We always talk a lot about Maybelle the pig, because she was our first pig on the farm. But we haven’t really gotten the chance to introduce you to Petunia, our second pig on the farm!
About 3 1/2 years ago, in the middle of the summer my brother River went up to upstate New York for the weekend with his buddies. There is no service when my brother goes up their, since you are literally in the middle fo nowhere. At this time, we had Maybelle the pig already at home.
I got a call from my mom saying “Tiff, River said he is bringing a piglet home for you”. I immediately tried calling my brother, no response. I did not know what to expect, nor was I prepared to take in another pig, Maybelle was already a ton of work! Not to mention, Joseph was actually away on vacation at this time, so I knew when my brother came back I was in for a major surprise.
My brother finally got back home a few hours later with a tub in the car full of hay and a sweet small pink piglet in it. I knew something was wrong. This pig was not oinking, was not standing up, and was nothing like Maybelle. I immediately took her out of the bin, brought her inside and tried to feed her. She could barely stand. Her skin was brownish-pink. She was covered in dirt or feces. She could not even eat or drink. I immediately went into panic mode, and did not know what to do. All of the vet offices were closed, and I called an emergency vet that was about 2 hours away.
I brought her into my room, made sure she was comfortable, tried to get some food and water into her system and kept calling other vets that may be able to take a look at her. Keep in mind, we live in Redding, Connecticut and basically no vets around us have ever done a check-up on a pig before.
We were able to wait a few more hours until my favorite vet office ( the one that has cared for Maybelle) was open. They only focus on dogs and cats, but one of the vets have some experience with pigs, so they were able to take a look at her. Petunia had worms that were crushing her insides so much, that if my brother never took her home she would have never survived much longer. Thankfully, with all of the proper medications, Petunia was doing better. This process of rehabilitation though was more than just giving her some medicine. She was still contagious.
She could NOT go and meet Maybelle for 2 months later. Luckily where Maybelles barn was, there was a little side room that we put Petunia in and cared for her. Keep in mind, Petunia was even contagious to US. Yup. We had to wear full body suits and be extra careful when caring for her. We fed her warm oatmeal with proper vitamins, made sure she had a constant source to clean water, and gave her baths every few days. She did have feces stuck to skin, that took many baths to make her clean. She was FINALLY looking like she was supposed to look.
Meanwhile, Maybelle and Petunia were able to communicate to each other through the walls in the barn, we had the radio going and could not wait fore them to meet each other. By month 2, Petunia was almost as big as Maybelle and was finally cured and healthy.
Seeing a pig like Petunia completely change her health for the better was the best feeling in the world. She came from a farm that treated her with complete disrespect, and she was going to live a life full of torture and then death. I am so glad Petunia is with us, and that we were able to get the opportunity to save her life.
Sleepy Pig Farm would not be where we are with out Petunia.