I read something interesting and thought I would share it. It is from the Shepherd's Green Sanctuary newsletter and it talks about skin health in pigs.
It is talking about 2 of the pigs at the sanctuary...
" Mona and Sally Cream Cheese are 2 of some 30 white and silver pigs who have over the years gradually gotten more and more skin problems. A month of diagnostics and care at the University for Sally indicated no single approach was going to solve the problems. Each pig seemed a little different, but most were thin, had weeping sores and a generalized redness and "dirty" look.
The Cause.
The root cause is that white farm pigs get skin cancer and when introduced in 1989 into the pot bellied pig population as "Royal Whites", they brought their genetics with them. Because farm pigs are killed as juveniles in the meat industry, it doesn't matter, but now we have thousands of white and silver pigs of diminutive sizes in homes as well as a growing number of farm pigs as pets. When they get skin cancer or any of the other skin conditions, it matters!"
I was just saying in my last post about how hard it is to put sunscreen onto a pig covered in pig bristles. I have already started to notice the "generalized redness and dirty look" of Piper's skin. She's had many sores throughout the summer and has, at times, been very uncomfortable because of this problem. To me, this is just another consequence of irresponsible breeding to create more variety to make more money. There's really no way to help a white pig. You can try with the sunscreen...as I do, at least getting the ears, but other than making a cover for the entire pig (which none of mine would even allow), they will be exposed to the sun most of the the time.
Definitely something to think about. As I have said before, vet care for serious problems in pigs is very difficult to find in this area.
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