Lily made all our
lives difficult. It is so hard to nurse a sick pig when there is
another one vying for attention, the warmest part of the enclosure
and all the food so we decided to separate them.
He was completely off
food and would not drink so we brought the vet out the following day.
His verdict was that Rusty had 'got a foundering' and we were to give
him warm liquids and tie a blanket around him. His temperature was
low and he got another shot to prevent him from taking anything while
his resistance was low, He needed to be warmer. So we built him a
little den within a stall with rubber matting and piles of cardboard
on the floor. It was lined with bales of hay and he had piles of
straw bedding. This kept the heat in as did the blanket tied round
his big round middle. He still wasn't eating or drinking but he was
starting to feel warmer.
The next morning I went
out half expecting him to be dead but when I went into the house
there were morning snuffles and grunts coming from both sides. Rusty
was up and he felt considerably warmer. He took a decent amount of
water and afterwards a bowl of warm mash which he wolfed down. While
all this was going on Lily was squealing with rage so as soon as I'd
finished with Rusty she got her breakfast too. I went indoors to tell
Bert the good news.
I had the dentist that
day and while I was out I stocked up on strawberries, grapes and
bananas for the patient. As soon as I got back I was hand feeding
strawberries to the poorly boy while his sister raged. She got some but
Rusty had most of them. Lily knew she was being short changed.
Rusty continued to eat
and drink so we put them together for a while. That did not work out
as Lily started to bully him. He is a great lump with big scary tusks
yet he is mortally afraid of his sister. He is a far nicer pig than
Lily.
I had another
appointment today and while I was gone Bert tried them together again
leaving a door ajar so that Rusty could escape her wrath if he needed
to. After a while he heard them squealing and within moments Rusty
was at the back door looking in at Bert with a beseeching 'rescue
me' expression. I don't know what we are going to do. If I felt he
was completely well I would let them sort it out between them but
that doesn't seem fair when he is recuperating.
The day the pigs came
People – pet pigs are not for the faint-hearted. In fact they are not for anyone who has an ounce of sense.
In other news – my
hospital appointment in Belfast went very well and it seems I will be
getting my cataract surgery sooner rather than later.
3 comments:
Good luck with the cataract surgery. I have had both done and very pleased with the results.
I am almost looking forward to it. I have another one developing in my left eye but I think it might be a year or so before I need it done.
The caataract surgery sounds wonderful, but the pigs not. I had a pet pig at a summer camp, and I thought he was great. He was huge, and I so hope yours don't grow that giant.
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