Common Developmental / congenital Abnormalities

Condition / Level	Possible Cause	Comments
Arthrogryposis - 0.2%	Hereditary	Destroy piglets
Artresia ani - 0.4%	Hereditary	Low heritability
Bent legs	Unknown	Possibly exposure mid pregnancy to toxic agents
	Hereditary	Auto recessive gene.
	Poisons	Hemlock Black cherry
	Vitamin A	Excess dietary levels or by injection
Cleft palate - 0.2%	Hereditary	Destroy piglets
Congenital tremor	Classical Swine fever virus	Type AI
	Unidentified virus	Type AII
	Sex linked in male Landrace	Type AIII
	Recessive gene in the Saddleback	Type AIV
	Trichlorvon or Neguvon poisoning	Type AV
	Aujeszky's virus	Demonstration of virus
	Organophosphorus poisoning	Overdosing
Dwarfism	Hereditary	Rare
Epitheliogenesis imperfecta	Hereditary	Destroy if large
Haemaphrodite	Hereditary	Low levels
Inguinal hernia - 1.5%	Hereditary	Method unknown Environmental influences
Inverted teats - 20%	Hereditary	Ensure good teat selection in boars and gilts
Kinky tail - 1.5%	Hereditary	Common
Lymphosarcoma	Hereditary	Uncommon
Malignant hypothermia	Hereditary	Uncommon
Meningocoele	Hereditary	Low incidence
Naval bleeding	Unknown	Associated with shavings
No anus (atresia ani)	Hereditary	Environmental influences
Pietrain creeper syndrome	Hereditary	Uncommon
Pityriasis rosea - 1%	Hereditary Landrace	Common
Porcine stress syndrome (PSS)	Hereditary	Blood test and eliminate
Thrombocytopaenic purpura - 1%	Antibody antigen reaction	Quite common
Splay leg - 1.8%	Hereditary	Common in the Landrace
	Fusarium toxin	Mouldy feeds
	Environmental	Slippery floors, chilling of piglets
Umbilical hernia - 1.5%	Hereditary	Environmental influences

Pictures of some of these conditions

Arthrogryposis A soft tissue defect causing contraction of joints	Atresia ani The anus is missing. Females can survive creating a cloaca males die.		Bent legs The abnormality occurs in the bone skeleton causing deformation of the leg
Cleft palate A range of conditions with defect of both the hard and soft palate. The piglets cannot drink properly and die	Epitheliogensis impectecta A full skin thickness defect of the skin present at birth. Some cases are able to survive to finish with scaring		Haemaphrodite The pig has both male and female reproductive organs, a range of abnormalities classically enlarge clitoris
Inguinal hernia Failure of inguinal ring and presence of intestinal contents in inguinal region. Be careful at castration	Inverted teats The teat can be manipulated out of the mammary gland but will end return, piglets cannot suckle		Kinky tail This is a hereditary problem.
Lymphosarcoma Picture shows lympho-sarcoma on inside of rib cage. Generally seen in young adults to 16 months	Meningocoele Defect of the cranium resulting in a prolapse of the meninges under the skin, generally fatal		Pityriasis rosea Skin disorder seen in 30 to 60kg pigs, while quite dramatic, the pig not sick and spontaneously recovers.
Thrombocytopaenia purpura Autoimmune problem the colostral antibodies attach the piglet resulting in generalised haemorrhage	Splayleg Defect of the development of the lumbar muscles. Mangement can assist these pigs. Improve floor footing		Umbilical hernia Defect of the body wall in the umbilical region. If larger than 30 cm circumference destroy the pig
General facial abnormalities – three shown A range of other abnormalities including inversion of abdominal contents, specific organ defects are all recognised but the genetic or specific cause has not been recognised.
General multiple abnormalities		Defect of the kidneys – horseshoe kidneys		Muscle defect – full of fluid
Limb defects		Blocky legs		Missing tibia

Missing limbs	Congenital porphyria (left)	Toe defects