Tales of My Small Town Iowa Life

So here is a unique story for you.

Last night the husband and I were driving to the next town over for a concert. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's was playing and I thought it would be fun to go see. We were driving on I-35 and my sharp eyed companion suddenly turns his head and says, "Oh no..." I ask him what it was and he says he saw something small and white that looks like it's still alive. He kicks it into Superman mode and is now looking for the safest and quickest place to turn around to head back to where he thinks he saw it.

While we're driving I ask all the logical questions... "What if it's a skunk?" "What are you going to do if it's hurt badly but not dead?" "What if it's a wild animal...it might try and hurt you if you get close." His answer was the same, "I'll just move it to the grass so that it doesn't get hurt anymore and it can die there."

Okay... I thought...that's still sort of miserable. I couldn't really see a good outcome here at all.

We turned the car around and pulled over. My husband got out of the car and I had a better look at what he had seen. It was facing away from me so all I could see was a tiny body with white fur. The legs were short and moving slowly and the belly was round.

"Oh no," I thought..it looks like a lab puppy..."but wait...no it doesn't...is it a possum?? (those things are dangerous!)..."But it's feet are really weird..."

"Oh!"....it's a baby pig!! "We can't leave it here!!"

The pig couldn't have been more than a week old. It was smaller than our son's toy poodle/terrier dog. It had bruising and abrasions. We couldn't tell how badly it was hurt..bones looked intact. We are guessing he just got bounced out of a transport truck.

But the concert! What now?

We put the pig on the floor of the car and drove to the gas station where they gave us a left over cardboard box.

"Well," we thought... "At least he's out of the road...We'll just leave the windows cracked and if he's still alive after the concert we'll figure out what to do next."

I was not a fan of coming back to a car with a dead pig in it but didn't see many other options.

The band played for an hour and a half. The show ended and we came back to the car.

Piggy in a box. No movement. But VERY heavy breathing. We shook the box a little and voila...baby piggy was just fast asleep.

Driving back in the car my husband called a coworker with a farm. "What do we do with a pig?" "Is there someone that can take him?"

"Try the Amish" she said. They'd know what to do with him.

By now it's past 10:00pm. Amish are farming folk and are generally in bed well before then...(with the exception of teen-aged boys out cruising in buggies well into the wee small hours of the morning) Would piggy last through the night on someone's front step? With the fox and coyotes in the area..probably not.

So my husband did the next logical thing... he texted our son.

My son has a best friend who is involved in 4H and has raised pigs before...it was a good bet.

In the meantime my son had texted us back with his friend's number and a warning that if we were to give the piggy a bath we should NOT put his head in because apparently pigs can go into shock and die that way. (clearly my son knows me well enough to know that the first thing any stray animal that spends time in my home gets is a bath..I guess he figured he better do some research about that ASAP)

We got the number for his friend's family but no luck. His is also a farm family. No answer at their house.

Okay.... we thought... we're bringing a pig home.

We found a laundry basket, lined it with rags and paper towels, cleaned piggy up (did not get his head wet!) and tucked him in for the night. Apparently baby pigs get cold easily so we put him in the bathroom and filled the tub up with hot water so the room would stay warm and humid. We tried to give him some baby formula from a bowl (since we have a baby coming in 2 months formula samples from a variety of companies keep popping up) but aside from a surprised snort we didn't get very far.

If he makes it through the night we'll figure out what to do.

This morning I went to the bathroom and turned on the light.

"Piggy?" "Are you okay??"

Piggy lifted his head, opened his eyes and tried to stand up. He stood for a couple seconds and then fell back over on his side. I have no idea if he's just too little to stand or if his body is still too damaged to.

I cleaned him up. Changed all the bedding, wrapped him in a towel and carried him into the kitchen.

...Maybe he's too little to drink from a bowl?...
...If he doesn't drink something soon he's going to be dehydrated!

I put piggy down on the kitchen floor and headed back to the bathroom. My husband's ear thingy...it's a bulb...it might be a way to get piggy to eat..

..yeah...this will work...I'll just sterilize it...

I made 4 oz. of baby formula and sucked it up into the (yes now clean) bulb my husband had bought to squish water in his ears. I held piggy's head in one hand and tried to get the small end of the bulb in his mouth.

Piggy opened his eyes and started to eat!! He/she ate about 3 oz. One oz ended up on the floor.

Great!!!

...Oh great...now I have a really live piglet I need to figure out what to do with..How did this happen??

Before work I tucked piggy back in bed and filled the tub back up with hot water. Piggy went right back to sleep.

This morning my husband will be taking him to the vet (who is also the pastor at the church I attend). For a check over.

We're hoping my son's friend will be able to take him. An Amish family would be second choice. It would seem too sad to send him back to the massive farm that shoved him into a truck with hundreds of other pigs...and didn't bother to make sure the piglets weren't too small to fall out!

Ah, adventures in a small town.

On the positive side...pigs are hypo allergenic.

This city girl is managing a-okay.