Baby Ozzie was a backyard “production” pig who turned up stray when the human couldn’t keep him contained. He’d been injured and trapped in a rural county shelter for a week without access to medical care. It appears he was hit by a car. His right rear has a LOT of injuries. Broken pelvis, femur, tibia, fibula, calcaneus, and phalynx. The left side only has a broken tibia. The injuries appear to be a few weeks old, and the bones have already begun “remodeling” to a point that our surgeon thinks he doesn’t have much to offer without ruining the work his body is already doing. The bones aren’t healing perfectly, but they’re healing.
The big problem is this… he’s only 98 pounds, and he will grow to be an 8-900 pound Yorkshire in the next few years. The amount of damage to his body leads us to believe he won’t be able to support his weight without pretty significant pain. We’ve had extensive discussions about quality of life and the distinct possibility that we’ll have to euthanize him if he’s in too much pain. Our vet team is consulting with other surgeons for a second opinion, and he is currently at home on stall rest.
It’s a heavy diagnosis for this little man. He just hit.the.lottery. It feels terribly unfair to have his celebration snatched from him. Production pigs like Ozzie are some of the most highly abused and exploited animals on the planet. They’re smart and gentle and emotional beings, and they live terrible lives before slaughter. For us to have scooped one out of a shelter feels like finding a needle in a haystack. We’ve given him every possible thing we can so far, and it still may not be enough. Broken bones on huge animals are not a minor problem, and there’s not an easy fix.
Ozzie will get the best of everything while he’s on stall rest in quarantine. We’ll start there and take it one day at a time. Pamper him. Love him. Nurture him. Beg the powers that be to help him enjoy whatever we can provide for as long as it feels reasonable and he isn’t in pain. We don’t know how long that will be. Every day will be happy spoiling and kindness and compassion for Baby Ozzie. We may not get a lot of days, but we’ll make every one of them count for a whole lot!