**Author details**

*Animal Reproduction in Veterinary Medicine*

warm [35]. In addition, skin color may be changed.

Mammary gland, unlike the urogenital tract, is located outside the body and therefore easily accessible by hand. Thus, the diagnosis of mastitis can be done by palpation of the mammary gland. Mammary glands may appear swollen, firm, and

Other rapid mastitis tests as applied to cows are not available for sows. Diagnosis

 cells per mL was proposed [35]. Further, a milk pH of more than 6.7 was reported [96]. If needed, ultrasonography can be used in the diagnosis. Affected

Hyper-prolificacy challenges the performance of the sow in terms of parturition, colostrum production, neonatal survival, and fertility. Birth complications, piglet mortality, and puerperal disease need to be prevented. Before parturition, we recommend that sows are allowed to move freely and that nest-building materials, e.g., straw, hay, sawdust, or paper sheets, are provided. Modifying the sow's late gestation diet in order to prevent constipation and high body condition will also have beneficial effects. During parturition, timely application of birth assistance is highly important. The exact cause of dystocia must be diagnosed and treated. Hyper-stimulation of the uterus with excessive oxytocin must be avoided. Close attention and assistance needs to be given to weak-born piglets, small piglets, and piglets without teats. New technologies, such as the use of Brix refractometer and infrared cameras, can help in the assessment of the status of colostrum and the newborn. After parturition, sows at risk of PDS need to be identified and checked within the first 3 days postpartum. Hungry and noisy piglets making vigorous nursing efforts indicates PDS. The exact cause of PDS should be determined for proper treatment. Acute endometritis is indicated by large amounts of vaginal discharge and diagnosed best using ultrasonography. Inspection and palpation of the mammary gland and evaluation of the sow's behavior best diagnose mastitis. Cystitis can be diagnosed by performing a macroscopic evaluation of urine and urine stix testing. If needed, samples of urine and vaginal discharge can be sent for bacteriological examination. If no signs of mastitis, cystitis, and endometritis around, the

The authors would like to thank Claudio Oliviero and Olli Peltoniemi from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Helsinki and Kati Kastinen from the ProAgria Meat Competence Center for contributing to the conception of this work. Further, the authors would like to thank the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture

and Forestry for the financial support of this work and publication.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

via cell count is not common and data on thresholds are rare [96]. A threshold

mammary glands provide heterogeneous and hyperechoic images [97].

**4.4 Mastitis**

of >107

**5. Conclusions**

cause may be constipation.

**Acknowledgements**

**Conflict of interest**

**102**

Stefan Björkman1 \* and Alexander Grahofer2

1 Department of Production Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland

2 Clinic for Swine, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Switzerland

\*Address all correspondence to: stefan.bjorkman@helsinki.fi

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
