Stephanie Marohn's Blog

Singing Pigs

Posted on September 24, 2023 by Stephanie Marohn

Every morning, the pot-bellied pigs Lilah and Lavinia come to the door of my house, calling for breakfast. Earlier, I have let them out of the pen where they spend the night. When I take too long to arrive with their mashes, they knock on the door with their snouts and treat me to their many sounds.

The range of their vocalizations is new to me. Lilah, the first of the pigs to arrive on the sanctuary, taught me about pig voices. I had expected to hear the traditional oink but had no idea that pigs sing, hum, and mutter as well. Here is a video of their morning visit at my door, though Lilah is being a bit shy and not revealing her full voice.

Lilah has a particularly wide range and she began to teach me right away. The night she arrived, she muttered and hummed her way around her new enclosure, as if commenting on the accommodations.

Lilah sings, hums, and mutters throughout our morning walks with the dogs around the property, especially when a new person is walking with us. I have come to interpret her humming as a kind of self-soothing. Her singing seems to indicate that she likes what’s going on. As for the muttering, it sounds like ongoing commentary.

What a joy to hear the language of another species!

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Living with Pigs

Posted on October 1, 2022 by Stephanie Marohn

On December 11, 2021, a potbellied pig arrived on the sanctuary. Lilah came from a military person who was about to be deployed. I don’t typically adopt animals whose people will be sure to find them a good home, but I made an exception in this case as a way to support people who serve. The way Lilah adjusted to her new surroundings was to walk the perimeter humming to herself. I didn’t know pigs have a wide variety of vocalizations in addition to the classic oink: hums, snorts, barks, and muttering. The pig who arrived after Lilah (more about her in a moment) added a new sound: whining like a dog.

All of the other animals, but one, on the sanctuary looked askance at the new arrival. Some took off running. The one who was blasé, the miniature horse Perseus, had lived with a pig before coming to the sanctuary. The two guardian dogs were the first to accept Lilah, followed by the goats, then the miniature donkeys, the sheep, and finally the large donkeys.

A month after Lilah’s arrival, she walked up to me and lay down on her side at my feet—this is the pig invitation to pet her side and belly, a sign of full trust and acceptance. I was quite honored to receive this gift! I also felt she was saying thank you for her wonderful new home.

By this point, Lilah was joining the dogs and me on our morning walk around the ten-acre sanctuary property. Lilah loved this walk immediately, following us enthusiastically, talking all the while and breaking into a run for, it seemed, the sheer joy of running.

Lilah on the morning walk with Merlion and Daisy

Now we are in a new phase of pigdom. On August 21, 2022, a potbellied pig found abandoned in a nearby town joined Lilah. Animal Services brought her in a crate. When we opened the crate, Lavinia (her new name) took off to investigate the place. I had set up a pen for her in the area around my house but let her loose because she had been confined in a pen at Animal Services and I wanted her to enjoy freedom again. Meanwhile, Lilah was in her pigloo where she spends most of the day.

Lavinia’s adjustment was very fast. Soon after the Animal Services truck drove away, she came over to where I was sitting in a chair watching her exploration and lay down on her side at my feet. I petted her for a long time, telling her where she was and that this was her forever home. It was me who finally ended the cozy session.

Lilah and Lavinia met the next morning through the fence. (Sanctuary protocol is for new animals to meet through a fence until everyone gets used to each other and can safely be together.) The hair along the back of a pig stands up like a dog’s when threatening or being threatened. The hair on both pigs stood up, but Lilah was clearly the more dominant. So we are moving slowly. They still live apart, eating their morning bowls of pig food out of each other’s sight, but coming together for companionable munching of the hay I put out for them on either side of the fence.

Lilah and Lavinia meeting for the first time

I can see Lavinia’s pen from my kitchen window. In setting up the area where she would spend nights, I put straw in a doghouse for her and left extra straw in a pile in the center of the fenced pen. She moved all that straw and created a bed more to her liking next to the doghouse. I watched her do it. When a friend and I gave her a deluxe extra-large dog crate, having deemed the doghouse too small, Lavinia arranged a new bed next to the crate. We watched her create that bed too. In the morning, I look out the window to see if Lavinia is up yet; I can see her nestled in her straw. If I wait too long to show up, she whines in a kind of singing, calling me to bring her breakfast.

