Pigs are intelligent, food-obsessed animals, which makes them surprisingly easy to health check: their enthusiasm is a measurable vital sign. A pig that trots over, vocalises and eats heartily is giving you good news before you have touched it, while a pig that stays in the shelter or picks at feed has told you something important in the first ten seconds. The home check builds on that signal with skin, breathing, movement and digestion, in that order, done calmly so the pig cooperates.
Appetite, mood and breathing first
Watch the pig come to feed and eat a full meal. Note slowness, feed left behind, difficulty chewing or dropping food, and any pig that is being shouldered away from the trough by others after normally holding its place. Look at its social mood: a pig separating itself from its companions, sleeping far more than usual or reacting irritably to handling it usually enjoys is a pig to examine closely. Then watch it rest. Breathing should be unlaboured and quiet in a cool pig; rapid, shallow breathing, panting without heat or exertion, coughing, or a pig sitting up on its haunches to breathe are all findings to act on, and discharge from the eyes or nostrils, or a dry, cracked snout on a pig with access to water and a wallow, adds to the picture.
Skin, body and movement
Pigs show a great deal on their skin. Look over the whole body in good light for redness, blotches, raised diamond-shaped marks, scabs, bite wounds from pen mates, and the grey, flaky patches or intense rubbing that suggest skin parasites. Feel along the back and sides for lumps and for body condition, remembering that a pig should feel smooth and covered, with the spine and hip bones palpable under pressure but not prominent. Watch the pig walk across the pen: it should move evenly on all four legs, rise without struggle and bear weight squarely. Reluctance to rise, a shortened stride, swollen joints, cracked or overgrown hooves, and a pig that squeals when a particular leg is handled all need follow-up. Finish with the droppings, which should be formed and regular; scouring, constipation with straining, blood, or a pig passing very little are changes worth dating and recording.
Make time, finally, to watch the pig simply being a pig for a minute after the check, because rooting, exploring and manipulating objects with the snout are behaviours pain and illness switch off early. A pig that has stopped rooting in its bedding, ignores a new object in the pen, or lies facing the wall rather than the gate is showing a mental dullness that experienced keepers rate alongside appetite as a first-rank sign. Note it with the date alongside the physical findings, so a pattern of quiet days is documented rather than half-remembered when you describe the pig to your veterinarian.
Acting on the pig's signals
Call the veterinarian the same day for a pig that refuses feed, breathes with effort at rest, cannot rise, has repeated vomiting or severe scouring, or shows blotchy skin changes with dullness, and treat a pig in obvious distress as an emergency. Otherwise, let the written check do its work over time: appetite, skin and gait noted pig by pig reveal slow changes that a glance misses. Keeping those notes in KinsLe in the Pet Passport gives each pig a health history its vet can actually use.