Pot Bellied Pigs...Awsome CLEAN pets.

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Permalink Reply by Colleen Del Bane~Creator~ on February 7, 2010 at 11:13pm

When I was a kid we had a little runt pig, not a pot belly it was meant to be a full sized hog, However there were too many piglets in the litter and this one was being starved and trampled by the other piglets. The neighbor brought it to my mother because she was known in the area to take in bummer lambs and other wounded pets and strays. Its little knees were all scuffed and scabby and it was so thin. Mom got a little bottle and a tiny receiving blanket and began caring for him. He was the cutest little pink pig. He looked like Babe. We named him " Little Pig " I know we were so original. Mom put the little blanket behind the wood stove so that Little Pig would stay warm and that was where he stayed most of the time. :)When anyone would open the refrigerator he would hear it and come squealing into the kitchen. It was not long and Mom had him trained to go potty outside. He was a terrific house pet. Then Dad got "Pig Pen" (not a tiny baby) a weaner pig. I guess he thought since Little pig was so neat and tidy that Pig Pen would be the same, but Pig Pen was not house trained so dad made him a temporary house in the pantry, he said for a couple of days. As it turned out it was a couple of days too many. He was too old to train as a house pig. Dad built and Outside pen for both of them with a cute little house and Little Pig had to learn to be an outside pig too. Mom and I thought that was terribly unfair, but Dad ruled.

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Permalink Reply by Mike's Sporting Goods on February 10, 2010 at 1:02pm

I never knew people kept potbellied pigs as pets until recently. In November, 2009, I attended a pet expo and there was a very informative pot bellied pig exhibit. And of course pot bellied pig owners were there to answer questions. I am a city girl so it was a different experience for me to pet a pig that was not in a petting zoo. We even embroidered a custom t shirt for one of the exhibitors ..when pigs fly.

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Permalink Reply by Colleen Del Bane~Creator~ on February 10, 2010 at 1:13pm

Aren't they neat? Mom had one named Miss Piggy that she kept in an aquarium with a baby bunny for a few weeks.Years later you would never have believed it. She got plenty big.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Simpson on February 22, 2010 at 9:50pm

"Dogs look up to you, cats look down on you and a pig treats you as an equal" --Winston Churchill.

I had a wonderful indoor potbelly pig which I named Melisande. She went to a litterbox I had specially made for her with a high back--pigs back up against a wall before they do their business and she was always going over the back side ! She nosed her way into the plumbing under the bathtub once, and since pigs will not back up, we had to take up the bathtub. She used to jump up in the bed with me, and I had to roll quickly. She would then teach me the meaning of "hog the bed".

The only thing I would caution is that you need to realize that pigs get very very attached, maybe more than dogs and cats. I had to go off to a two week language school and Melisande, my house pig became so despondent that she stopped eating and died only two days before I got home. The neighbor who was feeding her said she though it was just a broken heart.

Be sure to give them a "babysitter" who can spend as much time with them as you do. I still feel terrible about it.

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Permalink Reply by Colleen Del Bane~Creator~ on February 22, 2010 at 9:56pm

That is so sad. I bet you were broken hearted. Pigs can be so sweet. Geez that sounds weird, but it is true.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Simpson on February 22, 2010 at 10:02pm

Oh, yeah, she was my sweetheart. Pigs are so smart, they have a different type of attachment than other pets. She actually woke me up one time when some wiring in the house caught fire.

I will never forget about two weeks after I got her, she was maintaining her distance. i was putting on makeup in the early morning when something trapped my foot. It was Melisande, rolling over so I could scratch her belly. She had decided I was OK.

Oh yeah, and I do remember the bruise when 70 lbs of pig attached to a tiny hoof jumped on my leg. You better believe I learned how to roll fast when I saw her getting ready to leap.

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Permalink Reply by Mike's Sporting Goods on February 28, 2010 at 2:41am

That is so sad.

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