In the morning, all of the animals call me when they see the lights go on in the house or hear me talking. Braying, neighing, baaing, and maaing—what a perfect way to start the day!

Posted in Cats, Dogs, Pigs, Sanctuary | Tagged Animal Messenger Sanctuary, animal sanctuary, potbellied pigs | Comments Off

Honoring Ferdinand

Posted on November 1, 2020 by Stephanie Marohn

A sad event on the sanctuary. Our beloved donkey Ferdinand passed on October 18, 2020.

Though we have been fortunate so far this year not to have wildfires near us, we had terrible smoke from the many fires burning in other places and Ferdinand began to be short of breath in September when the air was the worst. Day after day of smoky air worsened his breathing. He developed a bad cough. The vet thought this was due to a bronchial infection secondary to the smoke inhalation. Antibiotics resolved the cough, but his breathing continued to be labored. Antihistamines didn’t help and neither did homeopathy.

The full-size donkeys, whom Ferdinand adored, let me know by braying when Ferdinand had particular trouble breathing one day after I had let him roam the property with the herd and flock after his cough had resolved. The exertion was too much for him and I led him back to the area around the house so he could be calm and breathe easier. Various sanctuary members spent days with him (his partner Lily Rose, daughter Jasmine Pearl, the dogs, Caerwyn the goat, and miniature horse Perseus) and he did stay calm.

Tragically, Ferdinand became another casualty of the wildfires. He could not recover. On the night he died, I was in the house when the big donkeys brayed long and loud in a way I had heard before—when Pegasus died. It sounded like singing. I rushed out to the fenced Ring of Protection where the animals spend the night safe from predators. Ferdinand had passed. His body was still warm, so I knew he had died at the moment the donkeys brayed. They sang our beloved Ferdinand into the next world.

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Joyful Goes to the Hospital

Posted on November 4, 2019 by Stephanie Marohn

When I went out to feed the animals on the morning of Monday, October 14, I saw at once that Joyful the goat wasn’t feeling well. He didn’t come to the gate of the barn area where the animals spend the night, like he usually does, but hung back under the oak tree. Then he slowly made his way to the gate. When I brought him some hay, he listlessly took a few nibbles, then just stood there—more unusual behavior.

sheep, donkeys, goats, and a horse having their family breakfast together — Joyful (top left) at his usual family breakfast

Thinking he might need worming (goats are particularly susceptible to intestinal worms), I went and got the worming paste, squirted it in his mouth, and went inside for my own breakfast while I waited for a change in Joyful’s state. When I opened the front door to go check on him, he was standing right there, waiting for me, as if to tell me he needed help. Then he showed me that he was straining to urinate, with no effect. Uh oh.

I knew about the problem of urinary crystals among wethers (male goats who have been neutered) and that it can kill them. I called my local mobile vet who said it could not be handled in the field. My local vet hospital had no ranch vet in that day. I called the UC Davis Veterinary Hospital, where my goat Caerwyn had gotten such good care, and they urged me to come in right away. It takes a little over two hours to get there from where I live, so I hurriedly put the extra-large dog crate in the truck bed and backed the truck up to a rock wall to make it easy for Joyful to get in. I called a wonderful neighbor to help me load Joyful, but as it turned out, Joyful virtually walked right in to the crate. The animals know when they need help and trust me to provide it.

Joyful the goat in a dog crate in the back of my truck for transport to the vet hospital — Joyful’s ride

I prayed all the way to the hospital that Joyful would be all right. At UC Davis, a vet and a flurry of vet students (it is a teaching hospital) began to administer to Joyful, who stood still (he was down from pain and discomfort) while they checked his vitals and did an ultrasound. Then he was off to X rays.

Joyful ended up having bladder surgery the next day to remove bladder stones, which are masses of urinary crystals. As with human kidney stones, they have to pass through the urethra—very painful. The danger is that they can become lodged there. The vet reported that his surgery revealed an “angry” bladder, inflamed and irritated by the stones. Without the surgery, Joyful would certainly have died.

Joyful the goat in pen at UC Davis Vet Hospital — Joyful’s hospital room at UC Davis

Thankfully, Joyful rebounded well after the surgery, to the vet’s surprise. With a bladder that angry, she had expected the recovery to be longer. She didn’t think he would be able to come home that week, but he did “awesome,” as she said, so she discharged him on Friday, October 18.

