Dog News

Pig: One Dog’s Story of Beating the Odds

by Melanie

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Anyone seeing Pig for the first time knows they are not looking at a typical, every-day canine.  She’s missing part of her spine with vertebrae that are fused and twisted, missing several ribs, and her hips and joints are rotated in the wrong positions.  Pig was born like this, and has never known life any other way.

Born in the woods outside Atlanta, Georgia, it was Pig that saved her brother and sisters from almost certain demise.  She stood by and barked until someone passing heard her, rescued them, and took them all in.

Kim Dillenbeck was visiting her sister in Georgia when she heard of Pig’s story, and wanted to meet her.

“Pretty quickly, I decided to be her mother because she probably wouldn’t live,” said Dillenbeck.  “We assumed that by now she would be suffocating under her own organs, or something like that, because of her shape.”

Pig is truly proving that old adage about making assumptions.  She’s eight months old now, and weighs in at about fifteen pounds.  Her brothers and sisters are coming in at a hefty 35-40 pounds, comparatively speaking.

Pig’s special and unique condition means Dillenbeck has to do a few things differently.  Dillenbeck believes, despite the odd nature of her physical condition, Pig is in no pain.  Seeing her play fetch in this video, it’s easy to see she’s not letting her physical condition get in her way of having fun and just being a dog.

 

 

Pig’s condition gains her a lot of attention, but Dillenbeck says she’s just a happy dog.  The vets who oversee Pig’s care do not know what the future will bring for her.

Dillenbeck said, “They’ve never seen anything like it, and they say it’s going to be interesting.”

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