Sissy was one of our eldest females. She was a huge Hampshire and nearly eleven years old. She and her brother, Bubby, were initially purchased by a woman who was planning to eat them, but she had a change of heart once she realized they had personhood. She surrendered them before they were even a year old. Bubby (who passed in 2024) and Sissy each found different adopted families when they arrived in Jamestown, and they settled into their respective family groups in separate neighborhoods.
Sissy became an easygoing, yet confident and authoritative, member of the Garden House Neighborhood. She was spayed in December of 2021, as a high priority case because she was showing signs of reproductive tract troubles. She had cysts in her ovaries and an inflamed, cystic uterus. After her spay, Sissy’s quality of life improved dramatically, and she became one of our very special grandma pigs.
Sissy was the perfect mentor to newcomers because she was mature, gentle and friendly. Most recently, she welcomed Miss Maple and MollyJo into the Garden House Neighborhood. Watching a grandma pig befriend a baby pig is truly one of life’s greatest pleasures.
As her giant body started to give her trouble, we put extra effort into making sure she had the easiest life possible. Meals and water served at her door. Pain meds tucked into fresh strawberries. Lovely little visitors like MollyJo and Miss Maple to entertain her. Over ten years of keeping a promise to her on the day she was rescued… that she would never want for anything ever again. Not because she was “smart” or “beautiful”. Just because she was Sissy.
It was a gift to have time to say goodbye and share a few quiet moments. It was a quiet acknowledgement that her life mattered. That she was valued and loved. That we have witnessed her existence in good days and bad… and we stayed with her until the end.
Sissy passed peacefully in her home, surrounded by her family. Her legacy will live on in the young pigs she helped raise, like Miss Maple and MollyJo. See you on the other side, friend.
