My life with a boar...

My life with a boar...
2012.05.18.

Makkos Márton is a tiny boar who sheltered itself in a garden, in very poor conditions: he was desiccated, hungry and weak. Unlike one would expect, the local huntsmen offered help in shooting the poor animal out, so the owner of the garden, where Makkos Márton was found, contacted us to find a shelter for little Marci.

Right after taking him home we put Marci under a full-fledge wellness program: he got a bath, as he was full of parasites. Afterwards, he met the fellow creatures of our home, and, luckily, he immediately fit in (well, he suited the stripy boxer, so….), he boldly conquered the dogs’ place and made all efforts to always have someone to nestle to.

Fortunately, those already at home accepted him without any concern, no segregation was experienced at all.

Meanwhile it turned out that Marci’s weak state was due to a serious illness: we recognized that his nose, after sneezing, began to bleed. Our vet had no doubt about what this was: it was a so-called distorting nose inflammation and quire regular among pigs and boars. The illness was caused by two narial bacteria which cause inflammation, which results in the absorption of cartilage in the nose.

Cross-section of a healthy pig nasal passage:

Cross-section of an infected pig nasal cavity

Source: www.vmri.hu

After being infected, the cartilage cannot regenerate, so Marci’s nose frequently bleeds after sneezing. The illness is not lethal, but as the nose is an important organ to filter the dirt and sources of infections, Marton is always exposed to various infections.

Marton Makkos spent cca. 2-3 weeks in the flat, while he got antibiotics to cure his illness. He could not get out of the flat, so he urinated in the flat. Being a mother with small children, I was running after him all the time, and was washing, disinfecting, cleaning. But Marcika was always leaving something behind….. The proverb “You eat like a pig” was in the air a lot of times….

Just as I told a lot of times “I do not want to live with a pig… I do not want to live with a pig…. I do not want to live with a pig…”.

After these two weeks we could begin Marci’s training back to the outside world. First he got into a small outside kennel, he had dog and a fox as company, and he got on well with everyone.

His final place has been with Linda, the baboon – after some initial concerns they began to get closer to each other.

After three weeks I was relieved to see that Marci got a new residence and feels a lot better. But my happiness did not last long, because out of the sudden I got Rambo, the destroyer: again a little boar, who was ran over by a car. Luckily, he was not injured seriously, but we got another boar in the flat………..

And why he got the Rambo name? Let me show you….