If your here on a Saturday morning before i have had a chance to drink a second cup of coffee do not let me answer the phone. And because our creator has taken care of us every step of the way in this such as: surprise donations, another pig being sponsored, new volunteers coming into our lives and a fund raiser when we need it the most. I however should not expect a piggy yard complete with housing to magically appear when a new pig arrives here.
Paula, Cliff, Susan , Nancy and I were soaked and filthy when the horse trailer pulled up. Thankfully we had just finished what needed to be done and after making sure all the pigs were put away we opened the door. Penny the little perfect pig i remember has been fed so much her body has simply inhaled her. Her beautiful condition has turned into sparse gray patches of bristles with masses of fat , a face unrecognisable and the gait of a sore animal. We have a lot of work to do Miz Penny.
Penny waddled around the carport and no doubt was exhausted from trying to stand up in a horse trailer. No bedding or bales of hay to protectively confine her movement for the ride. She is going to be stiff and tired for a few days while trying to keep her unfit self up right in a moving trailer for almost an hour. Thankfully she didn't really hurt herself in there but honestly we won't know that until the morning.
I had planned to bring Penny directly into the house but in her current condition and after what she just went threw i quickly grabbed a pile of blankets and found a safe place in the back of my carport. She strutted her cute self off to all her admirers and then found that pile of blankets and fell into them exhausted. I have fed them all dinner and she had a big drink and i added two huge lawn chair cushions for under her self and covered her up in wool blankets.
Bringing her into the house is out of the question because she can hardly walk.
She will not be able to manipulate a potty tray or be willing to go out in the morning with any great speed, and i got to go to work every day here.
Now I could make room for her out at the barn but no way is that little fat pig going to find it easy getting out there. And i still have Jack out there who once recovered from his neuter will go in my one empty piggy yard as he will fit into little Teddy Bears of a house no problem.
I need a very large house and a very large portable pen STAT. And I will make her a place in my carport. Me thinks this is my only option until our creator opens that window again and saves us.
I told Penny I should of just brought you here from the beginning and yet as I speak to her out loud what comes into my mind is that she would of missed all of her adventures. Penny seems to have assumed her life has been just that as i don't feel any sorrow or depression. She is a logical pig and my psychology when speaking to them is presented the the same way. Knowing and believing in fate and destiny she is where she is supposed to be now. Still i shake my head as people wonder why we are so strict with our adoptions. Moving from home to home from family to family would leave anyone one with no sense of belonging and that love doesn't last forever. My promise to Penny as I kissed her bristles tonight was that i would love her forever and that I wanted her and no we are not just a place where unwanted pigs come. I assured her that all the best ones simply come here.
5 comments:
First...what the heck does a pig potty tray look like?
Second...you have made my day,my week,and hell yah! my month with this post about Penny tonight.
You truly made my heart smile.
And Penny, I'm hugging you in my heart. You as well Janice!!
Well pot belly pigs will step over a log no problem but when it comes to anything foreign such as plastic there inherent spookiness eliminates a bend at the knee. When learning to step into a pool in the summer for example once in they normally try backing out. That is normal behaviour for a pig to go the same way they came. But they don't lift up there front legs like they did to step in. So all the pools have a side with a cut out in them so small pools could work for potty trays. A pig will not go into anything they cant' turn around in because they are not as flexible as a dog or cat and being pray animals there need to escape quickly is removed if they can't. Pigs move more like a semi truck trailer so a house or a potty tray must be big enough for them to turn around in. You know those large metal animal cages one can get , they normally have a metal tray in them. That is what i use, its got a little lip high enough to contain newspaper or shavings and not too high so they cant' step over it. There about 24 x 48 with a one inch lip i would guess.
Thanks for your comments my friend they make my heart sing cause a pig made it into yours.
Welcome home, Penny. I hope someone with a huge heart will magically appear to provide you with a suitable house to call your own.
I know it frustrates you, Janice, just as it does me, that people wanting to dump their animals seem to believe shelters and sanctuaries have endless space, all set up with housing and secure fences, just sitting empty waiting for new arrivals. Sorry, folks, the vacancy rate is ZERO!
People that dump their animals don't realize the incredible strain it puts on a facility to find housing and fencing for just one pig, let alone the cost of feed, straw, hay, vet care, and other incidentals to keep that one pig physically and mentally healthy for the rest of his/her natural life.
And nor do they realize that if they had kept their animal in tiptop shape, their companion would have been much happier and therefore much more entertaining, active, and responsive; and a happy pig is fun to have around, easy to love, and easy to take care of. Any lack of fit between the owner and the pig is because the owner failed the pig.
Another great thought: "My promise to Penny as I kissed her bristles tonight was that i would love her forever and that I wanted her and no we are not just a place where unwanted pigs come. I assured her that all the best ones simply come here."
You have an excellent way with words, thanks for writing (and for caring for the animals).
It is so important to address there emotional well being as well as there physcial one.
When my Teddy Bear arrived at 10 years old , after his keeper left him with me the tears streaked his fat cheeks.
His name up until that point was "Grunt" and i told him that was what a pig did and not a pigs name. I named him Teddy Bear and then explained to him what a teddy bear meant to me. I told him that his destiny had brought him to me and that he was supposed to be here ..and then i told him "and it sure took a long time for you to find me"
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