A couple of weeks ago, I got two tamworth gilts. Both are doing great. There was a little adjustment, but they seemed fine after about a day. Well, Saturday I got my little tam boar, Mojo. Mojo seems to be having a harder time adjusting. He is really timid. He ate ALOT the first day, but I didn't see him eat or drink at all yesterday. I'm really not sure he was even fully weaned from the sow. He also has a pretty deep cut on his leg. I put some antibiotic creme on it before I put him in the pen. But, he won't let us near him and I don't want to stress him out worse. I'm thinking that the best thing to do is not push him too hard...just let him rest and get adjusted to everything. I figure if he sees us with the other pigs, he will feel more comfortable with us after a couple of days. Is there anything else I should be doing, other than just monitoring him right now? And before anyone says to call a vet, there are no vets here within 100 miles at least that deal with pigs. Those of us with pigs are pretty much on our own. Thanks for your help.
Just spend a lot of time with them, yummy treats, quiet talking. Don't approach him just hang around so he sees that you're just there, not a threat. If the cut has become infected it may have him feeling crappy and sick. If it gets visibly ugly you may have to catch him to get some antibiotics in him, even if it's traumatizing. I wont say not to worry about the cut but pigs are extremely resilient.
That's what I figured. I thought about getting some of the liquid betadine and squirting in the cut. But, the other pigs keep licking at it. (I have 3 pigs that are going to butcher on Thursday.) So, I didn't want to put anything on it that may make the others sick. My other pigs all come running when I go in the pen, so hopefully, he will start to come around after a couple of days. I'm just a little worried that he may get dehydrated. I wanted to give him some pedialyte, but he won't come close enough to me yet.
Watch them and make sure the other pigs aren't picking on him or chasing him off of the feed and waterers. You can put powdered electrolytes in the waterer. It won't hurt the other pigs. You might have to pen him seperately so you can monitor his food and water intake. If he is acting sick, you probably don't want him in with your other pigs anyway.
Not so much acting sick...just stressed. He is actually doing better today. He has been eating and drinking. Hopefully, he'll come around in a day or two.
He's doing much better. He is still really timid, though. But, I guess for a boar I plan to use to breed, that may not be a bad thing. I'll have to post pics this weekend.