At home, I had to keep him separate from the other animals because he had a tube sticking out of his side (a Foley catheter) and the vet said other goats might chew on the tube. There was a lot to do to get Joyful through this health crisis—pills, antibiotic injections, and then a series of “challenges,” which involved blocking the catheter for increasing hours and monitoring Joyful to see if he was urinating through his urethra. I was hugely relieved when he successfully passed each challenge.

Then it was back to UC Davis to have the catheter removed. That turned out to be a quick procedure and Joyful was very patient with yet another intervention. After listening to his heart when we first arrived, the vet commented that she was surprised Joyful was so calm coming back to the hospital. It was another relief to me to know that the experience wasn’t traumatizing for him.

Back home, he didn’t come out of his crate right away. He stayed in there with the door open for about 10 minutes. Then he stepped out of the crate, gave a full-body shake (which is how animals keep from storing trauma in their muscles and energy fields), walked out of the truck bed, and set about eating leaves with his two goat brothers who I had brought in to greet him.

Now he is back to his Joyful self. Many, many thanks…

3 goats eating leaves — Joyful (left) with his goat brothers Baerwyn and Caerwyn

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Caerwyn Joins the Group

Posted on June 8, 2019 by Stephanie Marohn

Caerwyn the goat has been eating separately from the rest of the sanctuary animals for the two years since his arrival at three weeks old. (See the earlier posts about him for why this was necessary.) As happens in journeys of healing, a new stage suddenly arrived. On May 22, he followed the other animals out to the pasture where they eat their breakfast instead of staying in the area where I fill a feeder just for him. I was about to close the gate to the other pasture when he appeared there and waited. “Really?” I said. “Are you sure?” There is a certain amount of jockeying for position that goes on amongst the many small piles of hay spread out for the donkeys, horse, goats (big with big horns!), and sheep. He didn’t turn around and go back to his food, so I walked with him out to where the others were and set a pile for him a little ways away from them.

animal breakfast Caerwyn ate breakfast with them for the next two days and I saw that he had reached a new stage. So I opened all the inner gates around the barn and house and let everyone be together. At first, I stayed to make sure no one pushed him around, but gradually I saw that he could move away when he needed to, so I went back to my work and just checked on him periodically. On one of these checks, I found him eating from the same branch in companionable chewing with his goat brothers, Joyful and Baerwyn.

brother goats

goats eating together

sheep and goats — Herd and flock together

I now regularly find them lying together on the cement slab in front of the garage. This was a favorite sunning spot for Joyful and Baerwyn, but they’ve had no access to it since Caerwyn’s arrival because he lived in the area around the house while they roamed the rest of the ten acres. Now they can do all of that together.

goats in the sun — Joyful, Baerwyn, and Caerwyn get to be a herd together for the first time

Caerwyn goes farther every day. This morning I found him in the woods in the fenced section next to the one by the house. He was happily chewing on some twigs. Yes, goats eat wood, as do donkeys.

Posted in Donkeys, Goats, Horses, Sanctuary, Sheep | Tagged animal sanctuary, Caerwyn the goat, goats, stephaniemarohn | Comments Off

Caerwyn Walks!

Posted on May 29, 2018 by Stephanie Marohn

Caerwyn the goat has been on the sanctuary for a year now (as of May 4). How far he has come in that time! When he arrived at three weeks old, he was unable to walk or even sit up (see The Arrival of Caerwyn).

Caerwyn and Stephanie

He lived in the house for four months, getting over his numerous maladies, including a broken shoulder that required keeping movement to a minimum. You would think it would be difficult to restrict a baby goat’s activity, but Caerwyn did it on his own—sad to say, because it was due to him not feeling well.

With medical care, he began to make progress, able to sit up and then move around on his front knees.

Playing with gourd rattles

I knew he was healing when he began to roam the living room. Like Sunshine, the lamb who lived in the house before him, Caerwyn loved the basket of gourd rattles, rolling the gourds all around the living room floor. I think that was part of his physical therapy!

Knee pads

When Caerwyn was well enough to go outside, still walking on his front knees, I fashioned knee pads for him out of dog Mukluks.

