[Gpdd] MISC: Clover's trip to the vet and a failed adoption

Anneli Cochrane arcochrane at gmail.com
Thu Aug 28 13:00:13 EDT 2014


Hello all. Wanted to tell you all about my recent adventures. With the
passing of Barney, I thought it might be time to look into getting a cage
mate for Clover (she had been alone since the passing of Nutmeg in the
spring). Because after all, it's been a very long time since I've had only
2 pigs! Clover is 3.5 and doesn't move around much, so I thought maybe a
baby pig would be a bit much for her. So....I got a 2 year old Peruvian
that was in with her last baby sow who was all grown up. I took the mom
instead of the baby because the mom had obviously been handled more; the
baby was super wild, even for a older baby. Clover was NOT PLEASED with her
new friend. New pig became just as wild as her baby and was jumping over
Clover, eating her fur, laying on her, picking on her. This was not ideal
because as you will read in a bit, Clover is having some issues with one of
her hind legs and although she would nip at new pig, she wasn't going to be
a good playmate for her. New pig wasn't even around her and I asked Clover
if she going to be ok that day with her new friend. I swear she gave me a
horrible look and then started chattering incessantly. I said ok Clover I
get it, because she never does that. So, new pig went back to her former
home and baby. I felt bad, but Clover seems to be fine being a single pig
and being next door to Rocky.

Clover and I took a trip to a new vet this week to see what was up with her
back leg. I moved from Indiana to Kentucky in March and have had to try and
find a new vet (there is only 1, a former zoo vet, but she is supposed to
be good with pigs). Her back leg had been really swollen all the way up the
leg, and she had had no trauma that I was aware of. I started giving her
that dye-free Children's Motrin dose that Ann has on her site for UTI's,
and she LOVED it, she would go crazy for her dose. Even after a few days on
Motrin, the swelling was still there, so we went to the vet. The vet was
unhappy with me for giving Motrin and gave me Metacam which Clover HATES,
but she says it is much safer. X-ray revealed the leg is fractured, but
fortunately it's not the tibia (the big bone), it's the little bone along
side it where the bone meets the foot, kind of like a fractured ankle. The
vet said a little fracture like this should not cause this much swelling
and non-responsiveness to the NSAID, so she is concerned about
Osteomyelitis (bone infection) or an Osteosarcoma (cancer), which
apparently can look the same on a x-ray. Clover is on Baytril and Metacam
now and will go back to the vet in 2 weeks. Her appetite and poos have
remained great through all of this. The only indication of a problem is the
swelling and her hopping around with one back leg. I really hope she can
heal.

Anneli



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