Healing

Ellie has been healing very well! Her stitches are about ready to come out and her wounds are healing without infection. Lately all we have been doing for her is cleaning up her wounds and applying hydrocortisone and some antibiotic ointment as well as cleaning out her open ear canal. She usually falls over for a belly rub when we clean her up, it just feels so good!

We have tried putting her back with her pal Peaches with no success. Peaches is too aggressive right now and can upset Ellie's wounds. They both still need to be spayed so that is not helping. They will each be spayed but in the meantime they are still staying in separate pens. Both get lots of love and attention :)

Dinosaurs

Viejo is easily one of our older pigs. Just from looking at him you can see that he has put in his years. He lives in East field with his family. The pigs in East come from the Annex. The Annex is located near Ironwood but is much smaller.

One night years ago a man dropped his pig off over the fence at the Annex without telling anyone. This pig was not neutered and was able to impregnate approximately 25 female pigs. Those females, the males that were there and the pigs that came as a product of that man's pig are now all residing in East.

Viejo is incredibly sweet and adorable. He's lost weight over the last few months and a couple of weeks ago we noticed him acting a little off and looking a bit red. We've been keeping him in a large pen in the East field so we can monitor him. He also now gets a special food in the mornings topped with a shake for added nutrition. He sure loves his breakfast!

The shakes are not only a good way for us to add nutrition to a pig's diet but they are also good for pigs who are having a hard time eating. The other pig that currently receives a shake has a bone infection in his jaw. As you can imagine it is very painful for him to chew so he gets soft food with a shake which is much easier for him to eat.

Oh Baby

Baby came to Ironwood about 3 years ago. She was under the care of a woman in Arizona when she became ill. The veterinarian that she saw wasn't of much help. Her mom then contacted Mary here at Ironwood seeking advice. Baby was able to see the vet that was helping at Ironwood at the time. Baby was taken care of as best as possible and also ended up being spayed. At the time Baby's mom thought that she would be moving out of state so Baby was moved to Ironwood.

Baby was very overweight to the extent where she ended up walking on her sutures from her surgery and tore them open. Baby had to be stapled and cleaned up. Baby did eventually lose weight but her health never seemed so great. She then developed some pretty harsh cancer sores which you can see are covering her side. She loves her wallow and the sores get very dirty and painful. We clean them daily and cover her with swat but they are still bad.

Lately she's seemed to be going downhill. Tressie, another worker here, and I tried to bathe her yesterday but she can hardly walk. She is very lame and walking is painful. We couldn't get her far and didn't want to make her walk any further. We gave her a mini sponge bath and let her go back to her pen.

As her quality of life has seemed to decrease so much lately and everything just seems too much for her it was decided that it would be best to "put her down".Today Mary was preparing to do so but Baby would not have anything to do with it. She screamed and tossed her head when she tried to apply the mask. Baby was not ready! When a pig is in their last days they normally do not put up this much of a fight. Mary withdrew.

Our plan is to keep her as comfortable as possible, as we were, and watch her. It's always preferred that an animal passes on their own but when they're suffering we can't let them lay in pain. I will update on Baby as more happens. For now, she lays with her blanket and gets extra treats.

Pigs and Pugs

People have been asking how the pugs are doing since the move to Ironwood. If they like the pigs and such. I have to say, the pugs are doing well! They love going to see the pigs. It's become a routine now. I take them to see Doris in Sunset field then they run around the exercise yard.

Doris normally does not like dogs. She has her moments with the pugs, but I think seeing them as often as she does has made her possibly like them a little. Doris has kind of a pug face, and Lady can sound like a pig, so I feel it's a good match. Every time we get to the field I call for Doris and she comes to say hello.

The pugs enjoy going on walks here in the desert as well. They each have had their share of cactus in the paw and Lady tried to eat a tarantula. There is quite a bit for them to learn out here but they are doing well. It will only get better from here :)

Ellie and Pokey Updates!

I believe when I last posted on Pokey he still had his catheter in. It actually came out on its own, which we were all okay with. However, this meant we wouldn't be able to flush it out anymore and know if more goop needed to come out. He is still on antibiotics and we watch and wipe his eye daily. It has been looking good. Dr. Page looked at him Monday and agreed that he looked good.

