What are the different methods of administering medication to pigs? And when is each method of administration most appropriate?

Medications for pigs can be administered via injection, intravenous infusion, or oral administration. Oral medication is suitable for large-scale treatment and health care; while injection offers slightly faster absorption, a shorter duration of drug action, and better therapeutic effects, it is appropriate only for treating individual pigs. Intravenous injection is effective but inconvenient to administer and is suitable only for administering medication to individual pigs.

In the process of raising pigs, one thing we’ll definitely do is administer medication to them. However, there are several different ways to give pigs medicine—such as injections, intravenous infusions, or oral administration. Depending on the method of administration, the rate at which the drug is absorbed into the pig’s body and the time it takes for the drug to exert its effect will vary. Moreover, some medications cannot be administered to pigs through any other route. Let’s take a closer look at this now!

Oral administration of medication

Oral medication involves directly administering the drug to pigs. There are several methods for doing so: ① mixing the drug into the feed; ② preparing the drug into a paste or liquid and pouring it into the pig’s mouth; ③ combining the drug with concentrated feed to form a sticky paste, then, after restraining the pig, applying the paste to the base of its tongue; if the drug is in tablet form, it can be placed deep into the pig’s mouth; ④ for sick pigs that are unable to eat, the drug can be administered via a gastric tube.

2. Injection medication

When a pig herd experiences an infectious disease or a sudden fever, its feed intake or water consumption will decrease. Moreover, oral medication takes effect slowly in such cases. That’s when we need to administer injections to the pigs.