Pyaemia - Atlas of swine pathology

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Possible causes: TuberculosisVicesOther

Although the tail looks normal, this pig was bitten in an earlier stage of its life and an abscess in the spine was formed as a consequence of ascending bacterial infection (pyaemia). There are other pigs in this batch that had fresh tail biting lesions in the slaughterhouse.

Tail biting is an aggressive behaviour in the pig referred as vice. Damage to pigs' tails by pen mates contributes a major loss to the pig industry. Euthanasia is required in severe cases. Treatment is required in less severe cases. A number of animal carcasses could be partly or totally condemned in the slaughterhouse as a consequence of multiple abscessation (pyaemia) in different parts of the carcass.