Piper Update

Well, she's STILL in the kitchen. I am lost as to what to do to cure her mean streak towards my other pigs. I am hoping once spring finally comes and they can be outside more that they will work things out between them in the yard rather than in the house where things get destroyed in a pig fight. This worries me a little because she's much younger and still quite a bit smaller than they are and she has no tusks yet...but she just might need a good lesson to get her to stop. Nothing else seems to be working.

I still can't give her access to water at all times either. She will drink until she convulses. I wonder if she wasn't denied water as a house training technique...as she was very difficult to house train and still will go in the house if you don't watch her closely. That might explain why she feels the need to drink whatever water she can when she has the chance. I don't know. Not sure what I will do in the hot summer when there has to be water down at all times.

She is destroying the walls in my kitchen. I think she has chewed every corner in there and ripped of any trim she can reach. We are seriously thinking of putting puck board (???) up the bottom 3 ft of our walls! She digs in my cupboards constantly, has chewed most of my Tupperware lids so they no longer fit and her new favorite game is opening the drawer on my stove and standing in it (I have to admit...that one is kind of cute!)

She's also grown quite a bit. She was sold as a "mini" who was suppose to be much smaller (40-60 pounds) than a "normal" pot bellied pig (110-200+ pounds), but is showing no signs of being any smaller than my other 4 "normal" males. For anyone thinking that there are such things as a teacup, micro mini, royal dandy, juliana, etc, etc, etc... that grow to be any smaller than a regular pot bellied pig, please be aware that there is not. They are ALL pot bellied pigs. The pictures you see of tiny pigs are BABIES. If the parents are small, it's because they were bred too young and are STILL babies. Breeders take these young pigs, breed them and then don't feed them properly to keep them small. This does not make for a healthy pig or a long life. Piper (who was assured to weigh between 40-60 pounds full grown) is already 50 pounds and she is only 8 months old. Pot bellied pigs grow until they are 3 years old! She's got a LOT of growing to do yet and is right on par with the growth of my other boys (110-200+ pounds). THERE IS NO DIFERENCE!!! Please don't fall for what breeders tell you. It's a business and nothing more. Who WOULDN'T want a cute little piglet that stayed the size of a cat? They are very easy to market that way because that idea is so sweet...but it is just an idea. Please don't fall for it and find yourself with the almost impossible task of trying to rehome a large adult pig once you learn this truth the hard way. There is NO MARKET for an adult pet pig. :o(

Please also be aware that the Animal Control bylaw in Grande Praire has been rewritten to include pigs (and goats) in the list of animals NOT LEGAL in Grande Prairie, AB.