30/05/2025
Finally doing another update post! I’ve been reluctant to do one lately because we’ve had very few wins, but nevertheless we have to keep on going.
Over the past couple months we have had quite a few piggies returned. Nigel, Rue, Eric and their respective friends Coco, Cinnamon and Ozzy in addition to recently adopted out pair, Mina and Mabel. Coco has been the most troublesome of the group, but all have had some kind of woes. Coco hasn’t been 100% since arrival with significant joint pain and intermittent blood in his urine. After a few trips to the vet, we’ve got his pain under control and his weight has steadied but the blood in his urine has continued. X-rays on Monday confirmed a stone in his bladder, alongside some mineralised material, middle ear disease, advanced arthritis and in addition to this, we’ve also found an abscess on the shaft of his p***s and a mammary tumour. He’s really smashing it out of the park 🫠 In a perfect world, we would do the multiple surgeries to remove the stone, the abscess and the mammary tumour. But, realistically, these are higher risk surgeries (the stone and abscess particularly) that come with a big financial burden and a high likelihood of reoccurrence, especially the stones given his age. So, for now we are choosing to treat palliatively with medications and make sure that he is comfortable and happy. Quite honestly, he’s stupidly good at hiding his illness and seems completely oblivious to the fact that he’s been dealt a pretty terrible set of cards. His foster carers are taking fabulous care of him. Given everything, he’s a lucky lil cherub. 🧡
Maxine has also been giving us a run for her money of late. She’s always been a little pig but she’s recently started a downward trend with her weight. That combined with her excessive water drinking, we flagged her for kidney issues and booked her in for an ultrasound and bloodwork. The bloodwork wasn’t perfect, but it also wasn’t terrible. Kidney and liver values were slightly elevated, as well as her sodium level. Although more interestingly, her ultrasound showed no right kidney! We’ve repeated this scan 3 times now, and it’s been confirmed that the little miss only has a left kidney, and it’s unfortunately quite scarred. So, for a 6 year old pig with only one kind-of functioning kidney, she’s honestly not doing too bad!! She’s on low dose pain relief alongside extra food and she’s been responding well. She’s even gained a bit of weight! 🤎
There’s still a lot going on with other pigs. Dumbo is having a pretty crappy time, really struggling to find a pain relief regime that works for him. Betty’s also slowing down a bit. I’m worried we may be having to say goodbye to them both soon. Pancake and Parker on the other hand *touch wood* are tracking okay. Although, Parker is going to need a dental soon. Moon has responded really well to his dental on Monday. The other recent returns are doing well now that they’re being treated for their arthritis and other concerns. But we also have a tonne of pigs to still get vet work done on, it’s been a particularly hard few months.
Financially, in all honesty, we’ve been obliterated 🥲 We’ve been averaging $1k a week at the vet In addition to med, food and other supply costs. It’s been very financially and emotionally draining, especially with our income being dramatically decreased with no open days. If anyone is willing to throw a couple of dollars our way to help while things are really hairy it would be incredibly appreciated.
Bank Transfer - BSGPS
BSB: 484 799
Account Number: 120238066
PayPal — [email protected]
We also are still doing contactless orders of hay, veg and other goodies. Just message us or jump onto our website to order 🌾
Thank you as always for taking the time to read. We hope everyone is doing okay ❤️
