Submitted by Pig Pal Marissa Haigh | A story of Waddles the Kune Kune Pig saved from an unsavory fate.
Waddles’ was born Mother’s Day of 2019 but her life with us began in August 2019 during the Omak Stampede and Suicide Race kids night pig scramble. My son saw her and decided he wanted to catch her, the only girl and the runt of the litter. We fell for her immediately and knew that we could give her a good life. Her brothers, unfortunately met a different fate we found out, as Kune Kune pigs are sometimes raised for meat.
In February 2020 we decided to let her stay with her goat brothers and sister in their heated barn. She seemed to do ok for a few days but then one morning she wouldn’t eat. From that moment she just got worse and couldn’t stand or control her bowls/bladder. We took her to our vet who said she couldn’t do anything for her and that we could drive 3.5-4 hours to WSU Pullman, closest place they knew that could see a pig. We called every vet in our county and beyond and no vet was willing to see her. I knew she wasn’t stable enough to make the trip to WSU. My mom contacted a family friend who happened to be a traveling equine vet. He gave me the set up to do a subcutaneous drip to see if hydrating her would help. I was willing to try anything, I pinched her neck skin and inserted the needle under the skin. After about 2-4 hours she was at least moving a little and perking up when my son came home from school. Then I stood her up, (I’m a physical therapist assistant), like I would one of my patients who suffered a Stroke or neurological damage. She was very wobbly but I got her to stand and she seemed to get stronger as she stood. Soon she was smelling food offered to her but she would just push it around and kept moving in a clockwise direction. I was scared that maybe I made things worse, was she going to be like a zombie pig (sorry bad humor), she kept trying to bite anything she bumped against. It was bedtime at this point so I got her comfortable and hoped she wouldn’t thrash and pulled the needle out. Every two hours I had to move the location of the needle so it wouldn’t hurt her by pooling under the skin. By the time the drip was done she was doing much better. She wouldn’t eat her pig food but did eat some rice and shredded chicken or scrambled eggs. We later determined that she had salt toxicity (or at least that’s what it seemed like).
Fast forward to a year, and she is doing so good! Ever since this ordeal she has been so cuddly and loving. Like she knew she was safe with us. She’s our house pig, hangs out with her goat brothers and sister during the day and comes in just before dark to eat and hang out with her humans, kitties and doggies. I don’t know if she’s considered a rescue, but she didn’t and won’t become anyone’s meal because my son wanted to catch her and did!
Waddles’ has taught us patience and showed us how smart and wonderful pigs are. She makes us laugh like crazy and loves her belly rubs and chasing the cats away from her food. She loves rooting in the goat barn and burrowing into the straw and making mud pit swim holes in the summer. She's just here, living her best piggy life!