Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The Fog is Lifting

Wyatt is doing well and absolutely LOVES my Moms spaghetti too!! Last night i had gnocchi and told Wyatt i would save him some bites. Wyatt does this little excited fast nod to one side when he is excited about the taste he just had as i offer him more. Two bites for sure of anything for any of my kids here whether it is special or not. One bite would simply be a teaser so its a golden rule ;o) No doubt not the best of diet for what he has been threw however ever thing has its nutritional value especially my Moms sauce!

Finally the snow is leaving and is being replaced by rain and with it comes the mud. My thoughts are with getting some bark mulch to line the pathways and piggy yards again.

I printed off my receipts for the year and the newsletter is almost ready to go to the printers. For anyone who needs theirs fast drop me an email as i doubt i will do my big mailing this week. Newsletters that should of gone out before year end , we must acquire a few more volunteers!! And anyone who doesn't' get theres by at least March 15th, PLEASE get a hold of me. I noticed an address missing i had entered, so the software is not perfect and either am I.

I was out to Jeans ( Foster Mom to 12) on Sunday to give her a hand at the barn, gosh those pigs are sure cute and loved the red licorice i handed out. Second time i have been off the acreage in a month unless it was to run to the vets, get meds or feed for the kids. Oh wait , that is normal haha at least when i was working i got out of here more often. It was good to get out of here for a while and helped Jean out with our pigs as she has that nasty flu bug and it sure hangs on.

Now wheres my ice cream...

Friday, February 20, 2009

Wyatt takes matters into his own hands



Wyatt still has the catheter in him and its been closed since Monday. Prior to that when i would close it he would get really nervous about me approaching him and i would have to be really slow and gentle.

Tonight as i got ready to go out and feed to my horror the catheter tube had a huge sling in it which could only mean it had come out, deflated or he kicked at it between 5 and 7 and pulled it out. It was still in him but no way could it be in his belly.

So i slowly with syringe in hand and scissors while that pig stood still and then rolled over while i drew any air or saline out to deflate the balloon part and slipped the catheter out. And then i pulled out all the stitches. I tell you i was standing there dumb founded by the fact he knew..or how did he know and well its just beyond trying to rationalize. They are so smart.

And thank God he has been peeing on his own for five solid days.. and now I don' have the fret about should i do it today as the entire worry of removing the catheter has been taken out of my hands too. Thank God for utube as even doing that is demonstrated on line as i was trying to figure out what happened to the hole in his bladder after removal. Still don't know the answer to that ..will call the vet tomorrow.

That is a picture of the Little Warrior one fine summer day.

Monday, February 16, 2009

The W's Pigs

Today is a good day as Wyatt was able to pee using his God given tools instead of our life saving ones. Thank Heavens!!
My worry for him started January 24th an emergency call here,a catherisation,two surgery's At Watcom Vets in Abbotsford, four nights sleep over for him at the clinic, countless calls to Dr Ken MacQuisten, Dr Herman Geertsema and Julie Lee our homeopathic. All of during a brutal flu , then getting laid off at work and then loosing two very close and special friends.
When i would sit with Wyatt as he stood in his potty corner trying so hard to push I would ask him to try again and to do it for Peppermint Patty and do it for Rocket i would urge him and I prayed to God, our healing angels and our spirit herd who fly in the stars. And to Willy who went threw this very same problem so many years ago. He who gave me my fears but an experienced ability to move when i had too. I love you Willy.
Wyatt had his worse day ever here yesterday and I told him last night that i hoped that was the worse day of his life. I knew last night was different as he was more comfortable. I left him in Paula's hands this morning as Mom was here yesterday morning . In the morning i close his catheter hoping in a few hours he will feel the need to go on his own . This is the only time i feel comfortable enough to race out of here for a few hours to catch up on feed and hay supplies for everyone here. Paula knows my routine for him and so off i went to get some shavings.
I knew in my heart today was the day but it is also hard to think positive when the down side is so brutal. And on the way to the feed store i looked up and saw a crow in last years nest fixing it up for her tomorrows. And it makes me smile and the gift of seeing her is a good omen.
When i got home Paula rushed to the door telling me to go out back and see what was going on. Wyatt was in his chosen potty corner, peeing on his own.
Its not over as we continue his care in the big house but this little pig who never would venture in here is now laying on his side in total comfort on a bed of blankets a few feet away from me here. A pig who up until a few days would be found on his tummy and a little over but now he is totally flaked out in here.
The night before as i sat here i looked up the meaning of his name and read it out to him " Little Warrior" and how fitting for this perfect pig package.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Loosing them..

I wanted to thank each and everyone of you for all your kind words for
both Peppermint Patty and Rockets crossing. I had gone to digest on some of the lists and couldn't figure out how to reply so i went back to individual emails.
But although i have saved each everyone's words i am unable to cope
with replying to you separately. It seems the older i get the harder
it is or maybe i was always too soft and am good for nothing when
hope is lost and i must face and react to the inevitable out come.

