Pig The Dog Is Happy And Relatively Healthy Despite Long Odds

(Nope,  not a photoshop!)

"Pig's veterinarians, Drs. David Fuller and Rachael Hudson at Hope Animal Clinic, say Dillenbeck is doing everything right for Pig.

"Pig doesn't know there's anything wrong with her," Dillenbeck said. And true, that's the way Pig acts. But she has plenty of issues. Dillenbeck said Pig is missing part of her spine; she's missing several ribs. And she has vertebrae that are fused and twisted. Near her neck, her spinal cord splits into two separate cords. Her hips and joints are rotated in the wrong positions.

Yet, Pig runs and is good at standing up on her hind legs, and she is in no obvious pain.

"The only time she ever cried out was when I got her (micro)chipped. Or when I accidentally stepped on her toe -- and you have to step on it really hard," Dillenbeck said. "But she's vocal. She barks when she wants your attention. She makes a weird sort of sound when she's playful."

Dillenbeck makes sure Pig eats slowly so she can swallow her food. Pig has choked before, and "I've actually had to Heimlich her a couple of times," Dillenbeck said. "She doesn't have the space in her to eat large meals without getting out of breath because her lungs are crowded."

Though Dillenbeck's other animals are spayed or neutered, Pig hasn't been spayed because the veterinarians do not want to put her under anesthesia.

"I don't expect she'll ever get out of my control and get a boyfriend," Dillenbeck said.

Pig's prognosis? Dillenbeck said Dr. Fuller doesn't really know. "They've never seen anything like it, and they say it's going to be interesting."

It has already been interesting.

"I think he (Fuller) knows as well as I do that whatever time we get with her is our gift," Dillenbeck said.

But, Dillenbeck adds: "I'm the lucky one. She makes me laugh every day."

Read more about Pig and see photos HERE