I was hoping that him walking around on his knees would naturally progress to standing all the way up. I soon realized that he needed some further physical therapy to help him get there. K9 Carts gave the sanctuary a price break on a custom-made cart (it’s important that the cart be tailored to the animal so it doesn’t create more mobility problems).

Caerwyn in his cart

The cart opened up a new world for Caerwyn. Now he could nearly run in pastures he hadn’t set foot in before. Volunteers and I hurriedly cleared stones (very rocky soil here) along his routes to give him clear passage. The cart served to strengthen his back legs, but he still wasn’t using his front legs.

Time to get further veterinary consultation. Caerwyn and I made the trip to the UC Davis Large Animal Hospital.

Caerywn at UC Davis

Caerwyn’s vet there is Dr. Jamie Peyton, an amazing integrative medicine vet (check out how Dr. Peyton helped bears burned by wildfires in Californa) whose chiropractic and other care helped Caerwyn progress to the next stage of his healing. He was fitted for braces that would support his front legs and fully protect his knees. He got his tailor-made braces on Halloween and was much more comfortable after that, though still getting around on his knees.

In December he finally stood on all four feet and began to walk!

Caerwyn walks!

All the therapies and physical rehab efforts combined to produce this miracle. Just as important was all the energy medicine work I did with him, which included EFT tapping and Healing Touch for Animals, plus singing affirmation songs composed just for him, showering him with love, and designing physical therapy that used our connection. Added to that were the huge and interesting area where he spent his days, which motivated him in exploration (he was not kept in a pen except at night for his own safety), and the safety and companionship provided by his dog guardians and horse friend Perseus.

Daisy and Caerwyn

Caerwyn and Perseus

All of the animals on the sanctuary are part of Caerwyn’s healing: his interactions with the goats reminding him what it is to be a goat, his fellow bottle baby Sunshine the lamb showing him a special connection, his witnessing the joy and fun everyone is having, and his watching all the animals roam far inspiring him.

The latest piece in his healing journey is that he began to drop back on one of his front hoofs. As so often happens on the sanctuary, a creative solution was sent to me. I was inspired to go to the drugstore in search of a hand or other splint for humans. I found a formed soft plastic carpal tunnel brace and bought two. When I put them on Caerwyn’s legs, I laughed in delight. They were a perfect fit and just what he needed to support his legs further.

Standing tall at the feeder

Caerwyn is still building the strength in his front legs, but they seem to be getting stronger every day.

It has been an amazing year, this journey with Caerwyn the goat. When I wonder what the message of this journey is, the answer is always the same: the path to healing opens with love and connection.

Here are videos of Caerwyn’s healing journey:

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The Arrival of Caerwyn

Posted on May 21, 2017 by Stephanie Marohn

Precious being

I often get emails asking if I can take an animal or a bird who is losing a home, whose person is moving or died, who was thought to be a hen but turned out to be a rooster and is in a residential area where neighbors are complaining—those are the most common reasons for the emails. Most I don’t take because they are not dire situations, the people who write care and will likely keep trying until they find a home, and I want to reserve what room I have for those in great need.

I said yes almost immediately to the email I got in early May. It involved a baby goat, still with umbilical cord, being kept in appalling conditions—a dirt backyard, junk everywhere, little children carrying the goat around with no supervision, one other baby goat dragging a broken leg, this one unable to walk, possibly broken front legs, lying on the ground with no shelter or shade, who knows what the baby was being fed, no mother goat, dogs on chains. Truly, great need. I told the good Samaritan who wanted to get the goat out of there to get permission and do so right away. She did and the goat spent the night at her house. I had her meet me at the veterinarian the next day to get the baby immediate care and make sure he had nothing contagious that could spread to my sanctuary flock and herd. (Note: she tried to get the other baby goat too, but the people wouldn’t give him up.)

New arrival on his first day in his new home

What a precious little being arrived. He looked up at me with big eyes and, of course, my heart melted. Actually, it melted just to hear his story. It’s amazing to me how trusting animals can still be after all that humans put them through.

Both shoulders were severely swollen and X rays showed that the left one had a break and there was bad inflammation/infection in the growth plate in each shoulder, perhaps caused by injury. No wonder the little one could not walk. There was a possibility of a contagious virus so I had to keep the baby separate from the other animals until the result from that blood work came back. I was going to have to keep the baby in the house anyway since he could not walk.

