We went and got Apple out of his God Forsaken situation on June 19. We had to construct a new and fully secure pen for him since he is still intact and we want no accidents. Vaccinated and wormed, he is doing just fine this morning. His new pen now looks like a freakin mine field. Unreal what he did to the ground which makes me believe it is very possible he has lived his entire life in that 3x5 dog pen with a broken and jagged concrete bottom and not seen ground before...their six months to find a place to live turned into 45 days night before last...I guess that's when the parents got the scheduled date for closing on the property...they were out looking for someplace to move all day yesterday....

Apple's right rear hind leg is a mess. It makes me cringe and physically shutter every time it turns at a right angle to the other rear leg. It is the most horrible thing I have ever seen and someone is checking to see if they can convince a very incredible orthopedic vet to see him at a reasonable cost and possibly neuter him at the same time so he doesn't have to be anesthetized more than once. Hopefully this vet will agree to see him and hopefully in the immediate future. Apple is 5-6 months old we think and weighs maybe 40-50 pounds. He seems in good condition except for that leg and boy is he a talker. He has something to say about everything. He LOVES Isis...

I so hope that leg is fixable. It is a million times worse than Grace's leg. Would like to fix that too but we can only do what we can do and it would have to be the same vet for me to let anyone touch her leg since she is able to get around and at least it's not displaced and whirling around like Apple's does. He is a sweet pig, but I don't think a lot of personal time was spent with him...he is not really afraid but not overly friendly (willing to come up and lay down which I would expect if actual time was spent with him apart from feed and water chores). At least his life was saved and took as good a care of him as she knew how to do. I wish she had been able to take him to a vet early on.

June 28 UPDATE

As for our little Apple...there is now a school of thought that it might be a torn Achilles tendon for which at this point there could be no hope for repair....immediately upon injury in humans the success of repair is questionable and the patient in a cast for months...after nearly half a year it would be pointless to try...this is not a definitive diagnosis, but a likely one....Apple has decided that this is his place, has become calm and loving. He let me touch him and rolled for a belly rub several days ago...and today he allowed me to feel that leg all over from the hip to the hoof...inside and outside....it does not feel dislocated at the hip, nor broken... there is a big knot right above his hock...doesn't hurt him but is pronounced...I talked to Dr Schotman and showed him pictures and he feels certain it is a torn tendon....says don't let him get heavy and he will probably do fine..