Little Mama - Part 2

Could it be Mama? I tried not to hope because I knew she couldn't still be alive. As I approached the pig my heart sank. It was not Mama. This pig was wearing a red harness. But as the pig came towards me, wagging it's tail, I realized it was NOT wearing a red harness. It's flesh was badly torn and bloody...it was Mama!! I called to her and she actually came running. I was so excited and overjoyed that I barely knew what to do. But the other pig that had accompanied us down the driveway did. She grunted to Mama and led her back up the driveway toward the house.

Mama followed the other pig (her name is Jade) and I led them to an empty pen. I put Mama in the pen and fed her...she was sooo hungry in spite of her enormous wound. It looked like most of her shoulders were gone. It was very gorey.

I ran to the house and called some friends. I could barely get the words out. Mama's alive! She's hurt bad! Bob was out the door that minute. It took him 35 minutes to get here and during that time I sat with Mama and marveled at her.

How could she be up and walking with so much of her body missing? How did she get away from the bear? When Bob arrived he loaded her into a carrier and took her to Dr. Cyndie Hurst in Roseville. I had called ahead and told them what had happened.

When she got there Dr. Hurst checked her over and said she would need about 2 and a half hours of surgery but she was too deeply in shock to be safely put under anesthesia. (She had been wandering around half-eaten for 12 hours!) Dr. Hurst injected her with steroids and antibiotics and planned the surgery for the next morning. She said she could probably save Mama.

That night while Mama was safely away at the vet, the bear returned. He was right back at Mama's empty pen, looking for what he lost I guess. I made a lot of noise, banging on things, and he left. I also had a neighbor fire a rifle into the air to further scare him off.

Mama went through the surgery the next morning and she did great. Her left shoulder was terribly shredded all the way down to the spinal column. Dr. Hurst had to remove a large portion of flesh from the area so it would heal. The rest of the wound was sutured back together. Mama stayed in the hospital for a week.

March 6th Lance went and brought Mama home. It was a very exciting morning! I was shocked when I saw the large hole in Mama's back. It was the size of a small dinner plate and about 1-1/2 inches deep. She had lots of stitches. Mama seemed oblivious to her injuries. She was happy to be home. She took up residence in our spare bedroom and made herself right at home.

After looking at Mama for awhile I realized she was getting a "milk-line". She went down for a bellyrub and I could see babies moving! I couldn't believe it because we thought because of all the stress and medication she would lose her babies. (Since she was a rescue, we had no idea when she had become pregnant or when she was due.)

Two weeks exactly after Mama's near-death experience, she went into labor. She tore up her room, charged us, and generally acted like a normal, nesting  mother-to-be! Saturday morning March 14 Mama had 9 babies. Six girls and three boys. They were very small and a pinkish-grey color. We called Dr. Hurst and told her the babies didn't seem ok. She said they were probably about 2 weeks premature due to the steroids Mama had received.

Many of the babies did not open their eyes and it was hard to clean them due to the immaturity of the sacks (super sticky). One female died right away. Another died the next morning. The babies did not know how to nurse right away. We spent the day nursing each baby over and over until we were sure they all had had colostrum. For the next 8 days I had to help those babies nurse around the clock. (Every 2 hours!) One more female died on the 6th day. Two boys did not open their eyes until the 7th day.

During this first week Mama seemed exhausted. She could barely move. We made daily calls to Dr. Hurst and to Janet and other pig friends. Dr. Hurst put Mama on Rimadyl which really seemed to help. By the 9th day I noticed how fat and chubby the babies were. I also noticed that they were nursing on their own and sleeping at night with Mama instead of under the heat lamp. When I first wrote this, it was day 11. The babies didn't need me at all anymore! Mama by now was perky and sassy as ever. She had become so friendly. You would never know it was the same shy, sad rescue pig who arrived at Christmas.

This is a pig who survived a bear attack and gave birth, nursed and nurtured six preemie babies while healing her own wounds as well! And got fat and frisky while doing so!!! We kept all the babies and they still live with Mama pig. One baby died when he was five months old. He had a heart defect and never grew.

We are glad he had five months of life with his mom and siblings but I still cry when I think of little Paddington. Mama has gotten quite large and resembles a bear herself! The bear came back in December of '98 but did no harm to anyone although he did push our front door open in the middle of the night. We are ever-watchful however and now keep the dogs outside at night as well as some very loud watch-geese.

We have new neighbors who brought in fierce, Russian livestock-guardian dogs so we feel a lot more secure. Mama and her babies are in "maximum lock-up" at night though because we promised her she'll always be safe. Mama is just one of our many amazing rescue pigs. I'm sure I'll be telling you all about some of the others. They all come here with a story, usually a sad one though we hope to give them all a chance for a happy new life.

UPDATE: Little Mama and her kids are doing great. Mama has a scar but otherwise you would never know what she went thru. She is a sweet pig.

By Marie Lloyd