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Butter Bean is one tough, tenacious, sweet-tempered potbellied pig that has overcome extreme sickness and four surgeries in his short life.

The 8-month-old pig is the "baby" of Leslie and Jimmy Woody of Beals Chapel Road in Lenoir City. He battled back from life-threatening fatty liver disease and almost starved because he could not digest solid food. He lost almost half of his body weight, going from a healthy 35 pounds to 19 pounds.

The Woodys credit veterinarians and technicians at Countryside Veterinarian Clinic, 2030 Little Dug Gap Road, Louisville, with saving Butter Bean's life.

The little black pig with the white blaze on his forehead first got ill in August when the Woodys tried to wean him off the bottle. Butter Bean would vomit when he ate solid food, but he would be fine if he drank water or liquids. On Aug. 21 he got very sick," Leslie Woody said.

The couple took the pig to a veterinarian in Lenoir City who had been Butter Bean's doctor since they got the pig when he was five days old.

"The doctor told us he thought he had ulcers and maybe a blockage," she said. "The doctor gave him a shot for nausea and that worked until 11 p.m. that night when he started vomiting uncontrollably," Leslie said.

Needed endoscopy

They called his regular doctor back and were told the little pig needed an endoscopy, a procedure in which a light is run down the throat to check out the stomach. The regular doctor did not have an endoscopy machine and referred the Woodys to University of Tennessee Veterinary Clinic.

When they arrived at the vet clinic, Butter Bean "had a temperature of 98 degrees, when it should have been 101 to 102. He was very weak, dehydrated, cold, his nose and the whites of his legs were blue. He was not doing good," Leslie recalled.

The vet did an ultra sound that showed his intestines were extended, but said that could be due to the pig being sick, she added. Blood was drawn but no abnormalities were found, but he was dehydrated.

Leslie said they asked the vet to run a scope, but were told it wouldn't show anything.

They took Butter Bean home and then back to his regular vet, who put him on oxygen, medicated him to stop the vomiting and gave him a bag of IV fluids. "It took all day to get him stable," Leslie said.

The vet did X-rays that showed nothing was leaving his stomach and did surgery on his intestines, but found nothing wrong.

Two days later Butter Bean was again sent home with medication for ulcers, iellus (his intestines were not working right), pain, antibiotics and more nausea medicine.

Hernia surgery

Ten days later Butter Bean had to have surgery to correct a hernia and "he was getting very sick," she said.

"He had been put to sleep six times in about three weeks. On Monday, Sept. 8, we decided to find a vet with a scope. I got on the phone and called around and that is when the miracle started," she said.

She called Countryside Veterinary Services and talked to the receptionist, who had a vet call her right back.

Dr. Cindy Backus told the Woodys that Countryside has a endoscopy machine and asked how fast they could get Butter Bean to the clinic.

The Woodys had him there in about 30 minutes. Backus told the Woodys they would do a scope on Butter Bean, but he could die when he was sedated because he was so sick.

"We waited outside and cried and prayed that our sweet baby would make it," Lindsey said. They have another pot bellied pig, Bailey, 11, but Butter Bean is the family baby.

Backus told them the pig had a polyp in his stomach at the opening of the small intestines and that his stomach was full of ulcers, possibly due to the stress from his illness.

"On Aug. 16 Butter Bean was still losing weight, not eating and still vomiting. Drs. Backus and Becky Lillard and vet tech Justin Kollock did emergency surgery at 7:30 p.m.

Fatty liver

"Because of the polyp they didn't see that he had pyloric stenoises, where the food was not going out of his stomach and this was causing him to vomit. Since this had been going on for so long, his liver had turned into a fatty liver and his intestines were in bad shape. Butter Bean was so weak Justin had to bag (breath) for Butter Bean all through surgery," Leslie said.

Butter Bean got out of surgery at 9 p.m. and Backus told them they had to bypass the pyloric valve and hook a new part of the small intestines to the stomach.

Backus said "since no solid food could get through, he was pretty much starving." She said they have never done a scope on a pig, but the anatomy of a pig is similar to that of a dog and she has scoped numerous dogs.

Butter Bean was at Countryside for 3¬½ weeks, where the staff fell in love with him. "He's just the sweetest little guy," Backus said. "He never tried to bite anyone."

"He has had a tough recovery, but he has a will to live. An angel must have been looking over him," Leslie said. "Not everyone goes to the extent that these people did with a baby pig. They really love Butter Bean."

'A special pig'

"He's a special pig," Dr. Becky Lillard said.

Now he is eating solid food. Jimmy said his favorites are McDonald's egg croissants for breakfast every morning and worms -- grubb and red. The protein from the worms is helping his liver recover.

Jimmy said "my yard is all dug up" due to the pig's search for more worms.

Leslie said Butter Bean, who now weighs 25.2 pounds, has been to two churches. Youth leaders lost contests and had to kiss a pig, and Butter Bean was chosen.