Nine days after her piglets had been born Aster gave us all a bit of a scare. She had an upset tum and retched up some bile a few times. She stopped eating! Not a mouthful passed her lips for more than 36 hours. By Wednesday evening we were worried. She just slept; stirring to suckle Barbie (yes! definitely two girls and a boy!), Joan and Lawrence but otherwise just lying there. Occasionally she'd get up, look in her bowl and then just walk off and go back to sleep. At shutting up time on Wednesday night I made a small bowl of gruel and she nibbled a handful before going back to sleep.
Everything was just too much though.
Thursday morning before going off to market I mixed up another small bowl of gruel and stayed with her whilst she ate a little of it. In the afternoon we rang the vet. Who listened attentively and made some suggestions. Said to ring him next morning if she hadn't perked up.
Well -- that did it.
Thursday evening she ate up all the gruel.
Friday morning she ate up all the gruel at first breakfast. And second breakfast.
"There's nothing wrong with her" reported Linda later.... "Just a typical teenager wanting to sleep all day!"
"It was the mention of getting the vet out" said The Boss. "That made her better!".
Whatever it was, she is now fully back to normal and happily getting on with "Life with Piglets in the Barn."
Thinking of it, though, she did have a lot of upheaval in a short space of time - sent home from school, separated from her mate, no children to pet and play with her, the whole 'searching for a nest' disruption, an invasion of piglings, constant demands for attention (and she hadn't had long enough at school to get to the lesson about the birds and the bees so how confusing was that?), changes in diet and lifestyle and - the most impossible bit to handle - absolutely no me-time anymore....... What's a girl to do but shut down for a few days?
A clearer case of post piglet blues would be hard to find.....
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