Sick pot belly

Question
Hi have 4 year old a male vietnamese pot belly pig, down 9 days now since Dec 3rd (when forced up sits on back feet and groans),very lethargic,eating a small bit and we keeping him hydrated and he is nice and warm in a bed of straw and with a heat lamp over him now. Iniatally when contacted local vet he just said it could be an infection and we gave him pen strip (Saturday 5ccs day one,10cc day two and 10 cc day three). Got a vet on the Tuesday (4 days after he went down)and he suspected a back problem and gave no treatment just told us to roll him over twice daily and see how he was by the weekend and then think about putting him down. We stopped giving the penicillin. He wasn't getting any better and started to twitch a bit when touched, found it hard to lift his head, so we decided to get a second opinion and found it hard to get a vet to come see him but finally one came this Saturday and he suspected meningitis. He perscriped a strog antibiotic (marbysol -not sure how to spell) 4cc for three days. We gave him a shot of penicillin in the evening also. He has improved a bit (now much more alert ,but still not eager to get up (has got up on front feet and still taking food and water by syringe). He seems to have one side of his mouth/lip drooping. Today he is twitching evry few minutes. We thaught he would be much better after the stronger antibiotic. What is the prognosis in your opinion. we want to do the right thing by him yet feel like we have to give him every chance before considering putting him down. Is there anything we can do to speed up recovery or did we get him to late? How long should we continue to treat or do we still give him penicillin? should we have seen more improvement at this stage?

Answer
I am not a veterinarian and can not make a diagnosis over the internet. There's a list of vets that treat pot-bellied pigs at www.farec.org. If there are no nearby vets, contact the one closest to you, often they will work with other vets over the phone sharing their pbp experience.

Infections seldom cause paralysis. I agree it may be a back injury, this is common especially in overweight pigs. Many back injuries are easily treated with Rimadyl, starting with a strong dose and tapering off over a few months. It takes weeks to recover from a back injury, especially if piggy has not received any medication for pain and inflammation.