Caerwyn and Stephanie (photo by Nancy Gallenson)

On the way home, I asked him what he would like his name to be and he told me he wanted a name that means strength. I found him the perfect one: Caerwyn, a Welsh name that means “white fortress.” He is all white but for his brown head and a bit of brown, shaped like a little heart, on his back. And one of his new brothers on the sanctuary is Baerwyn, who also had a growth plate infection when he was a baby, now walking with only a very slight limp. I’m hoping Baerwyn can be an inspiration for Caerwyn in his healing.

baby goat Caerwyn gets a bottle of fresh goat milk

Caerwyn drinking fresh goat milk

Thanks to a goat-experienced person at the feed store, I got an immediate connection for fresh goat milk, which would give this likely nutrition-deprived baby an extra boost toward health. Many bottles later, Caerwyn is doing well, but he still can’t walk. I have to remember that it took Baerwyn a long time to be able to put weight on his injured limb and that was back leg (easier to favor) and a knee issue rather than a shoulder. This is much more serious.

Fortunately, the test for the virus came out negative, so I’ve been able to introduce everybody and give Caerwyn time in the garden sun. He loves it there. The first to visit him were the donkeys Lily Rose and her daughter, Jasmine Pearl (just a year old). Beau the sheep and Joyful the goat (same breed so they look alike) came next.

adult Boer goat Joyful meeting baby goat Caerwyn

Joyful and Caerwyn meeting

Actually, Daisy the guardian dog was first. I was able to trust her and her brother, Merlion, with the baby from the beginning. They approached him gently. After a few days, Daisy took on the mother role, licking Caerwyn all over and lying near him to keep watch.

Daisy taking care of her new charge

The first four nights Caerwyn screamed many times in the night. I realized he was having nightmares. For any prey animal, like a goat or sheep, to be down is to be dead, so the wiring is such that being down causes extreme distress. I don’t know how long he was lying in that backyard, but it must have been terrifying. The nightmares gradually subsided and, now knowing he is protected, he can sleep peacefully on his side.

Daisy the dog nose to nose with baby goat Caerwyn

Daisy and Caerwyn in the garden

This is a labor-intensive rehabilitation. I am focusing on the image of Caerwyn walking. He is such a sweet soul and I am looking forward on his behalf to the day he can run and jump as baby goats are meant to do.

Thank you to the good Samaritan for rescuing him and bringing him to his new forever home on the Animal Messenger Sanctuary.

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Peaceable Kindom

Posted on March 6, 2017 by Stephanie Marohn

After many rainy days in January, we have emerged from the drought, for now, anyway. (In my view, water conservation should be part of life—honoring this precious resource by not wasting it.) All the animals are spending time lying in the sun. At this moment, though, the sheep, goats, and donkeys are walking by my office window, heading in a line to the barn. Earlier, Perseus the horse was racing back and forth in the same pasture, followed by barking dogs, excited about this running game. Meanwhile, Pegasus the elder was in the garden where the grass has not been eaten down. I’ve been letting her and Perseus spend their days in there. I forgot to remove the bird feeders, though, so came out later to find the feeders on the ground and the two horses happily munching away at the spilled seed. Not a good thing to feed horses, but they were happy with the little bit they got.

Watermelon buffet in January

In mid January, during another break from the rain, by way of celebrating the sun, I cut up watermelon and laid it out in one of the pastures for a watermelon buffet.

All the animals, including the dogs, love this fruit and they all came running. They ate it so quickly, I barely had time to get a picture. I love to see the way they all eat together—family harmony.

Giving thanks for this peaceable kindom in the midst of the painful world. Giving thanks for all the women who marched in solidarity around the globe, reminding us of the wonder that is humanity.

