01/04/2026
I’m so sorry. I know everyone has been waiting all day for an update, and I truly apologize for the silence. We didn’t sleep at all last night, not even for a few minutes. We are completely exhausted, physically and emotionally.
When we picked up Pumba yesterday, his owner told us he had been sick since Monday and started having frequent seizures and stopped eating and drinking. While still in the parking lot, we started him on fluids, strong antibiotics for suspected meningitis, and pain medication. He had not received any pain meds prior to this. On the drive home, he had so many seizures. It was terrifying. Eventually, we believe the medications were starting to kick in, and thankfully when he arrived at the farm, he did not have any more seizures after that.
Today, something unexpected happened. Our dear friend Tanya from Live Freely Sanctuary reached out after watching a video of Pumba and said it looked identical to a pig she once had… not meningitis, but tetanus. Once she said that, our brains shifted. Is he not eating from lockjaw? The head pressing into the wall. Some things still didn’t fully add up, his whole body isn’t stiff, but enough did that we immediately adjusted course and make sure he could be covered for this scenario as well.
With everything else happening here at the farm, two additional emergencies unfolding at the same time, the safest and best decision was to transfer Pumba to NC State so he could be under constant veterinary care. We are still waiting on results from his initial workup.
What I need you to know is this: we have already fallen completely in love with him. Pumba cuddles so hard. It’s like he desperately needs to be held, like he’s been fighting for comfort for so long. We are fully invested in him and his recovery.
His prognosis right now is extremely guarded. We’ve been told more than once that when tetanus reaches the locked-jaw stage, outcomes are often poor. That said, he did not decline while he was with us, but we also didn’t see improvement beyond him no longer having seizures. We’re hopeful, but realistic. And we’re heartbroken and exhausted.
At the same time, we’ve had to manage two other serious emergencies.
Rasta, our very elderly, extremely skittish sheep, likely at least 18 years old, somehow split his forehead open yesterday. We don’t even know how it happened. We turned around and there was blood everywhere. So much blood. In the middle of everything, Jay was outside shaving his head, cleaning the wound, and with the help of Dr. Hawkins, we treated him with antibiotics, pain meds, and yes, superglue to close the wound and bandaged it. Rasta is the last animal you’d ever want this to happen to because he’s so timid, but he’s hanging in there like a little warrior. Still, he scares us to death because of his age.
Then there’s precious Dolly, our special needs pig. She stopped wanting to eat, stopped wanting to get up, and her temperature dropped to 91.7. We are treating her for just about everything and monitoring her around the clock.
So right now, we are:
• Taking temperatures constantly
• Watching Pumba around the clock
• Monitoring Rasta nonstop
• Caring for Dolly
• Supporting Blind Buddy
• Keeping Moko calm and happy
• Administering medications at all hours of the day and night
All on top of running our sanctuary of 95 animals.
We are just trying to make it through each moment.
We are so incredibly thankful for every message, every check-in, every ounce of support. Pumba’s hospital bills are going to be significant, and if he pulls through, his recovery will be long, months long and very intensive. We truly had no idea what we were walking into. We thought this was meningitis (still may be) something we’ve successfully treated several times. The uncertainty has made everything heavier.
If you’re able, please consider helping us. We are exhausted beyond words, but we will never give up on our babies. Every single one of them is getting everything we have.
All we can do now is keep going, keep loving them, and hope we might get just a little sleep tonight… though with all the medications scheduled, who knows.
You do what you have to do for the ones you love.
And we love them with everything we have. 💔❤️
**The 5th picture is gruesome, so please stop on picture 4 if you can’t handle those images.**
Thank you to my parents (Jeff and JoAnn) for coming to care for Moko and bring us food and to Jean for staying with Dolly, bringing us food and dropping Pumba off at the hospital. It truly means so much.🙏
