Meet Prince. Found wandering a residential area with a terrible case of sarcoptic mange, this little guy, at approximately six weeks old, was very very sick.

Sarcoptic mange is a highly contagious condition caused by a parasitic mite that burrows under the skin. The mites dig into and through the skin, causing intense itching and crusting that can quickly become infected, which is indeed what had happened with this little sweetheart.

Prince arrived at roughly six weeks of age, a sweet, friendly, amazingly charming little lad (seriously, he will melt your heart, wait till you meet him). Given his very young age, he had likely been suffering from it most of his life, and perhaps was dumped due to his condition.

Found and taken in by Blacktown City Animal Holding Facility, Prince Hogers Nelswine found the first stage of his relief in a trip to the vet where he received step one of his treatment to deal with the condition that was causing him so much distress.

The pound contacted Little Oak Sanctuary, and of course, we agreed to take this little guy in and continue his treatment and show him the love and safety he deserves. We drove up to Blacktown to collect him, and he spent most of the trip back buried in straw, sleeping, probably due to exhaustion from his constant scratching.

Prince had a soothing, medicated bath.  He was given medication to deal with his skin infection, which along with the mites had been causing him a lot of pain, itching and discomfort. We then applied a generous coating of soothing, zinc-based cream and the relief was almost immediate.

Prince had dinner, took himself off to bed in a big pile of fresh straw, and the next morning a very different little piglet ran over to say hello. No longer was he continually occupied with scratching himself on whatever he could find; Prince was relieved.

Prince made a full recovery and has grown substantially, now weighing over 200kg! Sadly the majority of pigs aren't as lucky as Prince has been. However, the power to change the lives of pigs is within all of our hands.

You can sponsor Prince and his friends below.