My heart is very heavy to be writing this today. Last night, we unexpectedly lost our elder pig, Leela Vanilla. She was 6 years and 4 months of age. She had been seemingly fine all morning, but the kids and I found her in the late afternoon weak and lethargic. She still managed to eat some snacks (Leela loved her snacks to the very last!) but she passed with her family at her side around 10 p.m.
Leela was an all-round lovely pig... she was friendly, calm, she loved her people, and she especially loved romaine lettuce (but only the dark green leafy bits, not the stems and the lighter leaves inside.) She was our only pig who moved up in rank, going from taking orders from Hadley for her first four years to giving orders to Tomie for her next 2 years. Last summer, we were told that Leela had a large ovarian mass that was likely malignant and that she probably only had days-to-weeks to live... we were determined to make her days comfortable and happy so we started giving her as many treats as she could eat along with her meds every evening. However, Leela thumbed her nose at that vet's diagnosis and went on to live another 10 months. Since she had grown accustomed to getting bushels of lettuce each night, we didn't have the heart to say no, so every night for her last 10 months she ate an unlimited salad buffet every night before bed. So I absolutely know she that she was loving life as a senior citizen, she had literally everything handed to her on a silver platter every single day! We are very glad to have had those extra 10 months with her... we really appreciated that time, as we didn't think we would get to spend it with her.
I will miss her very much... her sweet disposition, her cute little mismatched eyes (the left was brown, the right was blue.) She was a 10/10 pig, there will never be another one like her and she will be missed by us and by Tomie, her little sister. Hopefully she is eating the clover and taking orders from big sister Hadley again at Rainbow Bridge. Goodbye, Leela... we love you.
Leela was an all-round lovely pig... she was friendly, calm, she loved her people, and she especially loved romaine lettuce (but only the dark green leafy bits, not the stems and the lighter leaves inside.) She was our only pig who moved up in rank, going from taking orders from Hadley for her first four years to giving orders to Tomie for her next 2 years. Last summer, we were told that Leela had a large ovarian mass that was likely malignant and that she probably only had days-to-weeks to live... we were determined to make her days comfortable and happy so we started giving her as many treats as she could eat along with her meds every evening. However, Leela thumbed her nose at that vet's diagnosis and went on to live another 10 months. Since she had grown accustomed to getting bushels of lettuce each night, we didn't have the heart to say no, so every night for her last 10 months she ate an unlimited salad buffet every night before bed. So I absolutely know she that she was loving life as a senior citizen, she had literally everything handed to her on a silver platter every single day! We are very glad to have had those extra 10 months with her... we really appreciated that time, as we didn't think we would get to spend it with her.
I will miss her very much... her sweet disposition, her cute little mismatched eyes (the left was brown, the right was blue.) She was a 10/10 pig, there will never be another one like her and she will be missed by us and by Tomie, her little sister. Hopefully she is eating the clover and taking orders from big sister Hadley again at Rainbow Bridge. Goodbye, Leela... we love you.
Rest in peace Leela 
Sleep tight beautiful Leela x
