Cinderella Story Ending for a Piglet Afraid of Mud
One little Pig ‘n Boots is now happier than a pig in mud after conquering her problem of mysophobia — fear of mud — thanks to her new set of green rubber booties.
Photo Copyright Ross Parry Agency Ltd.
Cinders — named after Cinderella and her enchanted glass slippers — had bewildered her owners when she wouldn’t join her 6 brothers and sisters as they frolicked in the muck, refusing to get her dainty trotters dirty.
“It was the strangest thing. When the batch ventured away from their mother, Cinders just stood at the edge of her sty shaking while the others explored.” said owner Debbie Keeble.
“We thought it was just that she didn’t want to leave the sty or the sow but we soon noticed if we moved them to where there wasn’t any mud, she happily left it and roamed around without any nonsense.”
Photo Copyright Ross Parry Agency Ltd.
The 6 week old saddleback piglet had Debbie and her husband Andrew Keeble at a loss until they remembered the miniature ‘wellies’ used as pen and pencil holders in their office.
“We scratched our heads a bit but then we thought, we wouldn’t go in the mud bare-footed, so why not try some wellies?” said Andrew.
The former British pig farmers from Thirsk, North Yorkshire, took pity on the precious piglet and asked a friend who works as a designer to create the boots, which have been made with no footwell, allowing her trotters to slip straight in.
Now she runs to Andrew to have him put them on for her in the morning.
Photo Copyright Ross Parry Agency Ltd.
“I don’t know what will happen as she gets bigger.” said Andrew. “Hopefully she will grow out of her phobia of mud before she needs a new set of boots.”
Although the Keebles were pig farmers for 20 years and currently run an award-winning sausage company, Cinders won’t suffer the fate of ending up as tube steak, as they now raise pigs purely as pets.
And little Cinders has become an instant celebrity, fronting a campaign to highlight the plight of British pig farmers as their mascot.
Photo Asplosh
Photo ButterstickLover
Photo Steve Richards
Pig Factoids
Pigs have been receiving a bum rap for being dirty, as they’re actually clean-loving creatures. Many conceive them as being filthy due to the fact that pigs like to roll in the mud, which they do to cool themselves off.
They’re extremely sensitive to heat and can suffer from sunburn and heatstroke just as people do. Wading in water and mud helps keep them from getting over heated, and helps control parasites.
The creatures are believed to have been domesticated from wild boar as early as 9,000 BC in the Near East and separately in China. They were brought to southeastern North America from Europe by De Soto and other early Spanish explorers.
Pigs are known to be highly intelligent animals which some say are more trainable than dogs or cats.
Domestic Asian pot-bellied pigs became popular house pets in the United States beginning in the latter half of the 20th century.
Regular domestic farmyard pigs have also been known to be kept indoors, but due to their large size and destructive tendencies, they typically need to be moved into an outdoor pen as they grow older.
Most pigs have a fear of being picked up, but will usually calm down once put back down.
Pigs were mostly used for food, but early civilizations also used the pigs’ hides for shields, bones for tools and weapons, and bristles for brushes.
They make a number of different sounds for various reasons — a shrieking squeal generally indicates fear, a bark or woof means they’re hungry, and a grunt noise signifies a contented and happy pig.
Photo Kim Hollingshead
Photo Hindolbittern
Photo Chenoa Manor Animal Sanctuary
Saddleback Pigs
The Wessex Saddleback or Wessex Pig is a breed of domestic pig originating in the West Country of England, especially in Wiltshire and the New Forest area of Hampshire.
They’re a striking black pig with a white belt about the forepart of the body, resembling a ’saddle,’ and their ears are lopped forward.
Saddlebacks are adapted to foraging in woodland, its original habitat in the New Forest, where there is a long tradition of allowing pigs to forage in woods for acorns, beech nuts and chestnuts.
The creatures are one of the few British pig breeds to have been little affected by crossing with “Neapolitan” pigs of Far Eastern origin, and so is perhaps one of the closest breeds to the pigs which once foraged in woods throughout Britain.
In Britain, the Wessex Saddleback breed was amalgamated in 1967 with the similarly colored Essex Pig to form a hybrid breed, the British Saddleback. A few herds of Essex Pigs have survived in a pure form in Britain, but the Wessex is considered extinct in its country of origin.
