Finally Home Animal Haven in Scottsville, Virginia

Oct 30th

Out early to catch the warmth of the morning sun with a full belly (my diet of lots of veggies of course ), morning walks to get me feeling in tip top shape again, and then naps after all my hard work!

Nov 5th

Update on Charlie-

It’s been two months since he began his diet and exercise plan to get the weight off and help with his pain. He only takes a couple of tries to get to his feet at this point and even has a pep in his step…picking up his pace when he sees food coming, something he could not do before without stepping on his belly!

While his back is still bowed and his legs still positioned outward (a posture he’s had to learn to walk with to adjust to his weight) we are hoping overtime will get better. He is picking up his feet less (something he does to adjust when he’s uncomfortable standing for long periods of time). He has gone from daily pain meds to every other day (as they can be hard on his stomach). We hope to eventually be able to taper down his pain meds even more.

For now he’s in a smaller area where he’s able to get to his water bowl and shelter by memory. However our hopes are that in the future he will finally be able to open his eyes and see (without all the extra skin preventing this) and be able to explore in a community area with other piggies again!

Such a drastic difference in two months reminds us as to why this is all worth it!

Charlie’s finally settling in with his housemate Petunia. After he refused to share her house with her for the first couple of weeks and demanded he sleep outside of it (and her also playing hard to get and not letting him in)…he’s finally decided he really LIKES the company of having another pig around. He’s moved into the shelter now to be closer to her and has discovered it’s nice to have a friend (especially since he lived alone for so many years.)

We are continuing his weight-loss to help his old arthritic joints. Sedating him to trim his hooves is really hard on them and flipping him is so much better for their health, however we have to get him to a weight where he can be flipped manually in order to do so. It can take over a year to get them to an ideal weight, sometimes more! It’s much easier to help a pig gain weight than it is to help them lose it (as many pig rescuers know) as they like to eat and sleep a lot.

We have increased his pain pills to everyday now to keep him comfortable. We noticed he was more sore on days without his meds. Even though there can be side effects, his meds make him feel like a young piggy again and he even begins to sprint now when he thinks food is coming! (A huge difference since the extremely obese pig who had a hard time even lifting his legs to walk in the beginning!) Our main goal is for him to live a painless and happy life for as long as possible!