Likely causes of long hooves on javelina:When acute laminitis is present, the animal is in severe pain on the toe area and seeks to rock onto the heels to relieve pain.
Laminitis is an inflammation and/or weakening of the connection between the coffin bone and the hoof wall. In an acute stage, this connection can be lost and a separation occurs between the coffin bone and the laminar wall of the hoof. When the right kinds of forces or conditions are placed upon the foot or upon the body, the coffin bone may then rotate away and downward onto the solar corium.
The normal position for the coffin bone is to be ground parallel. But if a hoof is made steeper, the joint surface moves closer to the wall of the toe, causing the weight to come down further forward, putting great stress on the laminar corium on the frontal wall. The more pressure on the frontal walls...the more inflammation occurs, causing the animal to contort its hooves in a way for them to continue to grow and not ware down.
Another cause in almost all laminitis is poor digestion. During digestion if food is not broken down properly, acids and toxins are produced which leak into the body and damage blood vessels and organs throughout the body. When blood vessels and cells that feed the feet are affected in this way the amount of blood flowing down to the sensitive laminae is reduced and they become swollen. Swelling or inflammation of laminae means that they cannot do their job of holding the pedal bone in place properly and this result in a lot of pain.
The sort of food that causes laminitis is rich young spring grass with high levels of fructans. However rich grass can cause the problem at any time of year and even frosty grass in the winter can damage the digestion in the gut so much that the wrong sort of bacteria starts to multiply and release toxins. Javelina with laminitis are usually found in association with golf courses, as was this javelina.
Likely cause of wart like growths on javelina:
These are fibromas that are benign and self-limiting skin tumors which are produced by the papaova virus. Fibromas usually present no health hazard to affected animal. Occasionally, they may become very large or numerous. They may be single or multiple and sometimes merge to form large multinodular masses. Meat from javelina or deer with fibromas is safe for consumption because tumors are removed when the animal is skinned. There is no indication that man is susceptible to tumors induced by this fibroma virus.
Jon Hanna, Game Specialist, Mesa
