I have told you about the van and the damage the dogs/squirrel did to it. If you recall, I found the destruction when I went out to the van in order to go to the store for some needles and syringes. I was pretty sure our pigs had pneumonia. I hear pneumonia is quite common in hogs. Seems we've just been "lucky" that we haven't had any die from it in past years.
Signs our pigs had pneumonia:
1. They haven't eaten their food for 2 days straight.
2. They haven't shown interest in water for one day.
3. They only got up when I made them get up.
4. They were having trouble breathing. It is not normal for me to see pig bellies moving in and out with each breath.
5. Some coughing was heard.
Signs our pigs didn't have the same thing as last year's herd:
1. No one had diarrhea. (Including me.)
2. There were no dead birds in their waterer.
Treatment of pig pneumonia includes giving shots of antibiotics into the neck of each pig. Fortunately, thanks to last year's herd, I know how to do that. Two of the pigs were sicker than the others, and I was afraid to wait until Bryan got home to give them the shots. The longer I waited, the better chance one of them would die. Since the pigs are only 35-50 pounds each, I decided not to wait and just do it on my own.
The hard way to administer a shot in each of 4 pig's necks:
Step 1:
Step 1:
Step 6:
Step 8: Repeat step 4.
Step 9: Decide that the other pigs are not in such dire need of their shots. Shaking and weak, head back to the house and collapse.
*************************
Two hours after this, on our way home from school, I told the kids that they were going to help me administer the shots to the other two pigs.
They were horrified until I told them they wouldn't have to actually give the shots.
Then they were simply terrified.
The easy way to administer a shot in a pig's neck:
Step 1: Gather 4 kid helpers.
Step 2: Explain to the helpers that there will be much noise and flailing and maybe some cursing. They shouldn't be afraid, as the pig is not getting hurt. I might be, but the pig won't be.
Step 3: Before the pigs can get out of the barn, get a gate in the doorway to keep them in there.
Step 4: Assign a job to each helper*.
Step 6: Administer the shot. Piece of cake when someone is helping to hold the pig steady and another is handing you the syringe.
Step 7: Repeat steps 5 and 6.
Step 8: Step back and listen to the helpers.
Turken: That was a lot of noise!
Buttercup: I never opened my eyes the whole time.
Cuckoo: (He had nothing to say, as he played the usual scaredy-cat and took off for the house before we even began gathering the pigs.)
Giant: If you weren't struggling so much, that would have been funny.
********************
As of this posting, the pigs are doing much better. All 4 have been up and walking around on their own, and all 4 have been seen eating and drinking.
We really should be giving each of them another shot to make sure the bug is killed completely, but I am unable to do so, no matter how many helpers I have.
We'll save that story for Part 3 of our horribly awful, unbelievable day.
*I know some of you are wondering why I didn't assign one child to be the photographer. I would have had Turken do it, but with his broken collar bone, he's down to one arm. He can't take photos. Buttercup never opened her eyes, so she couldn't take photos. I needed all of the big boys to actually help, so no photographer.
Have a lovely day!
You really shouldn't be in charge of this at all. Bwahahahahahahaha. I love the drawings, but I'm thinking there were way more steps than you've listed here.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the pigs are feeling better.
Have a fabulous day. ☺
Clearly. :)
DeleteThere are a few, but my hand was getting tired.
You and me both.
Who ARE you?!! LOL
ReplyDeletePigs bite??!!!
I don't even recognize myself anymore. :)
DeleteOh, they most certainly do!
well, Im just happy to see that your hair grew back by the afternoon's attempt.
ReplyDeletehaving lived in Los Angeles, this method also works on roaches... but you only need a capful or two... drink the rest youre gonna need it!
ReplyDeleteOhhh, the poor piggies were COUGHING? That's just so sad!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see by your drawings that THIS time, you weren't wearing a dress when you wrangled the pigs for shots :)
Love your hair in Step 4.
Yup. Coughing. The hard breathing and coughing were awful to watch.
DeleteHa!
Thanks. I worked hard on it.
I'm amazed that you attempted all of that; so happy to hear they are doing well..hopefully you are too. Like I said before hopefully the rest of the week will ease up a bit. Hang in there! Marisa
ReplyDeleteI didn't have much of a choice if the pigs were going to survive. No one else was going to do it.
DeleteEasing up is a relative term. :) For some of us it is.
I think you need a cruise to a tropical island...STAT.
ReplyDeleteAh, that would be lovely.
DeleteOn one hand, your story makes me truly miss the farm, on the other hand, it makes me, um, not miss it at all?? You are such a champ, Christine!! I hope you NEVER stop blogging. I always get a healthy dose of inspiration and humor whenever I am here, and as a country girl (at heart for now since we're still waiting on a location!), I feel right at home. P.S. I'm doing a motherhood post link up tomorrow and would LOVE for you to share one of your faves from the archives. It can be on ANYTHING related to motherhood past or present, so I hope you'll share your goodies with us!!
ReplyDeleteAw, Susan, I hope you never stop commenting. You're very good at it. :) There are parts of this life that I would miss terribly if we were to move. Others, not so much. I completely understand you.
DeleteI just linked up. It was hard to pick a favorite post!
Hurray for helpers, and hurray that the pigs are doing better now! Did I ever tell you about the time that my sister had to give her (goat) kid a shot? My dad was the wrangler for her, and he really took one for the team, because my sister put the needle completely through the goat's leg, and administered that shot into my dad! On the bright side, he now has an immunity to some particular goat disease. :-)
ReplyDeleteThat story is hilarious! It was even a story I said, "Mom, listen to this!" (She was the only adult in the house when I read this.)
DeleteYour poor dad. The poor goat. And I can't imagine your sister felt real good about it either.
I'll be laughing about this comment all day.
I don't even know what to say, but this isn't it: your drawings are getting much better. :)
ReplyDeleteI am glad that they seem to be better...but I am mostly concerned about why you can't give them a second shot...
Ha! No. No they aren't.
DeleteYou shall see...
Wow, when you got to the kids helping I wondering how in the WORLD you managed to do it by yourself. Love the drawings! And I laughed out loud at Cuckoo abandoning the scene of the crime.
ReplyDeleteI still can't believe I did the first two by myself. It couldn't have happened if they were much bigger.
DeleteCuckoo always leaves at the first sign of trouble when it comes to the animals. He is not a good wing man. :) Did you see the video of the day a pig got loose last year? http://a-fly-on-our-chicken-coop-wall.blogspot.com/2013/09/pig-escape-caught-on-tape.html It will give you an idea.
While I appreciate the suggestion, it wouldn't work in this case. The pigs hadn't eaten anything for two days, and they hadn't had anything to drink for about a day. They weren't interested in ingesting anything.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting quite a bit of rest. Way more than I want to. You'll see...
Oh, and Zoe...Wish I would have known this when we were living in married student housing during law school!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the pigs are on the mend.
ReplyDeleteAs I'm reading the beginning, I'm thinking, with ALL THOSE farmhands, errr, CHILDREN you have, why on Earth did you attempt this by yourself? Then I read the rest. Lesson learned??
Slowly getting caught up.
ReplyDeleteOMG...haven't laughed so much in a long time. Probably since last year's pig drama. Tee hee. I have to say I'd be either like Buttercup or trying to outrun Cuckoo back to the house. Your drawings are the icing on the cake. :D
That is insane! The pictures/drawings are priceless and since you probably didn't really lose your hair, the drawing was much better than a photo would have been for Step 7! Glad the pigs are on the mend...can't wait to see what happens next!
ReplyDelete