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.