Good morning. I have some adorable photos of piglets sleeping on their mothers head. But look at Boo Blue first. How did he slip into his tweens without us noticinng.
Something has gone wrong with my editing settings and the whole screen is in miniature so small that i cannot see it. I am hoping that this is legible for you.
All is well now though we had a fright from one of the piglets who somehow tore a great rent in his skin,
The wound though bloodless was like looking into an unzipping leather coat. Straight to his perfect muscle.
I brought him inside and he had a rip in his side about one and a half inches long. Which is a lot on the tiny thing. Thankfully John had just arrived home from work so he held him while I sewed the cut together, I had called around but could not fine a suture needle and nylon, we are miles from a store to get surgical glue, I did not bother calling a vet though it was a saturday anyway, they would have laughed at me, but it would have been too late anyway. The wound was recent and still clean though gaping like a ripped curtain. So with a sterilised normal needle and some black nylon thread from the sewing basket after swabbing with iodine. I put in ten very untidy stitches. buttoning his little coat back up.
Amazingly the little fella just lay there for the emergency operation. I had to get him back to the pen fast before his mother rejected him. But when I went to put him back in the pen his Mother was in a towering rage at his removal. The little piglet dived back in with his brothers and sisters.. I hoped he would burrow in and hide the iodine smell. But she made a run for me.
Charlotte went for the fast disappearing arm I still had in the pen as I released him and showing me her teeth, screaming at me, then chose instead to knock my hand back out. Though I was on my way out anyway! She shouted and growled through the fence and roared at her babies to stay in the corner.
She was pacy and upset for quite a while so i chose to leave her alone for the night and not check them again.
I tiptoed out early this morning and all nine were asleep cuddled in with her so they must have had a good night. And Nine is still alive. I guess it has a name now. Though his wee life may be short.. I say he but in my intense and then controlled deeply silent panic I forget to even look and see if it was a boy or a girl.
That is all for this morning as i must find a way to reset the font size,. I cannot see what i am doing. I hope this does not publish in miniature as well! But there is only one way to find out! But I have no idea how to fix this. Ah well.
Have a lovely day. I am off to feed the Mother beast!
your frustrated friend, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
75 responses to “A photo and a fright”
I’m sitting here, legs locked together, thanks to that last comment. 🙂
Glad you got to Nine and fixed him up. Hope Char lets you get to him again to check later in the healing process. Puppies grow so fast — and for some, not fast enough. I’m still waiting …
Have a great day, Celi. I’ll be making ravioli this afternoon. 😉
Too Funny!! Have mental picture of you walking around with your legs crossed LOL.
I cant stop laughing either. That comment came right out of the blue. Joy
I’ve never seen such a little piglet. As for the pups, boy they grow up fast!
Glad you and Nine are okay — was going to mention locking her outside when you clip teeth, castrate or vaccinate. Babies will squeal and Mama Char will roar! Be careful C
Well done for noticing a sewing him up! They really are sweet little pigs – almost cow/dog/piglets 😉
Pig stealer. We have our eyes on you.
(laugh!)… the eyes have it.. c
My heart skipped a beat when I read the heading – then relief as I finished the post. You have an army of informed friends of the Farmy standing beside you… handing out such good advice – so much care and concern. V.
The piglets are here, the piglets are here – oh so cute:) Blue is getting so BIG too! Happy Sunday on the Farmy
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! That’s my brave girl doing what you have to. I bet the little Nine will be just fine now. Luckily you got to him before something worse happened.
I completely understand the mama rage. I felt some of that myself yesterday when my darling son posted a photo of his beautiful eye all black with blue and three stitches thru his eyebrow. Judo boxing for charity!?! I said, “Jon you’re killing me here!” And he said, “sorry mom.” .
……..?…….
That’s all?
I guess when they get to be 32 they don’t have to explain themselves any more. 🙂
What a good mother she is! I hope he recovers well. You could call him Stitch.
oh my god, cinders…i can’t imagine how that must have frightened you, especially such unexpected motherly behavior from our queen charlotte…yes, i think i remember some queens were quite ruthless!! so glad you are ok!
did you ever hear of the children’s book…It’s fine to be nine…? 🙂 And Blue…he’s huge, how did that happen so fast??
please be careful!
What a story, I am so glad Nine was a good patient and you were able to fix him/her up. I had read once that some super glues can be used to glue wounds together, in a pinch, I guess. Interesting reaction from Mama, I guess she wasn’t aware one of her babies had injured themselves. It has been teaming rain all morning, which is a shame as I had hoped to serve a brunch on the back patio. But now the dining room table is set and I can only hope to have cocktails outdoors tonight. Have a good one.
Cocktails outside in the cool wet evening sounds lovely..
Those piglets are so cute!
I would not worry too much. I would say a shot of antibiotics will do it but you probably want to avoid those. The iodine is effective. I know many pig farmers that when neutering their male piglets just use lots and lots of peroxide and a butterfly closure and the piglets come out fine. You’ll want to keep a very close eye on those stitches, though. If you could cover them with a big Band-Aid and some Neosporin it might be better.
A band aid is a good idea, i had a sticky dressing on it but it fell off, I shall find some big band aids then watch for an opportunity to whip him out, I had to stitch it though the skin had torn and was draping right to the ground, after going through my substantial first aid kit yesterday, at speed, I discovered that i am short on a lot of things, I need to stock back up. c
Isn’t it wonderful that you have so many experienced friends in blogland? I remember stern warning s from my mother never to get close to a mother pig with babies. She had had a narrow escape herself so do take great care. The babies are so sweet it must be difficult not being able to scoop them up for a hug. Hope the rest of your Sunday is calm.
Wish I had something useful to say, but all I can say is WOW!