Impacted,Mites, Cavy Not Good:(

Question
I have a 3 year old male pig.  He has always been very small-probably a 1/3 of the normal size.  He is on his 3rd continous dose of ivermetin.  The black specks are still between his ears (the vet cleaned out his mite ridden ears several weeks ago)....his hair still is coming out in clumps.  At and at night it sounds like his is crying:(  He was impacted when I took him to the vet...tonight I noticed he was impacted again(I extracted his poop).  Basically, I have been giving him fresh oranges/strawberries, etc. alot, try to keep his cage clean(he makes a water mess over night), what else can I do?  Help!!?Please give me some ideas.

Answer
Hi Teresa,

First of all, hold back on the fresh fruit. Fruit is high in acid, water and sugar so should be fed in very limited quantities at the best of times. Instead, feed lots more lettuces (any but iceberg), chard, courgette (zucchini), coriander (cilantro), a small amount of parsley, a bit of cabbage, tomatoes (only 1-2 cherry tomatoes per pig), peppers (all colours, no seeds), sweetcorn husks and silks (green wrap and strings) and a little bit of cucumber. Those are all suitable for daily feeding.

Does he have unlimited amounts of hay available 24/7? He must, must, must have hay always available to him. It is essential for digestion and for keeping the molars worn down.

A high quality pellet is also important - Oxbow and Kleenmama's (online) are the absolute best. Avoid mixes (the dry feeds with seeds, nuts and colored bits in).

The excess fruit you have been feeding may be contributing to his impaction - the high water level is making his poops much looser and softer, so it gets built up in the anal sac easily, thus causing impaction. Once you sort his diet out it should begin to improve.

He might have slightly "faulty" genes which can cause lots of health problems. This may have been caused by inbreeding. He might also have been the runt of the litter, which explains his size. Breeding roans and dalmations can also cause problems in pups.

The absolute best advice I can give you is to contact your vet if he gets worse. The ivermectin should rid the mites soon. However, mites are microscopic and you can actually see specks in the hair, so the ivermectin may not be fully successful at clearing the problem. Ask your vet if ivermectin will be any use for treating lice, as this is more likely to be the problem.

Best Wishes,

- Laura