Symptomatic treatment of straddle-legged piglets
Bollwahn, W.; Krudewig, B.
Deutsche Tierärztliche Wochenschrift 79(10): 229-231
1972
ISSN/ISBN: 0341-6593 PMID: 4558313 Document Number: 56200
In a study of 102 piglets, from 46 litters, which exhibited splayleg-mostly of the hind limbs (95)-the animals were divided into two equal groups. The affected limbs of one group were bound with adhesive plaster, running in a figure of eight around and between the limbs so as to keep them separated by 4.5-7 cm, while in the second control group a traditional limb fetter was employed if no improvement took place within 48 hours of birth. Compared with 24 deaths in the first four days, due to crushing by the dam or to starvation, among piglets of the second group, only nine (18%) of the first group died. In 40 of the first group and 24 of the second group piglets the condition was cured and the animals reached four weeks of age-a difference in survival rate of 30%. The occurrence of the condition in nine piglets of a single litter indicated a hereditary predisposition.