A proposal of a fecal scoring system based on physicochemical analyses of suckling pig feces
Pons, Ana Maria (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Sanitat i d'Anatomia Animals)
González, Blanca (CEGECO -Vall Companys Group)
Pujols, Joan (Unitat mixta d'investigació IRTA-UAB en Sanitat Animal. Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal)
Serratosa, Jordi (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Psiquiatria i de Medicina Legal)
Segalés Coma, Joaquim (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Sanitat i d'Anatomia Animals)
Gómez, Ernesto A. (Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias. Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Animal)
Martínez Martínez, Jorge (Unitat mixta d'investigació IRTA-UAB en Sanitat Animal. Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal)

Data:	2025
Resum:	Digestive disorders are one of the main health problems in suckling piglets. The correct visual identification of feces in suckling piglets is an important tool for the diagnosis of enteric diseases. The aim of the present observational study was to analyze different physicochemical parameters of the feces of suckling piglets aged 0 to 21 days: visual appearance (color and consistency), fecal dry matter (FDM) content and pH. A total of 482 fecal samples were collected and visually classified into six categories: meconium, colostrum stage feces and 4 further scores according to the degree of consistency: 0 = form; 1 = pasty; 2 = liquid; and 3 = watery feces. The percentage of FDM was estimated by two drying methods, oven and microwave, doing duplicates in each one to evaluate methods, and both were compared. The most frequent colors of each feces category were dark green or dark brown for meconium; orange for colostrum; formed feces were mostly ocher and for the rest of the feces, the colors varied predominantly cream and ocher. Regarding FDM, liquid and watery categories had no statistically significant differences between them; meconium and colostrum feces FDM were not statistically different from pasty feces. The correlation coefficient between the FDM values of the duplicate analyses of the samples by both methods (oven and microwave) was very high (> 0. 988). Importantly, no differences were found while comparing the results between both methods (p = 0. 078), and the correlation coefficient between all samples analyzed with both methods was very high (> 0. 98). Meconium was the only one that differed significantly from the rest in terms of pH. The physicochemical study of the feces of suckling piglets including color, FDM and pH allowed the establishment of an objective fecal score to characterize the stools in this age group. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10. 1186/s40813-024-00417-2.
Ajuts:	Generalitat de Catalunya 006/21
Drets:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Matèria:	Pig ; Score ; Dry-matter ; Ph ; Neonatal ; Lactating ; Diarrhea
Publicat a:	Porcine health management, Vol. 11 (january 2025) , ISSN 2055-5660

DOI: 10.1186/s40813-024-00417-2
PMID: 39789643

11 p, 1.9 MB

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