by George Collins » Mon Jun 03, 2013 12:58 am
Over the last couple days, I've become quite adept at giving a pig an injection. A couple weeks ago, right after I moved Linda and Lou in to the pasture in which they currently reside, I noticed one tilt her head to the side as if she might have been experiencing a bit of ear pain. Her appetite and behavior all appeared normal so I resolved to watch her closely. Over time I noticed Linda would act like she had ear pain one day and Lou would the next and then the next both would seem fine. The next time out to feed them and the pattern would repeat.
This kept on till yesterday morning. When presented with their normal feed, Linda dove right in but Lou stopped short, laid down and wouldn't even try to eat.
I summoned Youngblood to render his medical opinion. His diagnosis: "That is one sick hog."
His prescription: "Pennciyan."
His prognosis: "She'll prolly be a'ight."
We made a run to the feed store, purchased the penicillin and upon returning home, I administered my first ever injection to a pig. Because she was so lethargic, when I jooged her she barely even protested.
I gave her another dose last night right before dark and by this morning, she was eating again. Better still, she reasserted her dominance over Linda by running her away from her preferred fed trough.
This morning, I talked to my eldest daughter and she told me she had seen all of our hogs acting like they have been experiencing ear pain in the recent past. Reading that early intervention is the key to successfully resolving strep (the likely cause of all recently pig maladies), I decided to go ahead and give all pigs a weight appropriate dose this morning.
Good thing too because by early afternoon, all were acting like Lou had been her first day but by the time for the evening feed two had already rebounded and were at their trough eating albeit with less gusto than is typical.
Hopefully by the day after tomorrow all will be through with their course of antibiotics, on the mend and all will be back to normal.
All total I've given nine injections so far. So far, I've been able to get it in em and get the needle back out fast enough that by the time they turn to see what it was that bit them, the injection is long over.
"Solve world hunger, tell no one." "The, the, the . . . The Grinch!"
"If you can't beat them, bite them."