SAINTS welcomes Petunia

Okay your a peach and I will leave in about an hour!!

Okay, two beers, sopped up with small pieces of bread so she doesn't choke, given an hour or so in advance.

I shall go over there today to introduce her to beer and bread (just a little) so hopefully she will have developed a taste for it tomorrow. I'll also take her some cooked carrots and rindless canteloup, as you suggested in the email - I'll get this girl to think I'm her personal slave and (next to Carol) her best buddy in the world.

Bribery...pure bribery. But at least her nails won't dig into her belly if she will trust us enough to do them.

If you could get her to drink two beers but it would have to be at least an hour before i arrived. Pigs have a slow metablulisum and with all that fat it would take forever to take effect. Use her new bowl!!

If you go to my website you will find a little tag that you can click on and send me an email from there Jean.

If she won't drink it i will use rescue remedy but if she was drunk it would way easier on her. I am wodnering if you can bring her some bread ( a loaf would work jsut in case we do need it all) to start her tasting it , dip it in and hand feed. Soaking it more with each dip. Pigs LOVE bread!!!

Monday's good. Mo says she has your email address - I'll get her to send you my phone number so you can call me when you're on your way out. Do I try to get Petunia to drink the beer before you arrive???

Jena looks like Monday is the day..

make sure you tell me what we owe for the nippers so i can have it here waiting. thx janice!!!!

We will both need beers as i have never used nippers before lol. Carol, we will need three bowls please lol.

I'm available all day both those days - and I live just around the corner from Saints. We can either set up a specific time, or you can get my phone number from Carol and just call me when you are on your way out.
Do I get to drink the beer if Petunia doesn't want it?

Okay, bought the hoof nippers so all is left is the when. Jean what does your Sunday /Monday look like for best times?

good and thx cuz i can't actually remember what i booked for work after today and tomorrow,,,the calender says free sun/mon/tues but i think i booked sun at least, maybe mon too (it is a stat!)and didn't write it in. i will check today.

Janice, if Carol's working Sunday and Monday I can come over and help with Petunia.

Good news, she has a very cute face and reminds me of Danny so much here. One never knows they could be family...

They can have trouble with certain bowls and the black tubs are so deep for these guys. There thick necks tip them and soem of them get so mad when it tips and hits them. lol. I use them too and for some others i use a low plastic bowl. The perfect bowl is hard to find , ones that aren't too deep and with smooth rounded insides so those round noses and little tongues can get all of the goodies.

I am going to the Co Op after work and hopefully they have a decent set of nippers . I will be out this week-end ( Sunday or Monday) will any one be around to administer cookies?

oh she is good!!!...she sits up as soon as i enter the barn now and starts grinding her teeth til i give her some cookies...we finished the bag you gave us so i just got back from buying her more, plus i got her some vegie melba toast cuz that sounds healthy. she won't sleep with a blanket and she won't touch the warm oatmeal i make her for breakfast but she lets cole eat it cuz he really likes it even if she doesn't. i think she is choked that i tossed out her disgusting bowl because she will not eat out of the new one i bought her. she bit ( very softly) jenny in the ankle yesterday when jenny barged into the feed room...petunia takes her feed guarding role seriously. jenny just froze and tunie was good when i said to wait and let me get jenny out. i don't think jenny will go back in there any time quick, tunie was pissed.
all and all she is doing well i think, at least i hope she is. she doesn't seem particularly sad anymore.

How is that porcine princess doing ?

we always say "excuse me" when we go past everyone...sometimes it does progress to "hello??? i am trying to get thru???" and occasionally it goes even further to "move your butt buddy!!" but that is mostly when we are being repeatedly ignored by beagles or donkeys.
i told tunie tonight she was a very good pig and she took really good care of the feed room while i was at work. i gave her a couple of cookies to say thank you. she liked that. she is a good pig.

but janice, i don't think a lack of stimulation will be an issue here...she probably thinks she joined the circus! talk about culture shock!

Thanks Janice. Yes I have been talking to her as I come in and work around her - and she certainly talks back to me. (Hmmm...sounds vaguely like my ex-husband's sleeping noises!). I didn't offer her any treats as I didn't want to contribute to the weight problem, but I will share some cookies or breadsticks or something with her next time for sure.