Before amalgamation some Wessex Saddlebacks were exported to other parts of the world, and the breed survives in small numbers in Australia and New Zealand.
The name “Wessex Saddleback” is sometimes used loosely to refer to British Saddleback pigs.
Similar pigs from Hampshire were exported to North America in the early 19th Century, and formed the basis of the Hampshire Pig, one of the most common American commercial breeds.
Photo Hindolbittern
Photo Bollops
Photo Hindolbittern
Mysophobia
Mysophobia — commonly known as germaphobia — is a term used to describe a pathological or irrational fear of contact with dirt, to avoid contamination and germs. A person with this fear is often referred to as a “mysophobe.”
The term was introduced by William A. Hammond in 1879 when describing a case of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) exhibited in repeatedly washing one’s hands. The disorder is often related to OCD since it involves an obsession over cleanliness.
However, Harry Stack Sullivan, an American psychologist and psychoanalyst, notes that while fear of dirt underlies the compulsion of a person with this kind of OCD, their mental state is not about germs — instead, this person feels their hands must be washed.
Symptoms of mysophobia include an avoidance of unclean-like activities, obsessive hand washing and more life debilitating effects such as avoidance of social situations that involve coming into contact with others.
Symptoms also include anything associated with panic attacks such as shortness of breath, rapid breathing, irregular heartbeat, sweating, excessive sweating, anxiety, dread, dry mouth, nausea and shaking when exposed to the fear.
Sufferers find it difficult to enjoy life since they’re in a constant state of sanitation. The fear with mysophobia lies in the irrational thought that germs, such as the common cold to be life threatening.
The onset of mysophobia usually occurs in people who have a natural tendency to worry and a family background of anxiety. It’s typically associated with a traumatic event involving germs.
Photo Uncertainworld
Photo Uncertainworld
Treatments typically used include cognitive therapy and those used for OCD sufferers. Temporary cures can be achieved with antidepressants such as Paxil, Prozac, or Zoloft, but side effects of these drugs can be numerous and severe.
It’s best to try cognitive behavioral therapy before taking medications or trying unproven methods such as hypnotherapy, neuro-linguistic programming and energy psychology.
Several well-known people have suffered from this disorder, including Cameron Diaz, Howard Hughes, Nikola Tesla, and Howie Mandel — whose first comedic repertoire was to put a latex glove over his head and inflate it by blowing through his nose, the fingers of the glove extending above his head like a cockscomb.
Sources: Daily Mail, The Sun, Times Online, Telegraph, and Wikipedia
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Pig Races – Endearing Story Reveals Disturbing Find
Its a Pigs Life
Boris the Sheep-Pig
Year of the Golden Pig – Pig Olympics and Babies
60 Weirdest Phobias People You Know May Have
The little pig look so cute
Very sweet whith that shoes 
That piglet is the cutest thing. Very strange–a pig being afraid of mud but those rubber boots are just priceless. I hope Cinders outgrows her fear before she outgrows her boots.
I’ve always loved pigs and this one is no exception! Rubber boats… no kidding, such fun *giggles*
I just adore pigs. Real pigs, not human pigs
I love pigs
This made remember my name in english (John Pigglet)
Cinders really is quite adorable in those boots, isn’t she?
Hehe, it’s always great to see you around and hear your ‘gigges,’ Lifecruiser
That’s interesting, Jaxboo. A friend of my father’s last name was Cahoot, which translated from Ukranian to English meant ‘rooster.’ He actually changed his name because of that. Yet I have a friend whose nickname is Rooster, a term of endearment, which he proudly embraces
lol, I don’t like pig but that’s really funny
Glad you enjoyed it all the same Diani
It goes without saying that she’s now “happy as a pig in slop”.
Well, it COULD have gone without saying…but I just said it.
Hehe, cute Columbus
Cutest. Story. Ever!
Mmmmmm….. BACON!!!!
That is one thing that I have never seen before, a little pig in green boots. It could be the cutest thing too. I hope too that the little pig outgrows its fear before its little boots.
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Ever cute with his little booties on.
ever cute.