S
Animal
House
AN AFTERNOON WITH ARTIST
JUD TURNER AND HIS PET FAMILY
by Alex Notman
FULL SERVICE ANIMAL HOSPITAL
BUSHANIMALHOSPITAL.COM
laser surgery
full dental care
ultrasound endoscopy
digital xrays
puppy classes
tanding in Jud Turner’s kitchen, a gaggle of cats gobbling snacks at
our feet, we hear a faint ting-a-ling coming from the basement.
“I think he just rang his bell,” Turner says, straining to hear. “He
has a bell that he rings when he wants to go outside or wants to know
what’s up.” Turner disappears down the stairs.
“What’s up, piggy?” I hear him say. He’s answered with some contented snorting.
The Eugene sculptor’s life reads something like a modern-day James Herriot
novel. Just replace the rolling English countryside with the hills of South Eugene,
the barn animals with fi ve domestic cats (Gray Cat, Poppy, Roo, Brown Bear and
Merle), one hell of a pot-bellied pig and, with Turner as your narrator, you’re bound
to hear some hilarious and sweet stories, and learn quite a bit about pigs.
Following in Turner’s footsteps, I meet Ziggy, an 82-pound black Vietnamese
pot-bellied pig rooting around his little kingdom. To call it a pen would be too
crude; Ziggy’s gated living area is fi lled with blankets, a pig-sized tent, toys, a
cat tree and a sliding door with a ramp leading to his favorite place, the backyard.
It’s also raised about a foot above the fl oor with rubber matting underneath. Pigs,
it turns out, pee a lot. (“I’ve timed him once and he pees for two minutes and 30
seconds straight,” Turner tells me, laughing. “I couldn’t believe it.”)
Luckily for everyone, Ziggy prefers the backyard. Turner sets up the ramp and
the nearly 2-year-old pig waddles down into the fenced-in yard mostly shaded from
the towering pines. Ziggy puts his snout down to the pine-needled path, yellow
swallowtails fl uttering above him, and roots around for treasure (i.e., food or the
occasional mushroom and misplaced candle) while Turner tells me of how the pig
came to them.
Jud Turner and his wife Melissa Turner had long-wanted a pig, mostly for its
cuteness and intelligence factor. They found a breeder in Salem and soon brought
the fuzzy 10-pound piglet home. They quickly learned that they had to assert their
dominance.
“We had read that pigs are hierarchical, social animals so they bond really well
but they also are always looking for what’s the pecking order in the situation,” he
says. “The pig knows he’s way above the cats but he’s below Melissa and I.”
While Turner is clearly smitten with pig life — Ziggy goes with Turner every day
to his studio off West 11th, strapped into the passenger seat of his truck — he warns
potential domestic pig owners of the commitment. Pigs have a life expectancy of
10 to 20 years and, he says, many breeders try to downplay how large a full-grown
pig will become.
“There’s a big problem of abandoning these pigs once they get big,” he says.
“Especially because pigs are such social, bonded, intelligent animals, the pig loses
its family and doesn’t easily integrate with other pigs.”
Ziggy’s bond with Turner is clear: He comes chortling towards Turner like a dog
when called and gives affectionate nudges with his wet, whiskered snout (the snout
is wet because it’s the only part of the body through which pigs sweat).
But Ziggy, in spite of the pecking order, has also bonded with two of the cats:
Gray Cat and Merle. The cats often sleep with him in his nest of blankets, especially
when the heat lamp is on in winter.
We walk over to the new outside cat enclosure on the side of the house and Ziggy
gets to work plowing through the dirt with his nose. Soon, the brown tabby Merle
appears through an open window, hops down a cat tower and trots over to Ziggy.
The two nuzzle each other and Merle assists Ziggy with his eternal treasure hunt. ■
‘IT ’S NO T LIK E A DOG OR C AT IT H A S SOR T OF SP ECIFIC PIG
B E H AV IO R S. I T L I K E S R O U T I N E ; I T ’S WAY L A Z I E R T H A N A D O G
W O U L D B E I N T E R M S O F H O W M U C H I T S L E E P S ,’ J U D T U R N E R
S AY S PHOTO BY TRASK BEDORTHA
CatCare,Limited
1400 Willamette Street
Eugene, OR 97401
541-302-5824
catcarelimited.com
FULL SERVICE FELINE MEDICINE
Wellness Care All Life Stages
Dentistry ♥ Surgery ♥ Behavior ♥ Nutrition ♥ Acupuncture
Hours:
8:30am - 5:30pm Weekdays
8:30am - 12:30pm 1st & 3rd Saturdays
Members: American Association
of Feline Practitioners
541.342.7218
2415 Oakmont Way Mon-Fri 8:00 am - 5:30 pm
Sat 8:00 am - 12:00 pm
Eugene, OR 97401
Purr-sonalized, expert veterinary care
in a cats-only, homelike setting since 1998!
EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • JULY 24, 2014
13