Milkshake Pig

“Mom, can we get the mini-pig?” You can hear it now. “We can assure you he’s a mini-pig,” said the feed store employee. Piglets are adorable. The parents caved and off the family went with their new friend. They named him “Milkshake.” Then adorable turned into a large pig with big tusks. He started to resemble a wild boar. Because he wasn’t neutered, Milkshake started to get a little pushy. As the kids grew up, the novelty of Milkshake wore off. He was relegated to a small makeshift pen in the backyard, all alone and mostly forgotten. We know that pigs have the intelligence of a three-year old child. They are extremely social animals that thrive on interaction with others. To the family’s credit, they realized this was a very bad situation for Milkshake, and they reached out to Martha’s Farm Animal Sanctuary for help. Sanctuaries get these calls all the time. Breeders sell piglets as "teacup," "micro," or "forever mini" pigs. Those pigs will keep growing for three to five years and reach 100-250 pounds! Milkshake arrived in very rough shape, suffering from a very bad skin infection, due to rubbing up against the rusty nails of his pen. Fortunately our veterinarian was able to get the infection under control with antibiotics, and address everything else that had been neglected, such as vaccines, neutering and hoof trimming. Now the gentle and sweet Milkshake is happy and loved. He likes to eat everything! But he especially enjoys carrots, zucchini, and melons from our garden. He gets loads of attention. His besties are pigs Wendy and Lisa, and he has become an ambassador for us to teach people about how incredible these animals are.