Wyatt is still in my house with a Foley catheter giving him the relief
he needs from still being unable to urinate on his own. He is on
antibiotics to ward off infection because of this life saving tube
coming from his belly. He has been fed feline 'dissolution" since this
all began almost three weeks ago. I have been also treating him with
homeopathic to help dissolve the stones, bring the inflammation down
in his urethra and muscle relaxers such as arnica to also deal with any
pain. Yesterday I finally got the methione tablets after taking matters
into my own hands and getting another vet to call the script in and
Paula and I driving an hour away last night to get them. For some
reason my vet who saved him thus far as not returned my calls for two
days and I am not sitting around waiting with out doing something .

My emotional state wants me to run from it all and yesterday wanting
to remove all the bedding from Rockets house as i seem to need to do
after but i could only close the gate and return to the little pig here
inside and a blanket i could put over my head. I pray all the time to God
to give me strength to do what i must do here but i must pray harder. And
if not for Paula and my Mom coming to every beck and call down here i
would no doubt be racing up the street like a madman fleeing from my
commitments as sometimes it is just too hard to bare.

Forgive my ramblings but in writing them my natural defence in it all
gathers up my stubbornness and turns it into courage for the noses left
behind who need me so they are able to live there life until God calls
them home.

Please pray for Wyatt that today is the day he pee's on his own.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Rocket joins our Angel Herd

In 2001 the SPCA contacted me about a pig they had seized in an animal
cruelty case. Hooves over grown as well as tusks and now after being
treated he was ready to be moved. Shirley and I went to the shelter
with crate in hand and to the back of the dog runs we found him. With a
pail to drink from , a blanket to rest and all on concrete floors.
Since then things have changed for pigs in our shelters and this i
know we did together.

I put the crate up to the doorway and told him he would have to be very
brave but i had come to bring him home. That he would have a good house ,
lots of food and i would protect him from the others. George as named
by them walked right into the crate with out a second blink and we
brought him home. When we took the lid off the crate once in his yard
he rolled over for a belly rub right there. A very quiet pig but no
doubt a very wise one.

In October he went off his dinner and i found evidence of vomit in his
house. Thinking ulcers i had his stool tested and it came back with
blood in it so the vet i used then put him on meds. He rallied and
when i further checked weeks later with the vet about now treating him
for ulcers she told me to just see how he was doing. He went off his
dinner the same night as Peppermint Patty. I called that same vet and they
had me refill his prescription. But by Monday he was no better and i
doubted the dose and had it checked with another vet. The dose was wrong,
2 1/2 days wrong dose and too late to have the correct one change the
outcome.. I had used Pepsid, Pepto-Bismol and although there was no
vomit in his house i can't help but think his treatment was not
proactive and waiting to see how things go are not in the best interest of
anyone.

Rocket is gone, and my emergency vet helped him cross over at about
12: 30 today. Rocket renamed for being the fastest pig at everything
including eating has joined one of his closest friends Barney who left us
the year before. He will continue his work today as he is being taken
for necropsy and will join Peppermint Patty's remains as we allow what
they started so long ago and continue as teachers of Pig.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Peppermint Patty Fly's

I brought her home in 2001 along with six others from the SPCA. I called the herd "The Magnificent Seven" and they are. I knew from looking at Peppers confirmation she didn't look right or had recently had a litter but her life here would be just that , see how it goes. Unpspayed females are prone to uterine tumours , masses being removed at universities in the States. Some surving some not and the medical help here for pigs is not like that of companion animals such as cats and dogs. Try as we will to change that and it is an on going battle.
Peppermint Patty's condition changed and it was painfully obvious the tumour was taking her life from me as the burden of carrying the mass it taking everything from her to survive. In my heart i knew what had to be done had to be done now while she was still strong as she would need to be to go threw an operation such as this .

And knowing her time was limited i began the search for help and finally two big heart Vets would try and we explored the whats ifs and what to dos.
Two weeks ago Wyatt one of this very same herd was rushed to the vets twice after an unsuccessful cathersiation here and he is alive in my kitchen doing well however still unable to pee on his own.
Wednesday i lost my job during the period where not only i was fighting the flu but fighting to save Wyatt and during this time precious weeks would go by as it sucked the life out of my Peppermint Patty.
Last night she could fight no more and as i write this my heart breaks as promises of moving to a better place , with more grass and bigger apple trees seem so out of my grasp now as my freinds slip away from me as so do my dreams.
I wake to snow covered pastures still, birds asking that i fill the feeders and horses who need to have morning hay tossed to them. Wyatt who oofs every second from my kitchen and a herd outside who has lost one of there own.