Odds and Ends

“He (Pink) was born premature to one of my sows. She had 12 babies and he was the only one born with his eyes sealed shut. Piglets normally are born with their eyes open and they are ready to nurse within a few minutes. Pink was so tiny and he didn’t have any suck reflex. We were in the barn almost the entire night and we just kept him under the heat lamp/head mat. We didn’t think he would live, but he did! Before we went to the house, my husband tried again to get him to nurse. He squeezed some milk into his mouth and got some colostrum into him. I took him to the house to see if Tink would nurse him. She had only had 1 puppy a few days before and she was also fostering 2 other puppies from my other litter. My other doxie had a total of 7 pups (her first litter) and I was afraid it would be too hard on her. I gave Tink 2 of her pups and she was so happy to have more puppies. She was even happier when I gave her the pig to nurse.

She licked him all over and let him nurse. Pink took right to Tink and nursed on her. That’s the story behind the pictures.”