Care and Training

If you've thought of adding a little piggie like me to your family, you really should read this first.  My mommy can tell you what to expect, and what you'd better be willing to put up with!  Pigs are quite different from cats and dogs...
 
 

Before I joined the family and Mommy only had my cat and dog siblings, she and my sisters would sometimes go out of town for an overnight stay, or sometimes even for a weekend.  She would clean out the litter box, put out newspapers or piddle pads, put out a huge bowl of food for the cats and for the dog, and make sure the big water bowls were full.  If she was going away for a weekend, she would take Middie the poodle to a kennel to be kept.

You see, Middie and the cats will nibble at their food all day--but not me!  Pigs have to be fed at regular intervals; we can't be fed "free choice" like other animals.  We'd eat it all at once!  If Mommy and sisters are going to be gone even for a whole day, I have to have a sitter--and very few boarding kennels will take pigs.  Luckily, Mommy met my Grandma Judy at Petsmart; she has piggie children too, and knows how to take good care of us.  She keeps me whenever Mommy and my sisters have to go to a horse show or stay somewhere overnight.

If you read my schedule page, you'll see that I wake up for breakfast at 6:30 am.  That's 6:30 am EVERY MORNING.  I don't sleep in on the weekends!  Sometimes Mommy can coax me back to bed after breakfast on the weekends, but I very rarely sleep past 7:30 am.

Pigs will eat anything and everything they find laying about.  I've pulled purses off of countertops (when their straps were left hanging within my reach) and eaten lipstick and pencils; I've destroyed books and pens and school papers; and I've even learned to climb onto the dining room table and gobble up any leftovers (such as delivery pizza still left in the box).  Mommy sighs and says that having me has, at the very least, made her a better housekeeper!  But still, we live in a very busy household, and often it's all Mommy can do just to pick up everything she thinks I might get into and put it on the kitchen counters!

Not many veterinarians know how to take care of potbellied pigs.  I have a very good vet, Dr. Mary Jane Fuchs, but her clinic is in Louisville, KY---a very long drive from our home in Florence!  Fortunately, I seem to be a healthy boy and I've only had to go to the vet for my twice-yearly vaccinations and hoof trimming, my "boy surgery," and once when I hurt my back.

Now, you may wonder why I'm telling you all these things that aren't terribly pleasant.  Mommy says if everyone who adopts an animal--ANY animal, not just pigs!--would think about these things in advance, there would be a lot fewer abandoned pets.  Are you able to keep to a fairly strict feeding schedule?  Do you have the room to let your piggie outside to play--or the time to take him for a walk every day?  Are you willing to forego having a clean carpet and spotless floors, and are you able to put breakable (or poisonous!) objects far out of reach?  Do you have a local vet who can care for pigs, or are you able to drive to one who does?  Do you have someone who is knowledgeable and responsible to take care of your pig if you have to leave him for awhile?  Can you afford food, toys, vet bills?  Do you have time to actually spend with your piggie--or do you work 12-hour days, all week long?  If you don't have the time or skills to train your pig, can you find (and afford) someone who does?

Mommy doesn't wish to sound harsh, or make it seem like living with a piggie child is an awful burden, because she feels the rewards are well worth it.  But people have different priorities, and not everyone is willing to make the sacrifices that she has made.  It's definitely something to think about before you bring any animal child home!