The idea for this shaggy dog came from paTRICK heSTER who published the punchline on the P.U.N.Y. listserv.

Medically these days, we have to worry not only about human diseases, but diseases of our companion and service animals. The possibility of the prions responsible for mad cow disease being transmitted to humans is of considerable recent notoriety in the media. Oprah has just been the tip of the iceberg, to mix a metaphor. Iowa pig farmers have an additional worry — that the mad cow disease may be transmitted to pigs resulting in mad pig disease. In other words, they are worried about the daze of swine neurosis.