Ripley was born to a litter of 6 with 3 brothers and 2 sisters but was only 6 oz and half the size of her siblings. Millie had her babies early in the morning and when I went out to feed them breakfast they were only maybe an hour old at the most.
I took a video of the tiny little piglets huddling for warmth and continued to feed everyone breakfast. When Millie was done eating, she went and laid down to nurse her piglets. That's when I noticed one little piglet was way smaller than the rest. She was having trouble finding a nipple and kept going around Millies back legs.
Millie decided nurse time was over and she jumped up and stepped on the poor tiny piglet. It was the worst squeal I have ever heard and Millie just stood there on top of the piglet and it felt like eternity had passed. I finally got Millie to move and picked up the tiny pig and rushed her inside.
I wrapped her in a towel and we rushed to the farm vet. She was so tiny. The vet said it sounded like she had a lot of fluid in her lungs and didn't know if she would make it. She stitched her up as best as she could and sent her home with me. We fed her whole milk and Gerber Baby Rice Cereal. At first we fed her with a spoon until she learned how to drink out of a saucer. It's best to not feed baby piglets out of a bottle because they can aspirate. The vet said her stitches would heal in 2 weeks and she could go back out with her mom.
Having a baby piglet was like having a new born baby. I had to feed her every 2 hours, she would cry for food. Since pigs don't normally drink cow milk she had severe diarrhea and we had to give her .1 cc of Pepto-Bismol. After 2 weeks I tried to put her back outside with her mom. But Millie wanted nothing to do with Ripley and Ripley wanted nothing to do with her mom. At just 2 weeks old she jumped through the doggy door to get back inside the house. She had decided she was a house pig and I was her mommy.
Ripley has become our house pig and my "farm failure". She is the boss of the house. Be sure to follow her on instagram.
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