[Gpdd] MISC: Pig Drama

[Anneli Cochrane]

Hello all,
It's been quite a week with my pigs. First of all, Flower continues to do
great, she is back to her old self with plenty of energy and eating normal.
The only thing that still seems to bother her a little is one of her back
legs (however this does not stop her from running around happily), which is
probably something that still aches from the surgery.

In other news, 2 days ago I lost my older girl Cinnamon to what I believe
to be a stroke. She would have been 6 in December (I still have her mom
Nutmeg who has outlived both of her children). Cinna was in poor shape for
a long time so this was not unexpected, but the way she died was terrible.
All the pigs had been happily grazing outside and when my mom brought them
in, Cinna began having a seizure. So mom held her while this was happening
for about 20 minutes, and then she snapped out of it like nothing was
wrong. She ran around, ate broccoli with the other pigs, and acted like
nothing had happened. A few hours later I came upon her seizing in the cage
again. I took her out and wrapped her in a towel and held her. The seizures
continued and she began contorting in pain and wheeking, laying on her
side. Then she began the death run and I knew that she was going to go. I
kept my thumb on heart while I was holding her and finally after about 10
minutes of this it stopped and she relaxed and then went into rigor. It's
not fun to feel your pet die, but I am so glad she is no longer suffering
through this! I am also glad I was able to be with her and I'm sure she
knew I was there holding her. So yesterday I buried her and I'm so glad she
is at peace.

Three days before all of this happened, I was offered another pig from
someone whose kids did not want him anymore (my pet peeve). This was
actually the second set of kids this pig has gone through and he is a month
shy of being a year old. I really did not want another pig, especially a
boar, but we all know how that goes. I was hoping maybe I would be able to
bond him with my boar Barney. This boar was originally bonded with another
male at his first home, so I had hope. However, when I brought him home
yesterday, Barney threw a fit. He is so mad at me and does nothing but
chatter and look at me like I am the worst pig-mom in the world. I have
them in separate cages right now, but I put them out together on floor time
to see what would happen. New pig doesn't mind Barney at all and just
rumblestruts and seems content. Barney did not all-out attack him, which is
good, but there was some nipping and teeth showing involved. So...I've
gotten myself into quite a mess with this. I really didn't want to have 3
separate cages and all, and Barney can see him from his cage and chatters
every time he sees him come out. Any advice would be appreciated, I know
it's hard to bond 2 adult boars and might be impossible (I'm not really
sure how old Barney is, he was a rescue, but he's an adult).

Anneli