THE RANDOMNESS OF HOMESTEADING – EMERGENCY VETERINARIAN
Sometimes my life is pretty spontaneous anyway, but with homesteading, you never know what you will encounter some days.
Our STEEM-powered piglets were off to a great start. They had made it through the night on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but all was not exactly well on Monday morning.
Unfortunately, one got stepped on pretty bad sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning. Red-Pepper let me know when we were up early doing chores together on Monday. Suddenly, all of my morning plans flew out the window and I became an emergency veterinarian.
THE RANDOMNESS OF HOMESTEADING - EMERGENCY VETERINARIAN
The cut was bad, but no bones were broken and it did not penetrate the muscle. The thick skin of the little hog was tore open though, so we had to clean it and evaluate it. Dirt and feces is usually not good have inside an open wound.
Quickly Red-Pepper and I got to work. The cleaning went well, and the tiny piglet was surprisingly cooperative. Once we could see more accurately what we were dealing with, I chose to go with some stitches too.
Most likely this pig would have survived and healed, but it would take a lot longer and scar much worse. With just a few little stitches we could help the process, so I go to work. I used a needle and fishing line instead of some sort of fiber-based thread. With fibers, the healing wound would stick to it and could even make matters worse. Fishing line will not adhere to the scabs in the way that fiber-based thread would.
With Red-Pepper there to hold and comfort it, I got to work and got the job done. In hindsight, I should have put in one more stitch, but this will still be better than nothing. Since this piglet will be growing, I was mindful not to make the stitched too tight. We will keep an eye on it and see how it heals, but so far, so good.
Before too long "Bo-bo" was back with his siblings. Yes, this happened to be one of two piglets that we had actually named.
The ointment that we used after the stitches is vouched for by many local farmers, and also creates a barrier against dirt and other debris.
That was on Monday morning, and now we are already onto Thursday night. So far, everything is going well. There is a little more to the story, but I'll share that later. Hopefully the photos of the wound did not gross you out too much. Situations like this are just one more reason that I am glad my pigs are not in concrete pens. To be caught between a hoof and some concrete could have been a lot worse for this little one.
As always, I'm @papa-pepper and here's the proof:
proof-of-emergency-veterinarian
Until next time…
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That looks like a job well done... and with it a warning to us all to get hold of some fishing line to pop in the first aid box with a needle! Just one thing... you've actually said "but bones were broken", I think you meant to say "but NO bones were broken."
I am giving you a FULL POWER upvote for making a real (helpful) comment and actually reading my post.
THANKS @elaine54!
Thats very kind, thank you!
I will edit. Thank you!
Haha... what a difference two letters can make! But at least you know I read it properly!
@papa-pepper got a medical degree and all of a sudden he was: @doctor-pepper. Ba-dum-tshhh!
Ba-dum-tshhh!
LOL - Thanks!
We had exactly the same thing happen to one of our piglets a few years back...hubby and I took the poor little thing to the vet and she did exactly what you did...only she charged an arm and a leg for doing it.
You're lucky you could do it yourself and I'm kind of kicking myself that we didn't even think of doing it ourselves. Lesson learned for next time though...just need to get some fishing line. :D
Ouch! Hopefully she stitched them back on for you, or did you have to do it yourself?
I know right, so painful...I had to do it myself, lol...could you imagine, actually trying to sew your own arm or leg back on...that would be so hard, especially if it was your dominant arm that needed to be sewn back on. :D
You and Red-Pepper did an awesome job on the piglet . Good one indeed and another new thing learnt from you ie the use of Fishing line . Thanks for sharing.
I had to sew up my cat after she decided she wanted to eat a dog.....Bad decision on her part. I used fishing line as well. I also got some penicillin from the farm store and gave her a shot a week for 3 weeks. Then I took out the stitches. She lived about 8 more years.
8 more years! Nice work!
Thank you Red-pepper for being such a big help to your Dad. BoBo says Thanks too, Oink Oink.
That bacon was too raw! :)
Indeed. It is not done yet.
Your daugther looks so worried..you are certified veterinarian @papa-pepper great job on doing it!Get well soon baby piglet...
It is getting better every day. Thanks @bien!
Im glad to hear that @papa-pepper 😊😊
Well done Papa-Pepper! You are quite the vet...and just all around Jack-of-all-trades. I saw you wrangled a rattlesnake earlier today.
Yeah, it's always something and we need the skills to get it done. Now my little under knows a bit more about it too!
Nice bit of field triage there, @papa-pepper. I guess that's just a natural part of homesteading... you just never know what might happen next.
Thank you sir. And you are right, you really never do!