death of pot bellie

Question
Dear Helen, I have hand reared a pot bellied female (Georgie) since she was 10 days old. She was not able to suckle and her mother had bitten her and her siblings were bullying her - she was very much the runt of the litter. I syringe fer her electrolytes to get her rehydrated, then went onto half ideal milk/half water, which she drank freely from syringe (she lapped the milk) then she learned to drink from a bowl. At 5 weeks I supplemented with pig weaning pellets (tiny, called weanrite) mixed with water for hydration, she had not eveloped the taste for plain water on its own. She was doing rediculously well, following me around, responding to her name, eating well, till this Saturday, 27 Sept, (she would have been 8 weeks old exactly on Sunday). Around 13h00 she sneezed/wheezed/coughed, not entirely sure what it was, and did this again about 4 times during the day, developed a bit of a runny nose by night time, was panting as though she was uncomfortable although there was nothing obvious or visible, but still happy to eat her supper. She was still pooping and urinating as usual, so I did not think it was bad colic or such like. I planned to take her to the vet first thing Sunday morning, only to find her dead on my dressing room floor at 6a.m. I am totally devastated. I keep retracing the events of the day, trying to figure out if I should have done anything different, I hate that this was so sudden and unexplained? Her breathing has always been a little laboured, vet put that down to her being the runt and needing more time to develop. I miss her desperately and am looking for possible causes of her untimely death. I have been advised that seeing she was the runt and literally near dead when I got her, she probably has some congenital birth defects (heart/lung) and that this is what lead to her death, which would have happened at some stage regardless of how well I've taken care of her. Please help, I am totally distraught and inconsolable at this time!
Many thanks in advance, regards,
Michelle

Answer
Hi Michelle,

I'm very sorry about Georgie. The bond between a pig and a human is very deep and special, and it's so painful for us humans when our pigs go to the Rainbow Bridge.

It's true that mother pigs sometimes instinctively know when a baby will not make it, and they reject it. How these mother pigs can know this is a mystery. People often feel compelled to intervene and try to save the runts. Sometimes when people raise the runts separately, the runts can live a few weeks, a few months, or a few years. I have not heard of any runt living into old age.

You made a huge effort and managed to give Georgie extra weeks of life, love and comfort. She got that because of you. When her end came she did not suffer, but when peacefully and quietly.

It sounds like she went from being Ok to the Rainbow Bridge in less than 24 hours. The only way to know the actual cause of death is a necropsy. Chances are a necropsy would show a multitude of problems.

Runts often have congenital birth defects in the internal organs. These are always, eventually, fatal and can not be fixed. The only thing we can do is exactly what you did - make these babies comfortable for as long as possible.

If she was not suckling at 10 days, then she was probably not eating well the first few days of her life, and that kind of nutritional deficiency poses a problem even for healthy piglets.

The coughing and runny nose could have been from a cold or allergy. If her heart and lungs were defective to start with, then any minor illness would be fatal for her. It is impossible to prevent a cold or allergy. By the time symptoms appear, it's already too late. In other words, you could not have changed the end, but you DID change her short life, bringing her comfort and happiness, and that's what counts.

Yahoo has a couple of groups devoted to pot-bellied pigs, PotSpot and PigInfoAndChat. Almost everyone on these groups has lost a pig at some time or another, and will understand your feelings completely. Please feel free to join either group, they will be happy to give you lots of emotional support.