And then there was snow…

Breakfast a week after the watermelon buffet

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Solstice Message

Posted on December 11, 2016 by Stephanie Marohn

Let Love Lead Us
A winter solstice prayer for 2016

We could feed all the people of the world
if we did not let greed and profit lead us

We could free animals from their suffering
if we did not let greed and profit lead us

We could release all beings from slavery
if we did not let greed and profit lead us

All the waters of the world could run clear and clean
if we did not let greed and profit lead us

All the forests of the world could stand tall and proud
if we did not let greed and profit lead us

All the winds of the world could flow fresh and pure
if we did not let greed and profit lead us

We could live in love and connection
if we did not let greed and profit lead us

We could be who we were meant to be
if only we would…

Turn greed into green for the planet
Let a different kind of prophet lead us

—Stephanie Marohn, December 2016

Pegasus brings a message

This prayer calls to mind another winter solstice prayer I wrote, compelled by the 9/11 disaster in 2001. Sadly, the world could use the following prayer as much now as ever. It was published in an anthology of prayers: WomanPrayers (HarperSanFrancisco, 2003). Here it is:

Invocation to the Light
A winter solstice prayer after the tragedy of 9/11

On this solstice eve
with the world poised at the precipice
waiting to plunge or cross over
I call upon all the angels of mercy
who have ever shed a tear for the human race
I call upon all the guardians of peace
who have ever raised an olive branch or let fly a flock of doves
I call upon all the mystics
who have ever crossed a desert in search of the truth
I call upon all who have journeyed to the underworld
and returned with the wisdom of the dark
I call upon all the ancestral spirits who know the pain of parting the veil

I call upon the guardians of the four directions of the universe
O East, O South, O West, O North
help us to open our hearts to your weeping whispers
I call upon the luminous, numinous Center of the orb
O help us to embrace again the mystery of unknowing

I call upon all the animal messengers who hold the secret of oneness
I call upon all the faeries and sprites who dance in the forest
I call upon the undines, the gnomes, the sylphs, and the salamanders
the oracles of the mountains and the sages of the springs
I call upon the elves
the pookas
the djinns and the genies
the heavenly nymphs
the houris and peris
the cherubim
the seraphim
the celestial choir
the witches
the magi
the prophets
the messiah
saints and avatars
paragons and virtues
archangels in waiting
wings, haloes, and music

I call upon the three Fates
the three Graces
the nine Muses
and the seven Sisters
all the gods and goddesses
of a thousand names and guises

I call upon the Angel of the Abyss with the flame in his hand
the Angel of Memory who knows where we’ve been
the Angel of Truth
the Angel of Hope
the Angel of the Apocalypse who rides into the night

O come to us now
All forces of light
help us find our way through the wilderness
open our eyes to your sight

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The Celestial Family

Posted on August 13, 2016 by Stephanie Marohn

With the completion of the new fence on the lower five acres of the Animal Messenger Sanctuary property, I could welcome another resident: Celeste, the mother of the twins Sunshine and Moonglow.

Sunshine the lamb with her stuffed dog friend

Sunshine with her comfort dog–she loved him!

Sunshine was the little black lamb who came to me as what is known as a “bummer lamb,” which means the lamb is not nursing, whether because of health compromise, rejection by the mother due to illness or inadequate milk supply, or the mother’s death. Ever since nursing Sunshine back to health, I have held the vision of reuniting her family. In the picture to the left, she was a week old (you can see her umbilical cord).

Sunshine and Moonglow (photo by Nancy Gallenson)

First, I purchased Sunshine’s twin, Moonglow. I don’t typically buy animals, because I don’t want to contribute to the livestock industry and there are plenty of other animals needing a home. This was an unusual case, though. In the interests of bringing the sisters back together, I paid for Moonglow. She helped Sunshine make the transition from living in the house to joining the other sanctuary sheep, as Moonglow was already versed in flock culture.

Me with the four babies and Merlion the dog (photo by Nancy Gallenson)

Four months later, I was able to obtain Celeste, on my mission to reunite mother and daughters. When she arrived, their connection was noted, not by joyous greeting, but by immediate acceptance, complete absence of head butting as boundary setting, and proximity during eating.

Sunshine, Celeste, and Moonglow together again

It was a week or so before the unrelated sheep would allow Celeste to eat from the same pile as them, but Celeste and her daughters ate together companionably from the first. I had learned from the founding ovine members of the sanctuary that mother and child are usually grazing closest together within the flock throughout their lives if they are given a chance to continue the bond that exists at birth.

Now the Celestial family roams happily together, and Celeste is an accepted member of the larger flock. I often find her lying with Fleur-de-Lys, the other mother of twins, like women gravitating toward those with similar life experience.

Celestial family with their new family (photo by Regina Kretschmer)

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