[Gpdd] RAINBOW BRIDGE Cinnamon

[Penny Charlesworth]

Dear Anneli,

We are sending our most sincere sympathy on the loss of Cinnamon. We are
glad that she got to enjoy her last day grazing with her friends and that
her departure, although shocking, was relatively swift. My wonderful vet,
from years ago, explained the death run as the reaction to the body
shutting down and, though it is distressing to witness, is just part of the
dying process. He said that the piggy doesn' t feel what is going on and
that if you were to shine a torch into their eyes at that time, there would
be no reaction, indicating that they were unaware.  Whether this is correct
or not, I prefer to think of the piggy running towards the Rainbow Bridge,
where their family and friends are waiting for them. Pure saccharine on my
part but there you are. Whatever gets you through the difficult times.

I am so pleased that Flower is doing so well. All the sadness tempered with
joy at her recovery.

Thank you for offering a home to that little boar. I do hope that he
settles in with Barney. I have successfully paired up many boars over the
years. Sometimes a new boar needs a home when I have a bereaved one or two
of my herd lose their friends at the same time. This is what I do.

You need a neutral area in which to make the intros.

I have a large pen in the garden which I use in the summer and if the
weather is bad I use a cut down cardboard box, which once contained a large
household appliance. Any area will do - a playpen if you have one - but it
needs to be clean so that there is no aroma of previous occupants. I put
clean newspaper down for an indoor intro and mow the grass for the summer
pen.

I put a huge pile of food in the middle and some hay and put the boars in
the pen. Most often, by the time that the food is gone and they have met in
the middle, they have forgotten that they didn't know each other before and
settle down for a nap. I watch them like a mother hen all the time until I
am sure that the bond has worked. I can usually tell right from the start
if success is likely. Sometimes there is just a little rumblestrutting but
I would not separate them unless there was an all out war. Keep a towel
handy so that you can throw it over the combatants without risking being
bitten.

As Barney seems to be the dominant one, you might try giving them a bath
together. When they are both squeaky clean, they will not smell of anything
except for the shampoo and they might then be happy to cohabit. If it
works, put them into a completely clean cage, with no Barney aroma to mess
up proceedings.

Some people recommend having two of everything for boars - two bowls, two
water bottles, two pigloos or boxes............ My pairs of boars happily
share everything but maybe I am lucky.

My Rodentologist has used a spray of scented water to ward off a potential
fight between prospective new pairs. She used a few drops of lavender
aromatherapy oil in a plant sprayer. I have never needed to try this but it
worked for her. I think the boars were so embarrassed that it shocked them
into submission.

If all else fails, is Barney's cage big enough that can you put in a
divider so that they can share if not actually live together? After sharing
for a while, you may find that you can remove the divider and they will be
happy together.

Good luck with all this. Do keep us updated.

Penny and the Piggyfriends.