Spotlight: Kristie Mozzachio, DVM

To the right is our pig, Squealer, and Dr. Kristie Mozzachio. She is a pot bellied pig specialist, operating a mobile veterinary service that caters exclusively to pot-bellied pigs. This is a part-time gig for her.

Currently, she works as a toxicologic pathologist. This means she spends most of her time looking through a microscope. She looks at slides of tissues from animals, trying to identify any abnormalities.

Pigs are her passion though. She is the veterinary advisor for NAPPA (North American Potbellied Pig Association) and has lectured on the species at the yearly Potbellied Pig Symposium as well as the Special Species Symposium and the SCAVMA (Student Chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association) Symposium. She is also on the board of directors for the Duchess Fund, a privately funded and publicly accessible collection of miniature pig medical data.

She’s helped out the Museum (our pigs and other Farmyard animals too) for many years now. She was here on April 4th for our farmyard physicals: giving Pig his annual vaccines and checking him out. That’s how we know he is healthy and swine-flu free.

I can always count on Dr. Mozzachio to have a smile on her face and be ecstatic to see pig. She also always shares some interesting facts about pigs: Did you know that pigs are the only domestic species of animal that can get sunburned (just like humans). And, pigs have true hair and not fur (so might be a good choice for those allergic to animal dander). Pigs do not have very many sweat glands so who knows where the term “sweat like a pig” came from! But – “eat like a pig” is a very true saying because pigs are extremely food-motivated and always hungry.

2 responses to Spotlight: Kristie Mozzachio, DVM

  1. Kathy says:

    I have recently gotten a 4 month old PBP and she is very sweet and mindful… he is not aggressive in any way at all but when I scratch her back by her hips she raises her hackles and then flops over for a belly rub…. She isn’t showing signs of aggression just wanting a belly rub… What would be the reasoning for the hackles being raised?

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