Submitted by Pig Pal Samantha McDaniel | A story of a neglected, unwanted pig who was lucky enough to find his forever home.
Chewy was 4 months old when he became a part of our family. I have always wanted a pig. I feel like the whole world knew it and my husband really knew it. He was holding firm and kept telling me no. I figured one day I would just bring a pig home and he would have to deal with it. It turned out, it was actually the other way around...
Chewy was bred and sold as a “mini pig.” His prior family bought him when he was just over 3 months old because he was a cool exotic pet. They didn’t do any research and didn't know how to care for him. My husband knew these people and decide to ask them what it was like to own a pig. My constant pestering obviously worked. Chewy’s owners wrote back with a short but to the point response: “$50 and he’s yours, we don’t want him.” They only had him for 3 weeks. While I was at work, my husband and our neighbor got in the truck and picked up baby Chewy. I had no idea what was happening. When I walked into the living room after my work day I saw a little pig curled up on the dog bed. I turned and asked my husband one of the dumbest questions I could ask at the time. “What is that?” Ever witty, he responded back with, “That’s a pig.”
Right away I noticed something was wrong. His skin didn’t look right, I was told that it was just dry skin because it was winter, but my gut told me otherwise. I asked if he came with anything and was directed to a bag of rabbit food. We had nothing for a pig. NOTHING. No place for him to stay, no proper food, no vet lined up, nada. That night, we corralled him in the kitchen and rushed to the store to get some basics. The next day I was able to get him to a vet where we found out he had mange. It was way worse than just dry skin. His skin was being eaten away and he had splits and scabs all over. His tail was almost eaten off, it looked like it was burnt. Poor guy was so miserable. Every day for a week I loaded him into the cat carrier and drove him to the vet for a shot. Every day he pooped in the carrier and stomped in it. He had steroids that he needed to take at home and we switched him to a proper diet for a growing piggy. I put lotions on him and brushed away dead skin. Put medication in all the cuts and let him know he was going to be alright.
After a couple weeks he started to glow. He didn’t sleep all day anymore, we were working on building a pig pen for him, and everything was going well. The vet had told us that he would probably need another mange treatment and sure enough about 2 months later I noticed it was coming back on his feet. We went back to the vet for another round of treatment and we steam cleaned all the floors/carpets to make sure nothing was living anywhere.
It’s been almost 3 year with our baby. He’s happy and healthy and actually has hair growing on his tail again, which he wags all the time. He found his forever family. I’m so glad my husband reached out and asked about him because if he didn’t who knows what Chewy’s fate would have been. The mange would have progressed for sure and who knows where the family would have taken him or who they would've given him to. Now he’s got a couch to sleep on, his own piggy pen, and countless garden beds to try and damage. He’s living his best piggy life and we could not imagine a life without him in it.
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Follow Chewy's adventures on Instagram: @oldmcdanielhadafarm
Chewy is one very lucky pig to have found people willing to go the extra mile to research, get proper vet treatment and put the effort in nursing him back to health. Unfortunately, many pigs are bought by people who think pigs are "cool pets" without doing any research or having prior knowledge on how to care for them. Please do your research, make sure your city is zoned to have a pig, your HOA or landlord approve, you have a vet that sees pigs, you have time to train and can financially take care of a pig before getting a pig or adding any animal to your family. We always recommend adopting from a rescue! Pigs are living beings with high emotional intelligence and attachment. Pigs live long lives and are a lifelong commitment. For additional information please go to www.minipiginfo.com or reach out to us info@oinkboxes.com.