's a much quicker onset

something internal like an ovarian cyst but she'd be in pain, not hoovering up the food.

How old are your sows. If they are a year or older, be aware the birth (if it is that) might not progress with intervention .

See how she progresses in the next half hour or so. But be on standby to contact your vet.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Are they definately definately two girls?

[elvislives2012]

I'd contact the vet. It could be pregnancy but with no def knowledge of the deed being done, u need to rule other things out. Hope she's ok cox

[elvislives2012]

*xxx

[HairyPotter]

Umm, I think so. I'll have a look in a min.

They are about a year old. She hasn't been near plastic, although the only thing I can think of is I have started lining the hidey house with newspaper under the fleece instead of woodshavings. She has probably eaten some of that. Would that cause any issues?

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Depends how much she's eaten. Mine will chew newspaper and cardboard but it just goes through then.

Is she poohing?

(Just remembered one of my sows, the oldest one used to get very jumpy and arsey , didn't like her sides touched. She was a bit chunky after 2 litters. We put her in a box of naice hay, she just poohed for Britain.Constipated and wanting peace from her adult piglet).

If she;s pg, it would have got noticeable in the past few weeks. Google some images of pg sows. Our ready pg one only had one piglet so she was smaller. IIRC I noticed her teats were enlarged first.

After about a year, their pelvic ligaments don't give as much.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Just had a cheeky look through the Advanced Search.

You've got Lily and Lavender haven't you?

Could it be a possibilty in all the unheaval that they were in with a boar, however briefly?

[HairyPotter]

Yes that's me. They are utterly adorable, gorgeous wee things. I've txd the lovely lady who brought them up to meet me halfway and she assures me that there is no chance of me becoming a granny.

So, she is still being a but weird but not quite as much as earlier. I'm keeping a close eye out for now. I felt her belly and she just felt like a fairly podgy pig tbh.

I've just fed them and they are chomping away as normal. Fingers crossed we have no more drama

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

relief at not having the patter of paws.

Did I tell you about the ginormous poohs my GP2 used to do?
Size of a Ferrero Rocher I kid you not.
I took one to the vet when I took my little boy in (it was on the day that he died) and said that it wasn't even his supersized ones. Vet was and said he'd 'never seen one like it'

He popped these out once a week or so, and 'normal' poohs.

So keep a check on her outgoings. If she's eaten something Dietary Indiscretion you might find evidence.

[HairyPotter]

Poo looks the same size as usual! Am genuinely at Ferrero sized poo though.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

that's the world of SFA.

How's the patient now? has she stopped the spasms?

[HairyPotter]

Yes thankfully! All is quiet for now

Thanks for all the advice, much appreciated

[fortifiedwithtea]

Gosh how did I miss this thread

If a sow has an ovarian cyst they hide it really well. Fatimus has had a hysterectomy today for just that reason. The only clue I got that she needed to go to the vet was leaking wee and with hindsight, being really grumpy in season.

I remember having a POAS scare when Old Boy got Fatimus round the back of the climbing frame or was it the time I found them dancing the Conga under the dining room table Anyway it just turned out she was fat

Hope all is well with Lily and Lavendar and that handsome boar they travelled across Kent with was a gentleman

[HairyPotter]

Yes I think she is just fat too. Dd1 weighed them on my bloody kitchen scales last night and she is considerably podgier than Lily. She is 1200gms and Lily is a dainty 990gms.

No other weird behaviour thankfully. I just panicked on sat and had visions on squillions of baby pigs

Sending healing vibes to Fatimus, poor wee soul

[fortifiedwithtea]

@ kitchen scales. That's how I do mine, but I keep a special Quality Street tin to put them first.

Lavender is a big girl now, she will catch up with Fatimus soon. Thank you for the healing vibes