Artificial feeding of piglets + docking of piglets Flashcards
When would we do artificial feeding of piglets?
Artificial feeding of the piglets is, mostly, needed when the sow can’t produce enough milk for all the piglets.
After a C-section the sows have this problem, sometimes they won`t have a normal milk production until 2-3 days after.
How much milk/milk replacer does a piglet need and how often?
One piglet need up to 20ml of milk/milk replacer at one feeding, it is repeated every 2hrs.
We differentiate between two type of piglets, regarding the artificial feeding. what are they, and what is the difference?
Sucking and non-sucking
If the piglet has a sucking reflex, what can we do concerning artificial feeding?
They can be fed with a human baby bottle, but the opening have to be enlarged (14G needle or nail 50mm).
The piglets are placed on a flat surface and we help it to learn drinking from the bottle.
If the piglet don’t have a sucking reflex, what can we do concerning artificial feeding?
We use a stomach tube, normally we use from an infusion set and cut this to fit a small piglet. (size: 4mm).
We need to figure out the length of the rube by finding the measurement from mouth to stomach, attach a 20ml syringe, lubricate the tube and insert to the piglets mouth.
We push it down until we can feel a resistance, this is usually the stomach wall and push the milk inside. Normally a piglet will swallow when we push the tube, so it is easy to insert it
If the piglet is in a bad condition, what can we do concerning the artificial feeding?
We should tube the piglet, but we dont want the tube going to the lungs. So if the piglet doesnt swallow the tube on its own we can use a intraperitoneal injection.
Give an example of an intraperitoneal injection we give to piglets to help swallow the tube in case of artificial feeding
Dextrose
what does docking of piglets mean?
Tail clipping of the piglets
Why do we perform docking of piglets?
We clip the tail in order to prevent the tail biting which is due to the piglets being easily bored.
The tail biting can cause very severe infections, leading to abscesses in the spine or meningitis which will lead to several health problems in later life or also death.
How old should the piglet be before performing tail docking?
We never clip the tail at birth, we wait at least 24hrs for the colostrum to be properly absorbed, the best is to wait until day 3 with an iron injection.
How to perform tail docking?
We use clean and disinfected instruments, and we NEVER use the same instruments as used for teeth-clipping. We don’t use sharp instruments, we use instruments that will minimize bleeding.
We leave 16mm of tail
Always cut the tail in same size throughout the whole litter
Check for bleeding the next 5 minutes
If there is a bleeding - Ligature on the tail for 15 minutes
If the tails in one litter are not the same size, what will happen?
The piglet with longest tail will undergo tail biting.
