CALIFORNIA POTBELLIED PIG ASSOCIATION, Inc.
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Pig Tales - Piggy Sue
PIGGY SUE ARRIVES
by Pat Hines
Pre-divorce I had 7 rabbits (all running loose on my property), two cats, two ducks, two large dogs and Magnum PIG. As they passed on and I became a "single" Mom, I decided not to replace them as I had my hands full with a more than full time job, a very labor intensive acre and keeping up with the animals. Magnum was something else and definitely a lot of work. So after he was gone I decided no more pigs - my over all intent - getting down to just one pet, a dog and just one of them.
I am not much of a drinker and never, never drink much when I am out. Usually I drink non-alcoholic beer - or a gin and tonic with 1/2 the normal amount of gin. I also leave my cell phone in my car. My cell is generally used for business only and I don't carry it around with me, which is very annoying to family and friends.
One night I met friends after work at the Nutty Irishman. I was hoping to hear from someone I wanted to go out with, so my first mistake was to take my cell phone into the bar. My second mistake was deciding, since I planned on being there for a while, to have a Guinness. I hadn't had dinner and the beer went staight to my head. Then my cell phone rang. I answered it only to hear a woman talking 90 miles an hour about a pig emergency. PIG emergency - what is that? When I was finally able to get a word in I said, "I think you have the wrong number". She said, "Is this Pat?" Third mistake - I said, " Yes". She went on to say how my neighbor had given her my number, etc. Before I knew what happened I had agreed to get another pig, and I didn't even have time to get ready because the pig would be arriving in a few days.
The next day my first thought was, "OH NO!" But I hadn't gotten her name, and I had no idea how to contact her. My neighbor said she was Marcie from the CPPA, but she didn't have Marcie's phone number.
OK, so now I'm committed. The next day I stopped and bought a crib mattress, Strawberry Shortcake comforter and pink spray paint to decorate my new pig's area in the garage. I made arrangements to have a vet here the day she arrived to examine her right away. This poor little pig, called SUET, was starving to death. Every bone in her body was showing and her belly was all bloated. She was covered in poop. I hosed her down, and the vet gave her some shots for parasites and anything else she might need. Suet was pretty laid back her first week here and didn't even wander around much. Maybe this was because she had been locked in a shed for several years.
About a week after she arrived I came home from work one day to find the garage "DESTROYED". No this is not an exaggeration. Some of you may have seen the before and after pictures, but they do not do justice to the damage. I sat down and cried. Then I pulled my truck into the garage and loaded it up for the dumps. My thoughts now were "OMG, WHAT HAVE I DONE". If it was movable it had been moved. She tipped over the gas can and spilled gas all over everything. She tore apart her mattress, her comforter and everything else in site. The wood pile had been moved from under the work bench to all over the garage. She emptied out two buckets of drip line parts, tore up newspapers, etc. By now I had gotten "Marcie's" phone number and called her. Magnum got into things all the time, but this looked like a tornado had hit the garage. Marcie said, "Oh she's probably just in heat - get her fixed and that should take care of the problem." She said to check her. You have got to be kidding - I don't want to get within a mile of that Pig. She had already gone after my Rottweiller who was three times her size. She grabbed the Flocati Rug and shook it like it was a kleenex and then took her Teddy Bear and threw it across the room. She then looked and me and my other dog like, "OK I'm warmed now up, who's next?" I said I would definitely get a hold of the vet within the next six months. I thought I detected a little giggle on the other end of the line and then Marcie said, "Oh you don't know that pigs go into heat every 21 days". Got to go Marcie, I need to call the vet - NOW.
Well, Piggy Sue (I didn't like Suet) is fixed now and has definitely toned down "a little bit". My friends call her Tornado and my Rottweiller calls her, "I don't want to get anywhere near that crazy thing". She has him so intimidated he won't under any circumstances go into the garage or get near her. She's reached an agreement with my other dog - be nice to me and I wont kick your butt. She even bit my grandson just to let him know she is the boss.
Despite our rocky start I truly love my little girl. She's tough. She now has two beds in the garage, a day bed and a night bed. She has the run of more than 1/2 an acre and gets the best of everything. Except for boredom during long periods of rain she has stayed out of trouble, other than booting my Porsche out of "HER"garage by biting at the tires.
"The paradise of my fancy is one where pigs have wings." G. K. Chesterton