Isadora came to us not long after she was born in June 2011. Some good friends of ours had saved her dad from a market years ago as a tiny little guy, half-boar, half-pig. Then someone gave them another pig, who turned out to be a female. Surprise, surprise, a litter of piglets soon appeared. We agreed to take little Isadora.
At first she lived in the house and shared a basket with Mini the Chihuahua-Papillion, who we rescued as a puppy. Gradually, her baskets got bigger and bigger. One day, we got home and Isadora had made a nest in the front room with all our cushions, rugs, table lamps, cords and all sorts. It was a giant mess, with a giant pig lying in the middle of it.
That’s when we decided Isadora would be better off living outside. She promptly took over Rod’s workshop, which became her apartment, and claimed several favourite spots in our garden, too.
Mini the Chihuahua-Papillion grew up and decided hanging out with a pig was no longer cool, but then little Benson the dog was left in a cardboard box outside the gate. We brought him up on a bottle and then Isadora took over, becoming his mother figure. They still spend hours together every day. Though it’s a bit of a love triangle, as Ernie the turkey loves Isadora, too, and chases Benson around the garden trying to have Isadora to himself.
Isadora had a lovely life, with her special GM-free, vegetarian pot bellied pig food that we shipped over from the UK for her, plus all the fresh lettuce she gets twice a day.
Isadora passed away in August 2022 after a large tumour was found in her uterus. The surgeon at the San Vicente veterinary hospital did their best to save her by removing the tumour, but unfortunately she did not recover from the surgery.
She is deeply missed.
