Trudy came to us from AZ Piggie Poo Rescue as a special-needs pig. After taking her to a wellness exam last night, we found she has some form of neurological disorder that leaves her unbalanced when performing normal tasks, random head tilting, and no real control of her hind legs. The vet performed a few short tests to see whether she was in pain and whether the disorder affected her nerves. He deemed her to be in pretty good health aside from that!
Trudy is already adjusting well to her new home. The other pigs pick on her, which does cause me to worry about it since she is disabled, but this doesn't stop her from pushing back. She is active and walks around rumbling with her fur all puffed up, a sign of trying to show her dominance. I think it would help more if she didn't trip over herself while trying to do this! My one concern about living with the other pigs is they are so much more active than her and often push her out of their way (how mean!), making her fall over on her back. But I am impressed by her propensity to get up and go back to whatever she was doing.
There are so many parts of her that remind me of Ginny, may she rest in peace. They share some color similarities and personality, but its also the little things. She's a much calmer pig and has already developed an affection for me. While in the waiting room at the vet's yesterday, Dave tried to hold and pet her but she didn't like it very much and crawled to my own lap. She's also much more receptive to being pet in the cage; I can walk over and gently pet or scratch her head and she won't run away. Most of the time she'll begin purring.
Obviously she won't--can't--take the place of Ginny, but it's nice to have a pig similar to her.
