Pot-bellied pig Portia swelled to 26 stones on biscuits in Manchester

The Sow-shank Redemption: Pot-bellied pig called Portia who swelled to 26 stones after being fed cola and biscuits in a Manchester flat halves weight after escape to sanctuary

• Portly Portia had been fed biscuits and cola in her one-bed Manchester flat
• She was rescued and new diet and exercise has given her new lease of life 

A big fat pig ballooned to 26 stones after being fed biscuits and cola while she was kept as a household pet in a one-bed flat in Manchester.

Pot-bellied pig Portia was morbidly obese when an animal rescue sanctuary got wind she needed to be rescued.

They found the porker had been often stuck in a bed for 48 hours solid because she was depressed about her living conditions. 

Whitegate Animal Sanctuary in Hoylake, Wirral, took her in last year and immediately started work to save her.

They started her up on a new diet of pig pellets, and fruit and vegetables.

Portly Portia had been fed biscuits and cola in her one-bed Manchester flat by her then owner

But now she has gone on a diet, started exercise and is now half her weight at the sanctuary

Portia was also put on a strict exercise regimen and is now boasting the results.

Sanctuary founder Laura Whelan, 41, told the Liverpool Echo: ‘Portia came to us last summer. She was living in someone’s flat in as a house pig, being fed junk food, biscuits and Coca-Cola. She was morbidly obese. It was horrendous. I’d never seen an animal that fat. She could barely walk.

‘She was utterly depressed. She’s a very clever pig, and she was trapped in a horrible flat with just a yard, not even any mud. By the time we got her she’d given up on life. Sometimes she wouldn’t even get out of her bed for 48 hours – just a hard, plastic dog bed, and the blankets in the bed were horrendous, just old curtains. It was a miserable existence.

‘By that time she’d already lost the use of one leg because of the pure weight on her. She was very nearly completely lame. We got her just in time and put her a normal pig diet of pig pellets, and fruit and vegetables.

Portia now weight half her previous size at 9st 4lbs and enjoys nothing more than walking

Now the sanctuary say there is no stopping Portia as she enjoys life away from Manchester

‘At first she was still huge and struggling to get up, and we had to assist her every time. She was in pain and she’d lash out and try to bite. Once she could get up and get mobile, the weight fell off her even more because she was exercising. Once she was up, there was no stopping her.

‘She’s amazing, she’s very sassy, she has a proper piggy attitude. We have a pig field and, next to that, a cow field, and she will stand at the gate to shout at us to let her in. She knows when she wants to go.

‘At tea time when she first arrived she was being bullied by the other pigs – they were eating her food because she wasn’t quick enough. We started putting her in a little hut to eat, and now as soon as we arrive with the food she runs off to her hut and waits so she can eat in peace.’

Portia now weight half her previous size at 9st 4lbs.

Laura set up the sanctuary in 2018 to help animals that had been rescued. 

She says it currently holds 150 turkeys, ducks, goats, cows, sheep and pigs.

Laura added:  ‘I’ve got two dairy farm male cows, which would have been put down, because they’re no use to the industry. They’re all grown up now.

‘It’s beautiful to see the animals. Half of them would be dead, should be dead. I think of what would have happened to them if they hadn’t come to us.’

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