CAMP SKIPPING PIG  SANCTUARY

          Snippet with Tanner                                 Snip's "so, what are you 

       enjoying the heat lamp                          going to do about it ?" look

                                                         

Snippet joined us on October 18, 2000 as a tiny month old piglet. She didn't know how to eat solid food and shouldn't have been away from her mother, though I was only too happy to take on the task. She weighed about 4 pounds and would have fit in a Coke can. Her name was chosen because of her tiny stature, and sassy, snippy attitude. Snip wouldn't hesitate to bite, probably because she wasn't with her mother long enough to be taught proper pig manners. In July of 2001 I had her spayed and she developed an ulcer which almost cost her her life. Though for several days after surgery her recovery seemed uneventful, on about the fourth day she vomited all day while I was at work and was severely dehydrated when I found her that evening. I gave her Pedialite with an oral syringe and her life hung in the balance for about two weeks as she recovered. It was difficult to get her to eat or drink and for a week it was a fight to keep her going at all.

Snippet showed me just how smart pigs are when she spontaneously fetched for me. I'd been teaching her to come when called and when she picked up a plastic thermos cup and couldn't get it off her nose, I called her over to take it off. As I removed the cup I praised her and gave her a tidbit, then tossed the cup aside. She trotted over, picked it up, and brought it to me. In disbelief, I tossed it again and she again brought it back. Amazing! So every day we worked on fetching. When she got sick of the game (usually after about 5 tosses) she'd fling the cup at me. Sometimes she'd set it down too far from my feet and I'd ask her to bring it closer. She'd push it with her nose and if she got disgusted with the game before I gave the "OK, close enough", she'd again fling it at me. Too funny. Sometimes she'd entertain me when I asked her to show off for visitors. Other times she'd make me look like I was telling tales when I boasted about her talent by refusing to cooperate. Once at the vet clinic she fetched about four times then stomped off to check out the dog food. She was off leash and I had to scramble to stop her from ripping open a $40 bag of prescription feed.

Sadly Snippet suffers from arthritis in her elbows and has for several years. The fetching game is long past and her days are numbered at only 8 years old. I'm having a difficult time finding medication to keep her happy and comfortable, and have been unable to come up with a cart arrangement to support her front end and take the weight off her elbows. They are too damaged to consider surgery which, even if possible, was estimated to cost at least $5000. I haven't totally given up, but am facing the reality that there's little I can do to ease her condition and keep her active and happy for much longer.

       Belly rub...it's unusual for a                                           Tiny baby Snippet

  pig to let you hold it on its back .                    Her blanket was 6" long and it was 2" too

                                                                                                       long for her        

                                Snip with 2" ribbon

Sadly, we lost Snippet to liver cancer in the fall of 2012 at the age of 12. She is greatly missed.