When Lou Anne Wolfe, DVM, encounters a
challenge, you might say — with respect — that she is a little bit pigheaded. She won’t let anything stop her from finding a solution or suitable work-around for any issue.
She faced perhaps her toughest challenge in the 1990s while attending the Oklahoma State University College of Veterinary Medicine. She wanted to study pigs in depth, but no one else in the class shared that ambition. Instead of squealing or bristling over the situation as a pig might have done, Wolfe tracked down a sow farm in Minco, Oklahoma, and arranged to work for a vet there for six months. Then she developed and proposed a plan to OSU that would allow her to study and be trained in pig medicine.
In reality, Dr. Wolfe recalled, “I created my own pig major.” She delivered her senior grand rounds on swine production medicine, including semen collection, artificial insemination, and herd blood sampling to test for swine diseases.
Marshall Man Inspires Career
Earlier, it had been love at first sight when she attended an exotic-animal auction at the Oklahoma National Stockyards in Oklahoma City. “I was the highest bidder for a Vietnamese potbellied piglet and named it Marshall Man,” she said, adding, “We became bonded, and he changed my life.”
Marshall Man inspired her to apply to veterinary school. Her training included attending pig vet symposiums in Iowa and North Carolina. She also worked at a rescue facility for potbellied pigs in Sand Springs, Hamalot Farm, until it closed three years ago.
Marshall Man had severe arthritis in his forelimbs that contributed to his death in 2002. Potbellied pigs can weigh as much as 180 pounds and live about 18 years. Some of them can be housebroken and even do tricks. Marshall Man had his own harness, leash, and piggy coat to wear in cold weather. He lived with Dr. Wolfe for several years, inside and outside her home. That presented a challenge when he had to be transported somewhere.
“I would load him up in a large dog crate and scoot it from the porch into a pickup backed up to the porch,” she said. She once tried to convince Marshall Man to step onto the floorboard himself on the passenger side, “but he didn’t take to it.”
Accommodating the Animals
Dr. Wolfe doesn’t need to transport her animals to the vet anymore. “I am the vet,” she said. She now lives on a farm outside Tulsa with plenty of land to accommodate her animals. The pigs are kept outdoors, and she often sits close by, watching her animals and sipping a cup of coffee. “They come up and want me to rub their ears and bellies,” she said. Much like dogs, “they love belly rubs.”
Today, Dr. Wolfe is fur mama to four potbellied pigs — Otis, Harry, Nancy, and Peter.
Otis is the largest, a 180-pound rescue. “I love giving him a good life,” she said, adding that his facial folds became so fat over time that he lost his sight. This pig, however, lives high on the hog, so to speak. He sleeps in a sturdy house with proper doors to seal out drafts. Loads of straw add comfort to his bedding, and human sleeping bags provide warmth.
When the summer heat arrives, all the pigs have access to three kiddy pools, ample shade, and a mud wallow. The pigs are what Dr. Wolfe calls food hogs because when they eat, they often swoop in and steal food from Otis.
In addition to the four pigs, Dr. Wolfe’s menagerie of pets includes a Siamese rescue cat, two horses, and a miniature horse. This pet mama also cares for a slew of dogs fenced safely nearby, away from the pigs. She has two English Bulldogs and one French — and a Chiweenie. The dogs have free access to the basement.
Most likely, Dr. Wolfe will continue to add to the herd. Recently, a tiny wounded dog was surrendered at the veterinary practice. Dr. Wolfe saved its life by carefully suturing the ragged tears in its jaw. Tiger is now on the farm living the good life.
Advice for Pig Owners
Dr. Wolfe is affiliated with Marina Animal Clinic in Tulsa as a small-animal veterinarian, treating and performing surgeries on mostly dogs and cats. But pigs always get her attention.
Perhaps the greatest lesson she has learned in pig medicine is to look out for animal viruses that can threaten fetal pig health, causing abortions and lost production.
Veterinary medicine is facing a global swine influenza outbreak that could threaten the domestic herd. In addition, federal regulations for show pigs and movement of pigs across state lines and the United States border are becoming increasingly strict, more detailed, and more complex.
Dr. Wolfe’s advice to pet lovers who adore both pigs and dogs is to not allow them to be in close proximity to one another. “A bad idea! Dogs see pigs as prey, and the most injuries I have treated on pet pigs have come from dog attacks.”
Never leave a dog with a pig unsupervised, she cautioned. “Even when a dog seems to be getting along with a pig, it can turn in a heartbeat,” she said, describing
such an experience as sickening. “I love my work so much, and I feel blessed to have had the opportunities I have had,” she added.
