Sudden Death

Question
QUESTION: I have a nine mo. old PBP who suddenly died. The day of his death he seemed fine. He went about his morning routine of a graze and breakfast of 1/2 cup of PBP chow, some lettuce, apple slices And a few grapes. Got his morning rub down and a good belly scratch and acted completly normal. I was gone for about 4-5 hrs doing some errands. When I got home he(Bacon) was in his usual spot, but didn't come to me with his normal grunting greeting. I went to check on him and he was dead. Looked completly normal, at first I tried to wake him up , then I realized he was dead. Any ideas of what can cause sudden death without symptoms? Any ideas would be great.

ANSWER: I'm very sorry for your loss. A sudden death in an apparently healthy piglet is a very rare occurrence. There are a few things that can kill a pig quickly, but they have some sort of symptom or warning, like serious diarrhea, breathing difficulties or loss of appetite.

I am not a veterinarian and can not make a medical diagnosis over the internet. Only a necropsy of the body could reveal for certain what happened. I can make a couple of guesses.

It may have been an accidental poisoning. If medicines or chemicals are missing, that could be it.

If piggy was the only living creature in the home, it may have been carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide is a sneaky, silent killer. It often comes from engine fumes. It can be difficult to detect if it's present only when the problem engine is running.

Another possibility is a fatal congenital defect, in the heart or blood vessels. A heart defect could cause the heart to stop. A burst blood vessel deep in the brain would cause a fatal stroke.

Some pigs literally die of fright. It's called Porcine Stress Syndrome, and it occurs when a pig has just gone through (or may still be in) a very stressful situation. In rescue, we see this when an escaped young piglet is trapped, or when a very old pig is moved from a lifelong home to a new place with new people. The pig acts disturbed and upset while the situation is happening. An extremely susceptible pig, who is frightened and stressed, may simply "freeze" and drop dead on the spot. But more often, the pig survives the immediate stress, lays down to rest, and dies.





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QUESTION: I read about PSS. Could a bad dream cause enough stress to bring this on? Bacon had k-9 friends, but when we weren't home he had his own secure room away from the dogs. I can't imagine what could have stressed him out. He had a cat and three caged silky chickens with him. When we found him his legs were stiff as a board but his neck was still flexible and he was still warm to the touch. Any way thanks for the quick answer and keep up the great work.

Answer
I have never heard of a dream causing PSS. In my own personal opinion, I am certain that pigs dream, and probably have both good and bad dreams. But I don't think there's any scientific proof that pigs dream, or enough scientific data to tell us how sleep stages affect pig bodies.

Part of identifying PSS as a cause of death is a documented stressful situation shortly before death. So, in a situation like yours where no stressful situation occurred (or at least none we know of), PSS is automatically ruled out.   

The only way to accurately pinpoint the cause of death is a necropsy. In most cases where a pig is found dead in an ordinary environment with no previous symptoms or signs of injury, the death is due to a congenital problem leading to stroke or heart attack.

There may be a connection between these kinds of congenital issues and PSS, but until we know a lot more about piggy sleep, we can't connect PSS with bad dreams.