I try everything on new arrivals as many of them haven't had taste sensations like your offering. I find that cookies although she is fat are the way to a pigs heart.They love anything that crunches so anything we eat that is low fat she would love. Rice cakes, melba toast and yes carrots and apples but everythign is fattening for a pig. I bet she would love bread cut into french fry's and dried in the oven. At this stage of the game it is food that you will need to bring her around and keep her excited about where she is. And this is for now is more important then her weight. Carol will tell you how fat a herd came in here was, and still too socialize them it was sitting on our butts with a box of arrowroot or graham crackers for hours at as time. These type of things have enough size to them to give clearance for your fingers. She is so terrified right now because she can't see 100% so any movement in front of her panics her. And her feet are so bad it is painful for her to walk. However her well being relies on her getting up at least once a day until i get those feet down some more. Hold the offeing with the tips of your fingers, let her take it with her lips like you would feed a child. Crinkle the paper so she learns to be excited about that sound. Those wonderful donkey's take cookies by simply puttign them to there lips and they suck em back..this is the way a pig will or should take treats. Put them right in front of her mouth. She can smell it but can't see it. This does take a bit of nerve for anyone not used to these guys but remember ..she can't kill you. lol.

And i know this is not my place but i think when any one is comign into her space one should alert her with the same words such as 'excuse me" so she knows you are just coming in and going out. She will learn to associate the gate opening and some one coming in is nothing to fear. The words will trigger this and relax her as she gets used to all the the action there. All the pigs here know 'excuse me" as they are such a timid speices . I use it as it is to be polite when walking by, coming in,comign up behind them, closing gates, raking near them, pushing wheel barrows by etc. I have the politest volunteers lol

Janice, can you tell me what kind of (presumably non-fattening) treats piggies like? I'm assuming fudge nut brownies aren't on the list of things she should be bribed with. Do piggies eat carrots? apple pieces?
And how does one feed Petunia - just hold it out in the proximity of her chubby cheeks and hope there's a mouth in there somewhere? Will she take right from the hand (without taste testing my fingers)?

Miz Petunia you are so over weight and not only does this compromise your respitory I feared porcine stress syndrom. During the 30 minutes or so that i was able to get an inch or so off she was darn mad and working herslef up into gasps while trying her best to scare us with her grunbles. She is so obese with so much pain from her hooves she can't naturally flee from us. To her she is trapped and for a prey animal she is fearing death so i didn't want to stress her any more then I did. My clippers were also no match for her thick over grown hooves and need to get a pair of horse nippers.
Petunia is a little pig in a big pigs suit and with Carols sweet voice cooing to her she is already responding to her words. A waggy tail she snuck in a few times lets me know she will be all right and there is no doubt in my mind with plenty of stimulation and lovings the weight will come off naturally .
Petunia is not agressive in all the loud grumbles she makes but her only defence. And we left her knowing that she had a big job to do with being in charge of the feed room .And she asks that we are polite when we enter her domain. Excuseeeeeeeeee me Tunieee .... and i will see you in a week or so at Thanks Giving once your settled in a little better. I will have my nippers and something sweet for you to celebrate.
I am so glad she is at SAINTS and with all the love surrounding her now her tail will be wagging in happiness all the time.

if everyone clicks on janice's name at the bottom of her comment, it will take you right to the heartsonnoses website in case anyone wants to learn more about these wonderful creatures and the passion that janice has in her care for them.
i emailed you janice.

I am going to feed as soon as i get home from work and then drive right out. Can someone please post or email the directions off of Lougheed or?

Carol i will call you when i leave to you can administer beers.. to all who need it.

1 tequilla, 2 tequilaa, 3 tekwila... hey, this nail trimming aint so bad!^_^

do you think it would help her underbelly if you tied something around her so her belly didn't come in direct contact with the ground?

I can't wait to meet her^_^

mo and i spent today fixing up her new digs so she can have a small outside access (she is potty trained!!!)so she now has a private patio until she can mobilize better. she is pretty tired from all the hoop-a-la this morning and all the visitors (every single dog had to go and say hi, try out her food, and moses even had a nap on her bed, no one tried to steal her new toys tho, (but cole did steal her carrots) so i was pretty proud of them all, they are good dogs.) she is napping now, i just popped in to check on her and she told me to buzz off and went right back to snoring again.

Welcome Petunia! What a wonderful new friend you have found.

Yay! Welcome Petunia! I wonder what Carl will think of his new barnmate? I can just see him with an entourage of four sheep...and one pig!

Can't wait to meet her.

Yikes, I'm just figuring out the best way to clean sheep stalls.... get Janice to leave any tips she can on cleaning a Pig stall.... can't wait to meet her !!

you are getting yourself quite the little farm happening. Petunia hey what.. well i will wander down the yard to meet the little miss after i finish up with the other children on Saturday. Please tell them to be good and not pee in the beds for me?
Carol drinking beer with a pig.. now that would make quite the picture.. oh Nicooole!!!