# Natural Cure for a Sick Pig



## DaziAcres (Jul 10, 2013)

This was written by my husband on our Facebook page but I thought I should share it here.
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So here's a little story about who should we listen to: A pig or a vet?

Friday morning we went to move the pigs to a fresh paddock in the woods and discovered that one of the gilts was sick.

She was just laying there. This is highly unusual. All of the pigs grunt and pace when we go out to see them because they know we have food. They're especially antsy on moving days; they want fresh ground to root up.

Even after we got the other pigs moved the gilt was still laying there. It took a bit of coaxing but we got her in with the others and she promptly laid down, ignoring the bucket of food we'd brought out.

We did a little looking in our pig books and discovered pigs can get really sick and be lethargic for a few days, then fully recover. Then again they can never recover. 

So we called a vet. The vet didn't want to come to the farm; he just wanted her symptoms: lethargic, won't eat or drink, unsociable, hot to the touch.

"She probably has a parasite or pneumonia. She'll need antibiotics. You can come pick them up," he said.

Now our farm is beyond organic. We say we don't feed antibiotics (or subtherapeutic antibiotics, which some farmers put in animal feed as a preventive measure ... low levels of antibiotics that have allowed bacteria to mutate and create superbugs rendering most normal doses of most antibiotics useless). 

We don't feed subtherapeutic antibiotics. But, being a beyond organic farm, we could feed antibiotics to a sick animal because she needs it, but that animal can never leave the farm for someone's dinner table. In addition there's the issue of whether or not the animal actually does need the medicine, since the prescribing vet never actually examined the pig.

We wrestled with these thoughts all Friday and when she wasn't getting any better that evening we bought the antibiotics.

And kept them in the fridge all weekend, while continuing to check on the pig, trying to get her to eat and drink and giving her hay to lay on for comfort, and trying to decide what was the right thing to do for her.

By Sunday she wasn't much better so we decided to try something different. We put some dried kelp in front of her since kelp is a mineral supplement we give to the cows to boost their immunity and help protect against parasites. When the cows know they need it they gobble it down. When they don't need it they ignore it.

As luck would have it, our hunch was right. The pig started eating the kelp. Then she got up and drank water and ate with the rest of the pigs, including kelp I gave them in case whatever the gilt had spread to the others. 

Last night she did the same. And this morning she was up and rooting around and eager, with the rest of the pigs, for today's move. 

She again went straight for the kelp this evening when we fed the pigs. 

The moral of the story? We sometimes as humans think we know what an animal needs because standard veterinarian practice dictates that when an animal is sick, feed antibiotics. But we rarely listen to the animal. 

That pig needed kelp to help her get better and we listened to her.

Now, we need to watch her to see if her symptoms return and, if so, possibly follow the vet's advice. And if we do, she won't be sold to anyone. 

But we think the definition of renaissance farming partly includes doing for your animals what your animals need you to do for them.

In other words, we need to ask the animal what she needs before we ask the vet.


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

Glad to hear the pig is better. It is unfortunate the vet is over prescribing antibiotics. This can cause serious problems. Parasites are not treated with antibiotics. Pneumonia might be bacterial or it might be viral (useless to treat with antibiotics). Without seeing the pig and possibly doing tests and at least a lot more questions the vet can't tell. Doctors know better but some turn to antibiotics as a cure all or at least to do something when nothing can or should be done.


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