Late on the night of Feb 6th I went out to the side yard - where the Hogspital hutches are located, to put out the rubbish. I turned on the outside light and there sitting in the middle of the concrete was a young hoggie. Too small to be out on its own, I picked it up and checked around in case Mamma hog was near by but there was no sign, so I admitted the bubba into Hogspital. It was a little girl, very cheeky and weighing only 193gms. I named her Quincy.
I wasn't all that surprised to see this we one because late in January I had installed a feeder box in this area after spotting some very small (baby) 'sicky poo' there. The feeder had been visited every night from the first night and I've found Mary's babies there on more than one occasion - often having a sleep over in it.
Let me explain 'sicky poo'!
When a Hh is sick with parasites, their gut tries to shed the nasties and this often results in runny poo with mucous and sometimes blood. The poo that I has seen was very small, pale, runny and had both muccous and blood so I knew there was a sick youngster in the area.
Because the wether was warm I installed Quincy in a hutch rather than a Hogspital box inside. she settled very quickly and got on with the business of gaining weight and growing. I was a bit perturbed beause outwardly she didn't seem to have any issues other than being an orphan.
Five days later just as I was getting ready to lock the house up very late one evening I heard a weird noise at the screen door - scritch, scratch, scritch, scritch ... On went the outside light and there scuttling away from the light into the corner to hide, was another little bubba. Again, no Mamma in evidence and this one was trying to get into the house through the screen. It was slightly heavier than Quincy at 217gms, but was definitely her sibling. A wee boy whom I named Jones, he was pretty freaked out and shakey so I tried popping him in with his sister but she was having NONE of that, so he was put to bed in a seperate hutch.
Jones was extremely restless from the get go and was also super hungry. He did ok initially but on day 7 his weight started to drop and he was still very restless and anxious. This is often a sign of fluke but so far his faecals had been clear - except I had seen something quite 'weird' on day 5 - more on that later, and his poo was ok. I decided to shift him inside into a hogspital box and on to a heatpad which helped stabilise his weight and he started gaining again. Quincy's faecals were still clear as well and she was trucking along nicely.
On day 17 I ran another faecal for Quincy and found a lot of fluke eggs. I couldn't believe it! Obviously there had been an adult maturing in there and it had just started to lay eggs. Not for much longer though, I got Ivo Super into her stat and popped her back to bed.
Jones' faecals were still clear and he was now back in his hutch. His weight was still being a yo-yo and he continued to be anxious and restless. It was frustrating! Day 28 saw another faecal test run and BAM! There it was - a heap of fluke eggs, Capillaria and lots of lungworm! In a way I was relieved because it explained his issues but WOW! That lot had been brewing away for a while! Within 48hrs of starting treatment Jones was a different wee man. He settled right down, became more friendly and easier to handle and started gaining weight consistently.
I went back and reviewed Jones' notes, which led me to look again at the images I had taken of the 'weird thing'. To my horror I realised that what I was looking at was the bum end of an adult fluke which had been chopped up in the prep for the slide. Now I've only ever seen fluke once before - and it had been full of eggs so was easier to ID, but I am kicking myself that I didn't realise what I was seeing sooner. However, I got there in the end and Jones is fine.
Both Quincy and Jones are now clear of Fluke and Capillaria, however Jones' Lungworm is proving difficult to shift. I suspect the drug we have been using to date is no longer 100% effective against Lungworm and I am researching to hopefully come up with an alternative drug.
So, day 45 dawns for Quincy and she has reached 660gms. Tonight she is off back into the wild. Although we are having a few cooler nights now, she will have plenty of time to establish herself and get settled in for her first hibernation.
Jones still has a way to go - he needs to be heavier AND we need to get that Lungworm cleared out so he has a minimum of 10-14 day in captivity left.
I wasn't all that surprised to see this we one because late in January I had installed a feeder box in this area after spotting some very small (baby) 'sicky poo' there. The feeder had been visited every night from the first night and I've found Mary's babies there on more than one occasion - often having a sleep over in it.
Let me explain 'sicky poo'!
When a Hh is sick with parasites, their gut tries to shed the nasties and this often results in runny poo with mucous and sometimes blood. The poo that I has seen was very small, pale, runny and had both muccous and blood so I knew there was a sick youngster in the area.
Because the wether was warm I installed Quincy in a hutch rather than a Hogspital box inside. she settled very quickly and got on with the business of gaining weight and growing. I was a bit perturbed beause outwardly she didn't seem to have any issues other than being an orphan.
Five days later just as I was getting ready to lock the house up very late one evening I heard a weird noise at the screen door - scritch, scratch, scritch, scritch ... On went the outside light and there scuttling away from the light into the corner to hide, was another little bubba. Again, no Mamma in evidence and this one was trying to get into the house through the screen. It was slightly heavier than Quincy at 217gms, but was definitely her sibling. A wee boy whom I named Jones, he was pretty freaked out and shakey so I tried popping him in with his sister but she was having NONE of that, so he was put to bed in a seperate hutch.
Jones was extremely restless from the get go and was also super hungry. He did ok initially but on day 7 his weight started to drop and he was still very restless and anxious. This is often a sign of fluke but so far his faecals had been clear - except I had seen something quite 'weird' on day 5 - more on that later, and his poo was ok. I decided to shift him inside into a hogspital box and on to a heatpad which helped stabilise his weight and he started gaining again. Quincy's faecals were still clear as well and she was trucking along nicely. On day 17 I ran another faecal for Quincy and found a lot of fluke eggs. I couldn't believe it! Obviously there had been an adult maturing in there and it had just started to lay eggs. Not for much longer though, I got Ivo Super into her stat and popped her back to bed.
Jones' faecals were still clear and he was now back in his hutch. His weight was still being a yo-yo and he continued to be anxious and restless. It was frustrating! Day 28 saw another faecal test run and BAM! There it was - a heap of fluke eggs, Capillaria and lots of lungworm! In a way I was relieved because it explained his issues but WOW! That lot had been brewing away for a while! Within 48hrs of starting treatment Jones was a different wee man. He settled right down, became more friendly and easier to handle and started gaining weight consistently.
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| Jones' fluke 'bum'! x 100mag |
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| Previously seen fluke x 100mag - 2016 |
I went back and reviewed Jones' notes, which led me to look again at the images I had taken of the 'weird thing'. To my horror I realised that what I was looking at was the bum end of an adult fluke which had been chopped up in the prep for the slide. Now I've only ever seen fluke once before - and it had been full of eggs so was easier to ID, but I am kicking myself that I didn't realise what I was seeing sooner. However, I got there in the end and Jones is fine.
 |
| Inside an adult Fluke with eggs x 400mag |
So, day 45 dawns for Quincy and she has reached 660gms. Tonight she is off back into the wild. Although we are having a few cooler nights now, she will have plenty of time to establish herself and get settled in for her first hibernation.
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| Quincy on the day of her release |
Jones still has a way to go - he needs to be heavier AND we need to get that Lungworm cleared out so he has a minimum of 10-14 day in captivity left.
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