Peaceful day on the Farmy. Later in the day the sun came out, and the wind dropped right away.
Poor Houdini can’t even have her dust bath in peace.
Mama has been doing a fence inspection
and is not impressed.
Charlotte is still limping dreadfully. I had to stay out of the barn yesterday as every time I checked on her she tried to drag herself up to see what was going on. If I feed them seperately she does eat quite well. At one point I fed Sheila then sat in front of Charlotte as she lay down and ate from a bin lid. She ate everything too. 
And she is getting up to go to the toilet outside and drink her water. And seemed better in the afternoon. But I am not convinced she is improving. I shall call the vet again today. Sheila on the other hand is excited and busy and desperate to get out, but I cannot take her for a walk alone, it would upset charlotte too much, so she has to stay in as well.
The Daily View is still the same.
And the temperatures are still dropping at night though quite pleasant in the day. 
Good morning. Though the farmy was quiet yesterday the keyboard was not and the story roared away picking up 8,818 words so far. As Bulldogsturf advised me, just get as many words down as you can right at the beginning. Then I am committed. After that story will take over. So I am going with the flow. And I am loving it. Just letting the story take me where it will is so much more fun than trying to jam a story into a predetermined time line.
I will let you know how it goes with Charlotte, we have almost no chance of getting a vet to visit just for one pig. Industrial hog farming has changed the perspective of an animals value. And I am not seen as a real farmer so I have even less clout. And my favourite vet is a cow girl. She does not do pigs or sheep. And I have even less chance of getting the poor pig up into the stock trailer to visit a vet. We will see. Fingers crossed.
But this is farming and we will keep on working at it. You all have a good day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
75 responses to “Charlotte not much improved: vet today.”
Good morning Celi, interesting about the vets, well not of you actally need one! I realise how niaive I am about these things…… an animal is sick, it needs help……
And I spy TonTon in the daily view, hope the day pans out for you and Charlotte
Yes the vets are just too busy. We need more. It is a huge job for just one vet. But he will do a phone consult so that is what i am after. i just know he will tell me to wait and see though.. c
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We have a dearth of large animal vets around here, other than for Fancy Horses…There are lots of small farms – mostly dairy cows – and their vets are swamped. Hope Charlotte heals soon…
Happy writing! Sounds like you’re off to a roaring start!
I am thoroughly enjoying the writing.. I am a very lucky girl to have the time really.. c
Poor Charlotte – I think you should take her into the house and nurse her 😉
Cool. What time do we expect your plane? c
I’ll be right over 😉
I’ll put the kettle on.. c
Poor Charlotte — her appetite is still good at least — my father raised pigs for many, many years, wish he was still here to ask advise from. Does the Old Codger know about pigs, or does he know another senior you could ask? Congrats on how well the story is going!
No the old codger does not do pigs but i am bringing in the big guns today. First the vet, then I will call the breeder.. we will see what they think.. c
So even veterinary medicine has succumbed to commercial values. Sometimes I wonder how much a human life is valued, and to think of the life of a pig; what is that value in those people’s minds?
Oh, my goodness! 8000 words! You are way past me. Good going!
I do hope Charlotte gets seen today. It’s sad that a single animal is not considered valuable anymore. Seems like one vet commitment is to prevent animal suffering.
i think half the problem is that they do not have the time. So a big farmer with lots of ongoing work will get the first call.. I am trying to get some numbers under my belt, there is no school today.. sigh.. noise. i am not a good writer in noise! especially tv and radios. c
Sorry to hear Charlotte is still out of action but it is a good sign that she is eating and drinking and keeping up her good toileting habits, something she might not be able to do if she were in a really bad way.
My sick pig (her name is baby pig, her sister is fat guts) has improved over the last 24 hours. Last night I really thought she would not make it through the night, there were the awful symptoms as described yesterday but also she would not drink milk and as you know a pig that refuses milk must be in a very bad way. Fat guts on the other hand couldn’t believe her luck!
This morning she looked better, still wobbley and frothing from the mouth a bit, but she got up and ate a bit of breakfast. It has been hot here so my lovely neighbours made sure she got water whilst I was at work and tonight she seems much better. Her nose is cold and the frothing has stopped and she ate her grain, milk, mollases and cod liver oil and seems much happier.
I phoned a vet who “does pigs” but is not very local. He said it was probably poisoning or some rare problem with her intestines related to a feed. Either way he assumed I would not want him to come out as it would cost more than the pig was worth and i guess he is right, another reality of farming. He said pig farmers usually only get the vet when they think the disease is notifiable, otherwise the big concerns manage the vetinary stuff themselves (by using shitloads of preventative antibiotics i would imagine).
I spoke to another small time pig farmer who also suggested it might be good to feed charcol tablets in cases of poisoning, I didn’t have tablets but I did have charcol in my woodburner and both pigs were very interested to eat it so who knows?
So there you have it, we are oceans apart but have a very similar experience as far as small time pig farming goes. Sorry about the long comment but good to share the knowledge.
I am very grateful for the comment,it is good to know in case I have a similar problem and it is true about the cost of a vet visiting. We had a cat called FatGuts once and I am thrilled that Baby Pig is getting better. That must have been a terrible worry.. I had forgotton about the charcoal. we used to take them for the trots.. good tip.. have a good day..c
thanks for the tip about the molasses, is that to encourage them to eat cos it smells so good or is there another reason?
oh it is good stuff, high in iron, calcium and potassium. As you know it is a by product of processed sugars, basically they strip all the good stuff out and then SELL people the white powdery left overs! and the real good stuff is the molasses. The cows and pigs get garlic, real cider vinegar and molasses in their feed daily, especially in spring and autumn. Beet shreds are another good feed for pigs too. Plus molasses is so sweet! But syrupy and not good to work with when using a cameRA!!c
Our next door neighbours are both vets – he does small animals and a few cows. He’s frightened of horses. She does nothing but pigs, working for just one farm, so obviously its pigs that are farmed intensively here. A herd of a dozen cows is considered a reasonable size.
Sorry, I got carried away and pressed the post button before I’d sent a get-well hug for Charlotte, and a good morning to Celie.
Charlotte is very huggable at the moment.. thanks viv.. c
Poor Charlotte and what a pain about the vet 😦
Phew, at this rate you will have completed the challenge in just over 5 days! Would the Haagh farmer not be able to assist or give you some advice for Charlotte? Poor Piggy hope she gets better real soon. Laura
Yes he is next on the list, but difficult to get a hold of. I will call him again today. c
I am really impressed with the way you look after those pigs. They seem extremely nice pigs and are deserving of someone like your good self. Mama appears to have the cage of a massive champagne cork around her nose – you should keep an eye on her drinking:)
(LOUD Laughter!) Poor mama. So that is why she is resting her head ON the fence! c
Oh no, our poor girl isn’t better today and what a bother that you can’t “just” get a vet in for one little piggy or even worse get her to one. Oh dear C. Sending positive thoughts and healing energy.
🙂 Mandy
Thank you mandy, have a lovely day.. c
I have the same vet situation (or lack of) with my goats. No problem with my horses, though. There are so fewer large animal vets than there were years ago, and they’ve become so specialized, it’s hard to get one to make a farm call for a small number of animals. I’ve learned to do most of my own vet care for the goats and thankfully haven’t had any major illnesses or injuries to deal with. Hope Charlotte gets better.
Morning SilverMoon and welcome to the farmy Lounge of Comments.. at least we are lucky enough to be able to talk to each other in this crazy internet medium, it is amazing how much knowledge is out there stored away in our own blog friends heads!