HERNIA IN PIGS

By Sherebiah Kangwa

A HERNIA is an abnormal protrusion of an organ or tissue through a defect or natural opening in the covering skin or muscle.

Hernia often causes serious problem in pig production, leading to economic loss through the cost of surgical intervention, increased mortality rate, and reduced carcass value.

Umbilical hernias in pigs occur when abdominal connective tissue fails to close around the umbilical ring and causes the umbilical opening not to close properly and intestines protrude through the intestinal wall to form the “ball-like” structure often seen. The condition maybe hereditary, although the majority of umbilical hernias are related to infection of the umbilical cord.

Scrotal hernias obviously occur only in males although the more encompassing category of inguinal hernia includes both genders and are congenital (present at birth) and can be significantly affected by genetic and environmental factors.

Symptoms

Umbilical and scrotum hernias are easily identified by palpating the area and noting a break in the body wall. Sometimes a soft protuberance is palpable and/or visible in these areas.

Causes

Environmental factors may increase the incidenceof umbilical hernias; therefore, if there is a problem the following factorsshould be considered:

Piglets may be stretched during birth, whenremoved from the sow, putting too much strain on the umbilical cord.

If the umbilical cord hemorrhages and umbilicalclamps are used to stop the bleeding, we must ensure that they are not placedclose to the skin because otherwise they will damage and weaken the tissues.

Check if hernias coincide with a change of pen.

Buildings where pigs have to go through a too-small opening to get to the defecation area.  Sudden and severe abdominal pressures can lead to hernias.

In cold weather, pigs tend to pile, increasing abdominal pressure.

scrotal hernias are present at birth significantly affected by genetic and examine the navel at birth and two days later to see if there are any abnormalities.

Prevention

The occurrence of scrotal and umbilical hernias is often a frustrating concern for farmers, there are several areas where the producer can try to reduce the incidence of hernias:

Good sanitation and hygiene may be more likely to reduce the incidence of umbilical hernias than eliminating certain boars. Disinfecting umbilical cords has been reported to decrease the incidence of infection.

Improving farrowing-crate sanitation by removing accumulated sow manure before farrowing and using a desiccant powder to keep the crate floor dry may reduce bacterial levels in the piglets’ environment, thus reducing the risk of umbilical infection and umbilical hernias.

Environmental factors such as abnormal stretching of the umbilical cord during farrowing, incorrect placing of navel clips or infection of the umbilical “stump” on the piglet could contribute to the failure of the umbilical cord opening to close correctly.

In scrotal careful pig handling can make asignificant difference to herd incidence.

Scrotal hernias in uncastrated males are not animportant issue unless they are large. On farms where castration is doneroutinely, a minor surgery may need to be performed.

As in all pig production, good stock manshipyields positive results.

Investigate the possibility of it beinghereditary.

Peritonitis is sometimes caused and may requireculling the pig.

Use iodine to clean the umbilical cords ofnewborn piglets.

Treatment

Hernia can also reduce by surgically butsome veterinarians do not recommend surgical treatment if the opening is minuscule,but most will due to the possibility that the defect will enlarge with excessweight, trauma, pregnancy and whelping or exercise. When opening is extremelytiny an elastrator ring can be used to repair umbilical hernia.

Sherebiah Kangwa is a qualified veterinarian from Natural Resources Development College (NRDC). He is based in Lusaka’s 10 miles. For more details get in touch with him on 0975 250 184 or What’s up him on this same line.

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