Friday, December 21, 2007


As someone that knows nothing about pot bellied pigs, Fred is giving me quite an education. The words uncooperative & stubborn come to mind. He is gentle & likes to be scratched, but he's really not been socialized. He will not eat pig chow, he prefers eating hay with the sheep. He will not let us cover him up with a blanket, he would rather lay on the bare ground at temperatures in the 20's. Today I tried putting a small towel across his body to get him use to having something on him. He didn't seem to mind, but Annie the white sheep was fascinated. Every time I put it on him, & walked away, she would go over, grab the towel & start chewing on it. The sheep are also a problem when I feed him his fruit everyday. I've ended up bribing them with 1 grape each. Unfortunately they seem to be able to count, & realize they are getting cheated.

The home for the sheep fell thru. The woman that was going to take them, had to have surgery & doesn't know when she will be able to care for them. So we're still looking for them a good home.

Chester's leg has swelled up, which is what we didn't want to happen. We changed his antibiotics, so hopefully it will make a difference. We knew when we had the surgery, that it was a long shot to get rid of the infection. But he deserves a chance, & we'll do whatever we can to make it happen.

2 comments:

Laura Lee said...

Dear Tish,
My question is this: is it true that pot-bellied pigs can be house-trained?
Also, where do you find those old photos of long-ears? They're GREAT!

Tish said...

I have no idea if p/b pigs can be house trained, although they are suppose to be very intelligent. Fred hasn't chosen one spot in the pen yet, he seems to go wherever the mood strikes him.

Awhile back someone on one of the donkey yahoo groups wanted to make wastepaper baskets laminated with old donkeys pictures & put out the plea for old pictures if anyone had them. Seems that lots of people had pictures & shared them. At the time I didn't have a use for them, but saved them just in case. Some of them are so interesting, it would be a shame not to share.