Mary and Angel

Angel is my first registered PB pig that I got through a newspaper ad in 1991. She is all black with a little white on one front foot. She is from the Connel line. Here she is with her baby. I was expecting a pet that liked attention and I thought Angel's shyness was something we could work through.
But little did I know, her shyness was inbred. She really didn't want anything to do with us and she hated to be held. We bred her when she was a year old and she had a litter of seven babies. It wasn't until that time when she finally bonded with us. I guess she was overwhelmed and I think she actually appreciated all the help and attention we gave her and the babies. She's a real sweety now. Her nickname is "Mama". She's one that I can leave alone in the house and I son't have to worry about her ruining anything. She's just happy to be warm and comfortable.

Angel has matured at about 90 lbs. when she's at her heaviest. We have several pistachio trees and until after harvest, she's eating them constantly and she gets too heavy. We work at reducing all winter and by spring, she's in top shape and feeling good. She can't afford to be too heavy. She gets eye problems and her little legs show stress.

All three of my pigs live outside and visit indoors with supervision. Angel is good inside, Jimmy likes to lick off the wall paper, and Gorby grazes on the carpet. Angel and Jimmy do not let Gorby join them in anything. They tolerate him as long as he keeps his distance.

Angel shares a house with her son, Jimmy Dean. They have several blankets and even though they have a heat lamp in the winter, I cover them every night with a blanket before I go to bed. Their house has an air conditioner for summer months and a fenced area to lay outside.

We learned a lot about PB pigs with Angel. Mostly trial and error though. We almost lost her. We had a vet antesthetize her so that we could clean her teeth and trim her hooves. Typically, the first shot didn't work and she was given another injection. After waiting sometime, she never really went out and we were forced to work on her while she screamed so terribly and couldn't get on her feet. While coming out of the anesthesia, she convulsed and thrashed for hours, injuring herself until I literally had to lay on top of her for several hours to prevent worse injuries. I learned later, from PB pig breeders who show, that this is a typical reaction to injectables and PB pigs should be anesthetized with gas rather than injections. I was told that I was very lucky and often pigs die that have that sort of reaction.

Since that episode, I have worked enough with her so that I can trim her hooves while she's down for a belly rub and she's on a regular paste worming schedule with the horses and other pigs. We also have found a vet who knows to treat PB pigs differently than farm hogs.

Angel is very special, gentle and sweet. She is such a delight as part of our family.

BACK TO CLUB INFO
1