Pig is not your typical dog. Not only did she save her siblings when they were born in the woods to a feral mother, but she has survived despite multiple birth defects that have seriously affected her health.
Photo credit: The Animal League of Birmingham
A woman heard Pig’s barking and found her and her brothers and sisters in the woods outside of Atlanta, Georgia last year. The Good Samaritan took them in and cared for them.
Photo credit: The Animal League of Birmingham
At the time, a vet advised her to put Pig down, but she didn’t. Then at Christmas, Kim Dillenbeck was visiting her sister in Georgia when she heard about Pig and went to meet her.
Photo credit: The Animal League of Birmingham
Kim has long been involved in animal rescue and fell in love with Pig. She decided to adopt her and brought her home to Alabama.
Photo credit: The Animal League of Birmingham
“I bonded with Pig right away,” she told AL.com. “I thought I’d either be with her or near her helping her find a home. Pretty quickly, I decided to be her mother because she probably wouldn’t live. We assumed that by now, she would be suffocating under her own organs, or something like that, because of her shape.”
Photo credit: The Animal League of Birmingham
Kim said she’s fostered sick dogs before, but none with a condition like Pig.
Pig weighs just 15 pounds (about half the weight of her siblings). She has major spine damage (she’s missing vertebrae and ribs) and has misplaced hips and joints. Her malformed body means that her organs are crowded against each other.
Photo credit: The Animal League of Birmingham
Kim has had to give Pig the Heimlich Maneuver several times because she doesn’t have the space in her stomach to eat large meals without becoming winded.
Photo credit: The Animal League of Birmingham
But despite her extreme physical handicaps, Pig can still run, stand up on her hind legs and is not in any obvious pain.
Photo credit: The Animal League of Birmingham
Pig continues to defy the odds and Kim said that Pig doesn’t know there’s anything wrong with her.
Photo credit: The Animal League of Birmingham
“I’m the lucky one,” Kim told AL.com. “She makes me laugh every day.”
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