While he looks good now we need to continuously watch his eye to make sure everything stays okay. There may still be a fair amount of infection going on behind his eye and elsewhere. We will continue antibiotics and take it from there.




Ellie is another story. Dr. Page saw her on Monday and requested that we bring her in today so that she can fix her up. Ellie went downhill quickly after her arrival here. Her attached ear started looking awful and wherever she had sutures her skin was coming off and infection was everywhere. You could hear the fluid and mush when she would shake her head and holes were forming.

After seeing Dr. Page today Ellie looks so much better! It may not seem that way but having it this way will help her heal very quickly. All of the skin that was coming off was taken off completely. Her right ear actually still had bloodflow and she can still hear out of it, so Dr. Page attached it more to the side of her head. Before it was barely attached and infection was spreading. You can see that there was a large amount of damage where her left ear was. She is being kept in a separate pen now with carpets on the ground to keep dirt from the raw areas. I'm sure she misses her pal Peaches. She is still playful and friendly. Ellie is a real trooper!!

Feeding Time!

Everyone seems to know that pigs are very intelligent. They are also very prone to sticking to their schedule. They are quick to learn a routine and are able to follow it daily. The first fields we head out to feed in the mornings are Sunset and Peoria. As we make our way the pigs anxiously run and bark to meet us at the gate. I love this. The pigs in the other fields are antsy as well but they don't seem as antsy as Sunset and Peoria for some reason.

We have troughs and bowls in every field. Some pigs will eat out of both while others prefer one or the other.

I did not work today and was able to get some pictures and video of feeding time. The picture to the left is in Main. I can feed in this field but don't know too many of the pigs here yet. We carry buckets full of grain and dump about 3 cups into each trough. Bowls generally get 1 cup each unless it is a bowl in a feeding pen, then it is individualized.

The picture to the right shows the pigs in Main that eat in pens. Pigs eat in pens for different reasons. The usual reasons are that they are either too shy and won't get enough grain if they eat in the field or they are too pushy in the field. Each pen has a shade screen over it and a water and food bowl. After the field is fed someone is in charge of staying back and letting all of the pigs out. Once feeding is completely done for the morning 2 people do a walk around of all of the fields to ensure that all pigs have been let out and none are stuck.

The picture shown here to the left shows some of the pigs in Northwest. These lovelies are waiting for their medications. The pigs that receive medications will usually be waiting at the fence. Some may sit, get on their hind legs or just push at you until they get their med. The video here shows a couple receiving their meds, George is the big guy.

It's the Ironwood Roller Coaster

The ups and downs with the pigs here are more wild than any roller coaster I've been on. Ellie is one of the girls who came to us from the dog/cat rescue. As I mentioned before she was mauled by dogs days before she came to us. She lost one ear and the other was stitched on as best as possible.

The first couple of days she looked like she was healing well. No signs of infections and all sutures were fine. Today she is a mess. All areas that had been sutured are opening, skin is hanging, she is red and puffy and is constantly shaking her head. When she shakes her head you can hear fluid move around, definitely not good.

She is rubbing her head on anything she can. We just noticed that she also has sutures in her back, right leg. We hadn't noticed before as there weren't any signs of problems back there, but today they are red and the skin is opening. I'm thinking that her ear should not have been attached and may need to come off. She will be seen on Monday by Dr. Page. Until then we are giving her antibiotics and some benadryl to calm her down to keep her from rubbing so much.

To top things off, both Ellie and Peaches are in heat as they were never spayed. Aye!

Please keep Ellie in your thoughts. Having this much infection going on in her head is not okay. She is still very sweet and friendly despite all that she has been through and is going through. I will update with the next steps we will take after Dr. Page sees her.

Where Do We Go From Here?

I've had a few people ask me what we do with our loved pigs once they pass away. Well, we bury them. We have a few cemeteries here and will keep adding as necessary. Jerri, one of the workers, has been helping with digging new graves and buried our Chester. Each pig will have a temporary stake placed until a nicer one is made.

