Saffy aka the pig.

She sounds absolutely wonderful... absolutely wonderful! And I'm happy to hear her arthritis has improved so much, that's wonderful news.

lol! She does sound very catlike in her behaviour (heck, she sounds more domesticated then Pok is most of the time! lol!)... I love the image of her greeting your husband, and playing with her ball.

How would you clean out her pen (I'm assuming it needs cleaning out now and then)... I got images from Animal Park in my mind here now... she would have to go inside, as the outside is being cleaned up? I hope she's a good girl when it comes to that... as I can imagine how it would be to try to get an unwilling tiger to go somewhere they don't want to! lol!

Yes the pen has to be designed so that you can close her inside while you clean outside and vice versa. We clean her out every day. She keeps inside very clean. She does spray occasionally and only poos once a day outside. We were told not to disinfect too much as this only encourages her to mark her terrority more. She knows the routine, when she see us come out in the morning she gets all excited and runs inside to greet us, my hubby goes in with her and gives her a cuddle every morning. She goes to the door and lies down and starts to roll before he can get the door open. When he comes out she knows to go outside. We then close the hatch to keep her outside and then fix her bed, change the water and brush up the straw. We let her back in and close the hatch again. This allows us to clean outside. When we have that done the hatch is opened again and out she runs chuffing away. She runs straight to the gate to get a pet. She then runs all around her pen to check that nothing has changed. If we have had to put disinfectant down she will go straight to it and roll in it. A bit like a little cat with bleach. Then it's feeding time and boy does she get excited. Her tail will flick up and she flies round the pen.

We give her the liver first and my hubby hand feeds it to her through the bars. She moans with pleasure she loves it soo much. We then squeeze the little container through the bars and hold it while she licks up all the juice with her medication in it. She then runs to the door where she jumps arounds till my hubby hands her in her dinner.

Aw man... I want a snuggle like that too!!!! I didn't think you could actually have hands-on contact with her... you'll find me on your doorstep tomorrow (just got to swim over! lol!)... drenched in perfume, all ready for cuddles! lol!

EEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!! Thats me squealing in delight! That is fantastic! My partners' especially loving the chuffing! Is it possible for you to record her chuffing? Sorry for harrasing, but eeeeeeeeeeeek! She is soooo gorgeous and that is such a wonderful and touching picture of your hubby and Sonia! *joins pokbg and covers herself in perfume* I'm on my way!

Gee Megsy, I just found all that fascinating, did you ever wonder that she would need a mate? not to breed but for company, or is she a solitary animal, mind you she has so much going on around her I don't suppose she would need anymore company. LOL
If she needs a vet, does she have to be sedated? So glad you have managed to control her arthritis, it's a bit like watching Out of Africa here. Am just so envious, what an experiance this must be for you. Am coming over too, so that's 3 of us so far. LOL

Am almost in tears of joy reading about Sonia. THank you so much for sharing her with us. I too love the idea of the chuffing, and would love to hear it. Just want to hear more and more about her. You are so blessed to have her and her you. xx

I just keep going back to look at that piccy of her snuggled up to your hubby! She has such a beautiful face, almost kittenish and it just cheers me up no end seeing her! If I'm ever in N.Ireland can I come visit?

I have been trying all day to show a clip. Computers drive me crazy. Hope this works.

https://s194.photobucket.com/albums/z242/titocheetoh/?action=view&current=soniaclip1.flv

I think it has worked. Just to let you know that my hubby is the only person allowed to go into her pen. He is her designated keeper. It was done the first time out of necessity. She didn't move out of her inside den for 10 days when she arrived. We couldn't get large pieces of food through the bars so he had to open the gate. There was also the mess to deal with. One day she moved towards him chuffing. She lay on the floor and rolled and he stroked her belly. With his back to the gate, for a quick escape he let her rub against his legs. She was marking him with her scent. Their friendship just grew stronger everyday. I swear this animal knew he was trying to help her. She was in pretty bad shape. She was being sick every day, was alot of kilos underweight and very stiff with arthritis. She has gained about 30 kilos, she had too much bad bacteria in her gut and was treated with anti-biotics and is no longer sick and she bounces about like a kitten.

