[Gpdd] Rainbow Bridge: Barney

[Anneli Cochrane]

I can't even hardly believe I am typing this, but Barney is gone, my
healthy and strong boy. I don't really know what happened, even with all my
years of pig experience. This is a new one for me and would like to know if
anyone has any idea about what this is. On Saturday he started hiding in
his igloo and started to get puffed up, but he was still interested in a
little bit of food and still had floor time with no problems. I didn't
worry too much because he had had some sort of intestinal disturbance a few
month ago and recovered from it just fine (he had some weird poos then and
some gut stasis but pulled out of it without any intervention). So Sunday
morning the symptoms that started Saturday got really bad, I would pick him
up and gas and diarrhea would come out. I immediately went to the store and
got some Pedialyte to start syringing him and giving him belly rubs. Of
course it was a Sunday (anyone who has kids or pets know they always get
sick on a holiday or a weekend) so I couldn't take him anywhere. I hoping
the Pedialyte would help him long enough to find a vet today but by the
time I woke up this morning he was already in rigor. Even if I had a found
a vet and got medicine on Sunday it seems to be like it wouldn't even had
time to work. What kills this quickly? Coccidiosis? We did not eat anything
out of the ordinary last week besides a few corn silks, which we don't have
very often because they are seasonal. I've never had such a strong, healthy
pig die this quickly with diarrhea just running out of him. I am going to
bleach everything I can but now I am worried about Rocky and Clover (in
separate cages from Barney and each other). I'm also worried about it being
safe to graze outside some since I don't know where he picked this up.

Some of you might remember my story about getting Barney from the crazy pet
store employee who had him at his house because no-one wanted him after he
got too big and was brought back; this guy threatened to freeze him if i
wouldn't take him. Barney and I had at least 2-3 great years together. He
was at least 4 by my estimates and was full of energy. He was by far the
smartest pig I ever owned and would let me carry him around like a little
baby. He would balance on me perfectly while I would walk around and do
stuff. I always thought if I was ever able to train a pig like Peter Gurney
did, it would be Barney. He knew exactly what I meant when I told him no,
you could tell. He would stop and give me this look. He was my little buddy
and I'm so sad to think I may never have a pig like him. If you read the
UnderCover Guinea Pig Blog then you might have read my story about him
trying to protect me from the other boar Rocky and facing the dog head on
in his cage. He was absolutely fearless, my best friend, and my first
wonderful experience with adoption. The thought of coming home and him not
being there waiting on me is really hard. Let me know if anyone has any
ideas about what this is so I can protect my 2 other pigs.

Anneli