What could cause muscle spasms in a litter of piglets?

Question

While feeding a mother and her newborn litter of piglets this morning, I noticed that most of the piglets seemed to have persistent muscle spasms, specifically on their backends. They were pretty much vibrating to different degrees. I did not have time to watch for an extended period of time, but I was there long enough that is definitely seemed like some serious condition and not them just acting weird while stretching their legs.

Any advice for what this might be, and cures?

Yes, they were all up. But some were just standing there and spasming. — Jonathon, Aug 06 '14 at 21:19
It might be worth a phone call, just for an immediate idea of what might be going on, since it might take time for someone who knows about pigs to answer here. — Spidercat, Aug 07 '14 at 02:36
You did not ask pertinent questions like is this her first litter and how many did she have as well as what was the duration of their births.....just saying....you know that is important. Not a pretty association but its true that pigs and humans are similar creatures. Some have birthing issues. — Cynthia Rohr, Nov 24 '20 at 09:21

Dogalyo · Answer 1 · 2022-10-16T19:18:33.543

1

The piglets may have been born with a condition called congenital myotonia, which causes muscle spasms and stiffness.

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7158298/

edited Oct 16 '22 at 19:18

answered Oct 15 '22 at 12:17

Dogalyo

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Welcome to pets.SE! Would you please give source where your knowledge comes from (for example for further research) – Allerleirauh Oct 15 '22 at 18:50
Tvis source is very unspecific, it is about all muscles and mentions congenital myotonia for horses, dogs and cats only. Maybe you find another more specific for pigs? It is okay, if it is one article instead of the overview site. Really good quality would be to give a short overview about the article in your answer :) – Allerleirauh Oct 17 '22 at 03:40

score -6 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 07 '18 at 13:26

There are many reasons: a few of the most common ones is that they don't have the best amount of WET mud they need. You should have 28 gallons of mud per pig.

Another one is that they move too much while they're still babys. You should rub the muscle.

Last but not least, they have an infection on their muscles and need to be taken to the vet very soon. The medication is about 500 dollars per 200 pills and you'll need to give them every 1 month.

What could cause muscle spasms in a litter of piglets?

2 Answers2

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