Diseases and Disorders of the Gestating House

Abortion Numerous causes – PRRSV and Leptospirosis infectious causes	Abscess Not uncommon in pigs and can become extremely large	Anaemia Growing pigs shown, classical cause gastric ulcer
Anthrax Uncommon – differential of a swollen neck	Atrophic rhinitis Adults carry the causal organism. Distortion will be life long	Aujeszky’s Disease Pseudorabies, may be non clinical in adults. Reproductive problems
Biotin deficiency A differential in horizontal cracks in the foot	Brucellosis Uncommon, to consider in orchitis cases	Bursitis Common – swelling particular along hock
Bush Foot Infection in the foot resulting in gross deformity and swelling of the foot possibly multiple abscesses	Clostridial disease Clostridium novyi results in severe hepatic degeneration with sudden death and gas bubbles in the liver
Conformation problems Gilts and boars should be rejected with clearly visible conformation problems before breeding.		Cystitis and pyelonephritis Normal urine left, cystitis with frank blood on right
Cystitis and pyelonephritis A common cause of death in adult sows. Catarrhal haemorrhagic cystitis, ureterovesical necrosis and active chronic pyelonephritis associated with urinary reflux
Eperythrozoonosis Clinically uncommon may result in anaemia. Associated with Mycoplasma haemosuis.	Erysipelas Sudden death. Acute cases present with diamond lesions on skin, chronic – arthritis - endocarditis	Foot and Mouth Disease Any signs of vesicles on a pig’s snout and feet must be reported to the Government veterinary services.
Fractures Associated with osteroporosis or acute trauma	Gastric ulcer Common. Occurs after period of not eating, cause of anaemia, abdominal pain and sudden death	Glasser’s Sudden death and acute meningitis with pleurisy in naive gilts and boars
Greasy Skin Sows often have poor greasy or scaly skins.	Haematoma Differential from an abscess, swelling full of fluid.	Jaw and snout deformities Common associated with poorly designed accommodation
Lameness Very common in adult pigs. Foot held high injury low down, foot held low, injury high up	- abscess/spinal injury Pig presents dragging hind legs, front legs and head generally unaffected	- epiphyseolysis Part of the OCD complex, combined with trauma, results in separation at the epiphyseal plate
- granuolma Large chronic – often painless ulcerated mass. Borelia suis may be associated	- Infection Infection may be more obvious in dead animals than alive. The two pictures show the outside view and the post-mortem view of a sow which was stood on by another sow
- OCD Common, generally non-clinical but severe forms can cause lameness	Leptospirosis A cause of abortion. There are many leptospira spp.	Leukaemia In gilts and young sows a common differential cause of unresponsive thin sows
Lice infestation Associated with Haemotopinus suis. The lice are easily seen walking on the sow causes severe irritation	Mange Common. Infestation results in chronic irritation for the sows and boars	Mastitis chronic Common. Results in loose of a mammary gland and may affect number of piglets weaned
Muscle tearing If the sow slips or damages the muscle attachment severe lameness can result	Mycoplasma hyosynoviae A cause of acute lameness particularly in new gilts and boars resulting in synovitis	Parvovirus Causes no clinical problems in the live pig, but results in SMEDI symptoms in the gilt or sow
Peritonitis Numerous causes, perforation of the gut by foreign bodies	Pneumonia/pleurisy Pneumonia uncommon in adults, can be a cause of sudden death	Porcine Enteropathy - Ileitis The haemorrhagic form can be a cause of sudden death in older gilts and boars,
present with haemorrhagic small intestine. Torsions are a differential. Vaccine would be useful for incoming animals	Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea Causes diarrhea in adults and in Asia severe mortality in piglets	PRRSV Cause of abortion in the USA. Can be non-clinical
Porcine Stress Syndrome Sudden death, Pietrains (shown) particularly sensitive	Prolapse of the rectum Common. Requires fixation. Review flooring	Prolapse of the vagina and cervix Common, review flooring
Salmonellosis Uncommon in adults. S. cholerae suis can kill adults	Shoulder sores Common, particularly in thin sows from the farrowing house	SMEDI Stillborn, mummified, embryonic death and infertility – Parvo and Enteroviruses
Stroke Uncommon, in older sows. May be temporary or result in partial paralysis – as shown	Sunburn Can be common outside, but may also be seen indoors with uncontrolled sunlight exposure	Swine dysentery Uncommon, but in an outbreak can kill adult sows

Swine Fever Classical and African Swine Fever may present as abortion and death in sows	Swine influenza Common. Sneezing, nasal discharges and abortions	Thin sow syndrome Many reasons, poor feed management and bullying
Vices May become common in loose housed sows, often present as vulval biting	Torsions Abdominal disasters – torsion of stomach, spleen, small and large intestine and liver lobes are common causes of sudden death in the sow. Review feeding routines
Vulval discharge Post breeding discharges common if reproductive protocols poor	Zearalenone A mycotoxin which can result in pseudopregnancy. Persistently enlarge vulva may be seen in young gilts