Welcome Home

The reasons pigs come to Ironwood vary. Some were abused, some neglected, some were even strays and other times we take pigs off the hands of breeders. Ellie and Peaches came to us from a dog/cat rescue. Ellie and Peaches had lived at this rescue for a couple of years but have been attacked by the dogs numerous times. Ellie was attacked very badly last week. She lost one ear and the other was still attached enough to remain with some stitches.

Both of these girls are still very happy and friendly. Ellie went straight for the hay on her first night.

The girls seem to be doing well so far and love getting attention. When I was visiting with them yesterday the babies came over to say hello. Peaches was more than happy to say hello back to them.

I think that Ellie and Peaches are going to be very happy here. Ellie seems to be healing well from her recent attack. These two are currently kept together in a large pen next to the babies as they get acclimated to their new home.

Not Without a Fight

This morning at 7:15am Chester was put to rest.

He will be greatly missed not only by his pig family but his human family as well. Take it easy pal.

Time Will Tell

Today has been a sad day. It was actually a really nice, calm, cool weathered day until 12:45pm.

Around 12:30 we tended to Chester's cheek. I posted earlier about his abscess and the current gauze inserted in his cheek. We were able to pull the rest out and flush it out a little. He has quite an infection going on in there. I must add, Chester is very wild. He is hard to handle for medical issues and charges and jumps a lot. We didn't work on him long today as he was very jumpy and upset and we don't like to stress out any of the pigs.

Today he must have jumped too much. About fifteen minutes afer we dealt with his cheek he let out an horrific scream. I ran to his pen and saw him thrashing about. When I reached him I saw him on his elbows dragging himself around in a panic. His back half had given out, appearing paralyzed. I called for Ben, Mary and whoever else could come quick. Chester calmed down enough for Mary to inject some dexamethasone, a steroid.

The only thing we can figure is that he injured his back at some point while jumping. At this time his temperature is dropping and it looks like he may be going into shock. We will be watching him throughout the night. He may not make it through this. As I also said in my previous post, Chester is one of the first pigs that I met here. I will update tomorrow with the outcome.

Something positive did happen late this afternoon. Two pigs were brought in that need a safe home. Peaches and Ellie. They had been living at a dog/cat rescue in small pens. Both have been attacked by dogs in the past and one had been attacked a couple of days ago and almost didn't make it. Now, both are here, safe and happy. They are very sweet and friendly. I will post pictures of them soon.

Pig Fights

If you've ever seen a dog fight then you have an idea as to wha a pig fight can be like. So far I feel that pig fights are easier to break up. However, if no one is around to break up the fight the pigs can get injured pretty badly, just as in a dog fight.

This morning as I was feeding East field I noticed that Scoundrel's left ear was torn and bloody. Scoundrel is probably the smallest pig in East. He's pretty skiddish and shy with people and loves to eat. His ear was still bleeding a bit so the fight must have happened early this morning.

Tim, another worker, and I got Scoundrel cornered in his feeding pen so that we could clean and tend to his ear. It had been ripped straight through and half of the backside was torn off. We were able to clean it, put on antibiotic ointment and top it off with some swat. Swat is a fly ointment used to keep flies off of wounds. It just so happens the kind we used was bright pink, so that is what you see in the pictures. Scoundrel is now also on antibiotics and will need to be monitored to ensure his ear heals well.

Abscesses Continued

To update from my last post, Pokey has been handling his catheter situation amazingly well! He is so well behaved when we flush his eye out, it's quite unbelievable. Crud has been coming out of his eye but the fact that it is draining is a good sign. Plus he has not developed a temperature and remains in good shape otherwise.

Chester is another one of the pigs with an abscess. He had his lanced and drained on Tuesday. He now has gauze inserted. The string you see hanging out is from the gauze that is in his mouth. Chester is one of the first boys that I met here. He used to be in the East field. This was the first field I learned to feed in and learned which pigs got which medications and such. Chester was always at the fence ready to go! Now he resides in the pens while he heals.

Before he had his abscess lanced Chester would always flip his pool and/or water bowl into his wallow. This boy loves his wallow full of water! He cannot have a wallow or pool now as he heals. I'm sure he is antsy to get back into some mud.