Gestation in Hogs

Dear Dr. McGraw,

I was wondering if you could answer a question about my hog -- how can I tell if she is pregnant? I have had her for 6 weeks and she is not even showing signs that she is.


Beebee



Dear Beebee,

Thanks for your question. It would be difficult to tell if your sow is pregnant or not. I am sure you are aware that the gestation, the number of days from conception to birth, in hogs is about 114 days. The easiest way to remember that is 3-3-3 -- three months, three weeks, three days. Sows are very predictable that way (not so predictable in other ways!) So you can see that 60 days is only about half way through gestation. In a large sow, you wouldn't be able to tell if she were pregnant or not by just looking at her. In another month or so, you should start to see mammary development.

I hope that helps to answer your question.

A Wet or Dry Nose?

Dr. McGraw,
Hi, we just got our lab puppy neutered at Bunchgrass and my mom forgot to ask why his nose is always dry. We give him lots of water, so much that his urine is light yellow. He doesn't act sick and he doesn't have any flaky skin on his snout. It's just always dry. I am just concerned that he might have an infection. There is no discharge either, when he smells something in his nose makes a loud pounding sound. Anyway's, I just wanted to know if I should be concerned. Or if we should put some petroleum jelly on his nose. ~Lily

P. S. I hope the picture attached helps you see what his nose looks like. I love this photo because I took it right after he trashed the bathroom, he looks like, "I didn't make this mess"; pictures say a thousand words.

Lily-
Taking the wetness or dryness of your dog's nose as a measure of your dog's health is a fine example of an OLD WIVES TALE. There are lots of these in veterinary medicine and life in general.
Dogs don't sweat all over their bodies like we do. They have sweat glands in the skin of their nose and paw pads. (This is one of the reasons they pant when they are hot-- to help them cool.) If the nose is wet they are sweating...if it is dry the are not sweating. It is as simple as that.
There can be some other conditions associated with dry and cracked noses that can be harmful, e.g. solar dermatitis (sunburn), scrapes/infections from digging, or autoimmune conditions, but the nose doesn't look normal. So we need to assess the overall health of your dog and it's skin along with the dry nose. Most dry noses are just that -- dry noses.
I will try post examples of more OLD WIVES TALES in the future.

PS -- Puppies, like kids, love to make messes! Thanks for the picture.