Oh Wilbur

Wilbur lives at the Annex, which is not far from Ironwood and holds some of Mary's pigs. He has been staying with us recently so that Mary can take him in for surgery for his cancer sores. Wilbur has already had surgery for some sores back in 2007 but he has many more now and some are quite severe and painful. We've been applying a cream mix daily to soothe them but you can still see his pain.

This morning he went in for surgery. All sores were cut off and the skin was cauterized. The pictures shown of him are after he returned from surgery so that is why they look so harsh. He will be returning to the Annex soon but I will try to get healing pictures before he does. He is a VERY sweet and gentle boy who is deaf and mostly blind. I hope his pain is decreased soon.

Serendipity

Serendipity is our newest pig. She comes from Bullhead City. She was initially found as a stray wandering by the river. A woman had noticed her once while she was out walking her dogs. When out on another walk at least a week later the woman noticed that the pig was still hanging out by the river. Realizing the pig couldn't survive on her own and didn't have a home this nice woman took her in. Soon after a man stated that he would like to adopt her and take care of her. However, it was found the the pig was left in the garage while the man was gone for long periods of time and was not having the life she deserves. The woman took the pig back, naming her Serendipity.

The woman notified Ironwood and Mary gladly took Serendipity. She is now living in our pens while she acclimates. She is very shy and cannot see well, if much at all. She doesn't seem to have any health issues at this time other than needing to lose a little weight. The future is looking good for Serendipity.

Feeling the Heat

Ellie and Peaches will not be getting spayed tomorrow as previously planned. Ellie is in heat so it is a no go. They will be scheduled for the next round.

The upside to this? Ellie is absolutely hilarious when she is in heat. She playfully chases everyone and appears between your knees to knibble. She chased one worker to the visitor center and waited at the bottom of the stairs for her to come out. I've laughed so much today just because of Ellie. So Ellie, thank you for being you.

Sally is another one of our gals that is currently in heat. She was found getting up on her back feet to push dogloos around. Producutive girl.

She's Come a Long Way

Ellie, as you know, came to us with Peaches. They've both been attacked by dogs numerous times and Ellie came to us with fresh wounds. It has been quite the process but Ellie has done enormously well and looks great!
















I've grown close to both her and Peaches. I make sure to see them daily and give them belly rubs. I call Ellie "Ellie Belly". They are a couple of great gals. They are scheduled to be spayed on Monday, so long as Ellie is not in heat. After healing from that we will try to integrate them into one of the fields.

Pigs in Blankets!

That's right, pigs at Ironwood are currently cuddled up in blankets. We received a shipment of around 1,000 blankets this morning from Las Vegas. Now, as we didn't pay for the blankets, we paid to get them here. They are large comforters that appear to be from a hotel. The temperatures have been dropping so we are definitely lucky to have recieved these when we did!

After feeding was done we spent a couple hours placing them in the many shelters in our fields. Some pigs immediately went in to warm up while some others let up cover them up and tuck them in. They are all very grateful! A big thank you to all who also donated blankets! It's really great to see animals who have had rough lives be able to sleep comfortably and warm. As you can see, my boy Boris really likes to get tangled up in his blankets.

Pumpkin

Every year Ironwood gets donations of leftover pumpkins. This year we didn't get quite as many as last year, but definitely enough to go around! Pigs love to eat the guts, seeds and the rind. We take the pumpkins out to various fields and break them to pieces for all to enjoy. Once the first pumpkin hits the ground all the pigs come running because they know the goodness that lies ahead.

Viejo and Harriet are of my favorite pigs here. Both of them had a good time with the pumpkins.