Here are a few more clips.

https://s194.photobucket.com/albums/z242/titocheetoh/?action=view&current=soniaclip3.flv


https://s194.photobucket.com/albums/z242/titocheetoh/?action=view&current=soniaclip2.flv

Heehee! Oh thats just fabulous! Thats made mine and Calvins day! She's such a big cutie! Loved her big slurpy tongue licking the liver juice from the bowl and her big chuffs! Yes, she's clearly a big Daddys' girl and her enclosure looks lovely. Its just amazing to see her, she is so much like a domestic cat in her actions and her excited little darts at her food arriving LOL! You can tell by the way she bounces and how comfortable she is with you all, that she is one happy and very lucky Sonia, she looks so healthy too! an absolute credit to you and your hubby. I bet everydays a delight, I can imagine having a crappy day at work and coming home to her, oh she must be such a joy!

ROFL! Oh that's amazing!!! She's just like BG and her daddy, when it comes to your hubby - rolling around like a little flirt! lol!

It how wonderful to see her all kittenish as food time is coming... lol! She a complete delight... and those paws... oh, I just love her giant beautiful paws... gorgeous!

Her pen is wonderful, and you guys have done such an amazing job with her.

What a fantastic story Megsy You've both done an amazing job with her and it's wonderful to see her so relaxed around you.

I'm soooooooooooooooo jealous................he said from a safe distance

Ian

Aaaar! Will have to wait until I get home tonight to see/listen to clips. SO excited about hearing the chuffing!

She is a joy to look after. It has been fantastic to see her improve. We knew nothing about tigers but we just wanted to help her. The internet is an amazing source of information about anything.

We are lucky in that my hubbys sis is a vets assistant. Her vet is only to happy to come look after Sonia. We have been able to give her anti-biotics in her food but if she gets seriously ill then she will have to be sedated to get looked at. We have had to get a special automatic pole syringe to inject her with. My husband,Sam couldn't bear the thought of her being darted. He thought this would scare the life out of her so he researched(internet again) and discovered that these poles are the kindest way to inject wild animals. You just push them gently up against the animal and they release the medicine in, all done in a second. I hope she stays well for a long time.

I would just like to say that I don't think it is fair to keep such animals for pets. Unfortunatly for Sonia she never had the option of being wild. She was rescued 11 years ago and it was discovered that she had been de-clawed. This meant that she couldn't be put in with other animals or released back to the wild as she couldn't defend herself or hunt properly.

We are doing everything we can to make her life as enjoyable as possible. What you didn't see in the clips was a large barked area round the back where she can roll. She keeps all her toys round there. We can't wait to get started on phase 2 but we wanted to let her settle in first before we brought diggers in and as you might have noticed in the clips my hubby has only partial use of one arm at the minute. He tore his bicep tendon off the bone and had to have surgery to re attach it. Hopefully we will get started soon. She still has ample room but we just want to make it as good as we can for her.

Megsy wrote:He tore his bicep tendon off the bone and had to have surgery to re attach it.

Ouch, ouch, ouch... sending well wishes to your hubby!

Yes... I think capturing wild animals for then to keep them as pets/in cage is horrible... but poor Sonia, whom it sounds like she had a rough start is having the time of her life with you guys now... such a shame she's been declawed (and I dare not even start thinking of the pain she must have had) so it's not possible to integrate her with other tigers... but it doesn't look like she's missing any tiger company, she looks like such a wonderfully happy girl with you guys.

Dont worry Megsy, I think we all just knew that there was a very very good reason that you had Sonia, and that she wasnt in the wild. How very sad that she had been declawed.
Sounds like that for people who knew nothing about tigers, you are doing everything you possibly can about giving her the wonderfully happy life she is leading. I think you guys are amazing!

Absolutley, I'll just echo what PokBg and Nicki have said, in that yes, I believe keeping wild animals as pets is wrong, but knew that as she had been rescued, that what you are doing is for her, not for you, although its no doubt wonderful to have her. You are both such special people for taking her on like this, I can imagine that everyday you learn something new about her. The idea of her being declawed just makes me want to hunt down the culprit.

Here's hoping your hubbys arm is better soon.

Sonia is stunning!

Megsy what you and your husband have done for sonia is fantastic, you have given her the chance of a lovely home for her to enjoy in her old age, you should be so proud of your selfs, the world needs more people like you and your husbamd in it.