SIDNEY

Everyone must be familiar with the image of a pig with a nose ring. It's one of those convenient excuses that we use to stop animals from doing what nature intended - no - completely programmed them to do. Pigs root the ground up seeking out treats from beneath the earth and we pierce their incredibly sensitive noses with a metal ring to make the digging too painful to be bearable. Yes, the concept of a nose ring is a common one. But if one nose ring over-rides the all consuming desire of these highly intelligent creatures to turn the ground over what must five nose rings feel like?

Sidney came to us just before Christmas as a six month old piglet with five rings savagely piercing his soft, delicate nose. Sidney only lived because he was too sick to be slaughtered for meat along with the rest of his family.

FUBERU

Toward the end of February on an unseasonably warm afternoon we heard a piglet squeal followed by the sound of a car pull away from the main gate. We ran down the drive to check it out only to find a piglet, aged about 10 -12 weeks, running about outside the gate. He had almost certainly been dumped.

A wound was visible under his belly but it wasn’t until we managed to catch the little chap after a long, arduous chase did the extent of the injury become apparent. His penis and testicles had been torn off leaving two fist sized holes where his genitals used to be and one large, very deep puncture hole at the top of his thigh. It was hard to work out what had caused the injures; possibly they were due to his getting caught up in some sharp material or fencing but I’m inclined to think that he was attacked by a larger animal.

Our little fellow looked seriously , probably fatally injured and was failing fast. He was badly shocked, shivering and just lying with his eyes closed, wrapped in a towel on a friends lap. We really didn’t hold out much hope as we gently placed him on the table in front of the horrified vet who hadn’t seen such extensive injuries before. We agreed to leave Fuberu with him for further investigation and a review of the situation. The vet rang me back about 8pm that evening and the news wasn’t good. Fuberu was unconscious, under anaesthetic and given the damage to his little body he felt that it wasn’t in Fuberu’s best interest to live. After much pleading from me the vet agreed to give him a second chance and review the situation in the morning . When the morning came we were delighted to receive a call that was the bit of hope that we so longed for. The vet had agreed to send him home to us, not to stitch the wounds but treat with antibiotics, cream to keep the skin soft and then let nature take its course.

It was incredible to see him that next day and hold him in our arms. We made him a bed up in the front room and he slept soundly for hours. It came as a bit of a surprise even to us to see our little lad wake up and stagger over to the cat litter tray to go to the toilet. Given that Fuberu had never been in the room before and was lame on both a front and back leg.

We are delighted to say that the vet couldn’t believe what a miraculous recovery Fuberu has made when we took him back for his first check up and freely admitted to thinking he would die. So well did our baby do that the vet was happy not to see him again after 10 days unless we were concerned. Fuberu has just got better and better and cheekier and cheekier. Incredibly, the wounds have almost closed after just 14 days and he is running round the room playing with everyone and everything.

The vet’s bill was horrifically expensive but we have defied all the odds and made a lot of people believe that magic does happen after all.

Fuberu relaxing

Born on a farm that was intended to help underprivileged children (who were, not surprisingly, heartbroken at the savagery that surrounded meat production and the death of the baby pigs that had become friends). Sidney developed pneumonia shortly before he was due to be shipped out. How strange that to almost die was the very thing that saved his life when some kind people took pity on him and funded his veterinary treatment in return for ownership of the little lost cause.

Now integrating with our other pigs Sidney runs free around the sanctuary and we have successfully managed to reduce his nose rings to 2. It's not perfect but these things take time and they'll be gone eventually. We are delighted to say that our lovely, young man is growing big and strong, his former health problems seem to be old history and he appears to hold no grudge towards the human race for the pain he has to endure in his few months of life.

SEAMUS THE CAT

In November we received a telephone call from a lady who’s son had found a very young, black kitten whilst walking across a football pitch in Tonbridge. He made a few enquiries and learned that it was ‘always there’ and would quite cheerfully see off any dogs that didn’t mind their business! Remarkably, a phone call to a veterinary surgery left him with the advice that he should just leave it as it might find its way home. Mercifully, he failed to take the expert advice and agreed with us that a small, friendly kitten had no place on football pitches and so he brought him to F.R.I.E.N.D.

It really was something of a mystery as to how this little cat had found himself in such an unusual situation. Probably only about 10 weeks old he was little more than weaned, covered in fleas, very hungry and yet extremely bold and friendly. He’d clearly been living out of bins since he would literally eat anything. He’d even abandon a plate of cat food in favour of bread and if you left a sandwich in the room all alone then he’d steal it. It was just as if he’d learned never to say no to any available food as he never knew when the next meal was going to turn up. It might seem like typical feral cat behaviour but this tiny kitten wasn’t feral. He was very confident around people and, thankfully, didn’t show any signs of being abused. Indeed, it was as if his experience of people had been one of kindness as he was so loving. But why would you abandon a much loved kitten and if he was lost then why was no effort made to find him?

We really don’t know how the little lad that we’ve come to know as Seamus found himself living rough but he’s just fine, now. It’s a story that only goes to highlight the value of microchipping (Seamus now carries a microchip as do all our animals).
We’ve decided that Seamus will stay with us, now, despite being a very homable cat. Our reason is simple and I’m sure that most would understand. We had a litter of newborn kittens brought to us in the summer of 2005 which we successfully hand reared. Amongst the litter was one tiny, frail kitten that simply didn’t grow. He was strange, an odd looking little creature that clearly had developmental problems and would, according to the vet, almost certainly die. We called him Edmund and die he didn’t. When the rest of the litter were weaned they went off to their lovely new homes and still Edmund stayed freakishly small and babyish. To say that Edmund has become the baby of the family is something of an understatement. What Edmund wants Edmund gets and he took one look at Seamus as he mooched round the front room and fell in love!

The inky black pair of bookends are inseparable and it’s getting hard to tell them apart even though Seamus is still a baby and Edmund is going on for 2 years. Seamus has taken very nicely, thank you, to being a sofa surfer and you can even leave your sandwich with him these days - well, sometimes, anyway!