[Gpdd] [RAINBOW BRIDGE] Vernon has gone to the bridge

Dr Kay Dudman kay.dudman at londonmet.ac.uk
Sat Sep 2 11:22:08 EDT 2006


Last night, I was working late in the piggies' room (on the computer at
3am), and they all seemed fine.  This morning, I went in their room and
Vernon was having trouble breathing, so I rang the Vet at once and took
him straight down.  The Vet put him oxygen, gave him an antibiotic and
warmed glucose fluids, and put him on a heated pad... he couldn't hear
any lung problems so decided to do an X-ray, to see if it would be
appropriate to give him a diuretic.  They were just doing the X-ray when
his little heart stopped.  The Vet gave him a heart massage which revived
him, but his heart stopped again.  He had gone before they had a chance
to do the second X-ray, but when the first X-ray was developed a few
minutes later they could see that there was fluid in the lungs.  The Vet
drew off some of the fluid from his lungs; it wasn't infected, it looked
as if he'd had heart failure and that's why he was having trouble
breathing.  They tried so hard to save him, they did all they could for
my little Vernon piggy, but there was nothing more they could for him.

My little Vernon piggy took me home from the RSPCA in March.  He and his
brother had been taken from their previous owner because they were
neglected and needed treatment (they were underweight and had mites).  The
RSPCA told me that unfortunately Vernon's little brother didn't survive
the treatment.  My Vet said it may be that his heart had become weakened
because his previous owner hadn't looked after him very well.  The Vet
estimated he was about 4 - 6 months old when I got him, so I reckon he was
just about a year old.

Here are some pigtures of my little Vernon:

I said to my Vet that Vernon's colouring is like polished mahogany, and he
said "I think we'll stick with chocolate for the time being...":
http://www.city.londonmet.ac.uk/~kdudman/photos/chocolate-pig.JPG

Vernon was the smallest of my new boys (Elliott, Miles and William all
came home with me on the same day), this is a pigture of him enjoying a
meal to catch up with the others...he put on weight each week and was
looking so well:
http://www.city.londonmet.ac.uk/~kdudman/photos/vernon-eating.JPG

My dear little Vernon piggy was so sweet and gentle and innocent.  He had
a lovely semi-long haired silky coat that looked like polished mahogany
and deep dark brown eyes.  He was so friendly.  He always liked his food;
he hadn't lost his appetite, he hadn't lost any weight.

Goodbye my precious little boy, I will always love you and remember you.
I am so sad to lose you.  The other piggies miss you too.

Please remember my little Vernon in your prayers tonight.

Kay







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