Susan Weeding
RUPERT the miracle pig, who made frontpage of the Olive Press last August, fell ill with cystitis, and by pure chance his vet has issued a warning for pig owners in all of Spain.
Cystitis is common in Rupert’s breed of pig, but it’s been difficult to give him medication as he spits it back out.
Injecting such a large pig is another challenge, so we managed to find probably the only farm vet in Alicante to treat him – normally with pigs you have to go Murcia as the Valencian Community has few pig specialists.
As this lovely vet came to check on him at 9am she noticed our other pigs: our pot-bellies Isadora, mum Penelope (another mysterious arrival out of nowhere) and her two boys, Leonardo and Leonard.
By pure chance she told us that new laws have come in forcing all pot-bellied pig owners to microchip their animals, register them and sterilise them.
The pigs have recently been classed as ‘invasive’ and, as of next year, anyone owning a pot-belly without fulfilling these requirements will have it immediately removed and slaughtered.
As of 2022, no one will be able to own, purchase or rehome a pot-belly.
The trouble is that, with so few pig specialists in Alicante, most pot-bellied pig owners will have no idea about the new laws. So we are trying to reach as many as possible hoping that, because of Rupert, many pigs could be saved.
If anyone wants information or a contact number for the vet, they can contact the Easy Horse Care Rescue Centre and we will give you everything you need.
On another note, Linda who supplies our catering donated some scones and donuts for Rupert to put his medication in and hopefully swallow the lot.
He’s had his injections, and will hopefully feel better soon. We’ve been told his life expectancy is about 17 years, and as we believe his first birthday is coming up soon I’m sure he’ll make the papers for a long time yet!
For the meantime, we’ve got enough on our hands with the pot-bellies. When the pig vet came the babies started running around everywhere, and one of them even jumped in the fish pond to escape.
I thought I was going to have to jump in myself, but thankfully I’ve been spared that column for another week.
Contact the Easy Horse Care Rescue Centre here: rescue@easyhorsecare.net
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