Susie Q

This is the worst, most heartbreaking story.

Her owner was out of town, and Susie Q got out of the pen. She always walked to the neighbor’s house, and they would feed her some kind of snack. But on this one day, she crossed paths with a man we didn’t know. We don’t know if he felt threatened by the pig or if he was just being mean, but he shot Susie Q at close range in the head.

We got a call from the owner asking if it was possible to help cover her hospital bill to give her the medical care she needed. We told her to go on to UGA Hospital, and I would call them to let them know she was coming. UGA has been so wonderful and has helped with so many animal cases.

They got Susie there, and she immediately had to go into surgery. She couldn’t breathe due to one of the bullets lodging in her sinuses, and it fractured her jaw. Another bullet was lodged in her skull and had fragments all over it. They had to put breathing tubes in her nose, clean out all the fragments in her skull, and remove the second bullet.

One bullet had damaged her right eye, and the other bullet ricocheted off her hip.

My daughter Brooke and I went to see her and be there to comfort and support her since her owner was 5 hours away. When we got there, she was alert and doing the best she could. Brooke was talking to Susie Q, and she would grunt to let us know she could hear us. Then she started crawling toward us. I couldn’t believe this precious girl came over to us. We fell in love with her then and made sure she felt it and knew she wasn’t alone.

After many surgeries and healing time, Susie Q was able to go home to her original owners.

Not even 2 weeks after Susie Q was home from being shot, she was left alone with the owner’s dog, and the dog attacked her.

I got a call late that night telling me what had happened. The owner took her to UGA Hospital. They called us to let us know I needed to come up there. We ran to see Susie Q and couldn’t believe our eyes — we couldn’t believe she was still alive. The dog almost killed her. It was hard to understand how this little life could survive all that she’d been through, but she did.

Her owner wanted to euthanize Susie Q, but I said absolutely not. This girl fought after being shot, after being left all weekend lying there in pain from the dog attack. She was trying to live and deserved to live. I wanted to fight for her and be her voice.

Her owner finally gave her to me and signed all rights over to me. The vets said they really didn’t think Susie Q had a chance because she had already become septic and all the wounds were horrible.

I told the vets to please try to do everything for her. This one wants to live.

After so many surgeries and dead tissue having to be removed daily, there was a team of 14–20 people working on her around the clock in ICU. This girl never gave up. The vets and everyone else couldn’t believe how hard she was fighting to live. I was able to sit with her and stay out of the way of the vets and team working with her. They said she was responding so well to treatment, and she knew I was there helping her.

After two months in ICU, she got to come home. She lost her left ear and almost lost her right eye. She can’t see much out of that eye, and they had to make her an eyelid to cover it because the dog destroyed all of her lid. She almost lost both legs, but the vets were able to save them.

This precious girl’s body had wounds all over it, and seeing that she kept fighting to live was the most beautiful part of this.

It’s been 2 years now, and Susie Q is living her best life, happy and very loved.