Pet Pig - any advice?

K_user

My wife would love to own a pig, purely as a pet. We already own a dog and a cat, so animals don’t bother us all that much.

A local man is selling on some pot-belly piglets, unfortunately I know little or nothing about rearing them. One of my neighbors is a farmer so I might pick up some info off him, but I was hoping to get some advice from further a field before deciding to go ahead. Some of the below questions are fairly basic, I can guess some of the answers, but I’d prefer to ask…as I said I’m an amateur in this…

I have a half acre of a garden so space isn’t an issue, but it isn’t enclosed yet.

I can erect a fenced in run, but how much space would be appropriate?

I can build a small house for it, like a dog house, but would that be large enough?
Or would I be better off building a block structure of some sort?

I have a large shed, but would I have to enclose it completely or risk it chewing everything in site?

How much do they need to eat? And what is the average price? Taking it into account that this would be a pet and not for fatting.

Any other advice, hints, tips, horror stories, has anyone given this sort of thing ago?

Sam Kade

You need to get a pig herd number. The department of agriculture will send some one to inspect where you are going to keep the pigs before they give you a herd number. Pigs live better in pairs, why don't you buy two weaner's and fatten them as it would be costly to keep 2 pet pigs.

doctor evil

Very intelligent creatures and can be great manipulators if kept as pets.

hopwitch

I have kept pigs as pets in the past - in fact a whole range of rescue animals, but my favourites were always the pigs. Wonderful companion animals, very intelligent and very much individuals. If you only have half an acre the pot bellies might be the ones to go for (and I agree that a pair is best unless you plan on keeping one as a house pig) as they don't plough as much as the larger pigs. However, PB's suffer badly if they get too fat - the inbreeding has exaggerated their shape to the extent that their organs tend to "slide" out of place placing a strain on their hearts, their backs dip too much and their leg joints get arthritic - moral of the story - plenty of exercise and no tit-bits! I bedded mine on straw - they love to bury themselves under it, and they will always keep their pen clean by using only one area for dunging, so they are easy to keep clean - there is no excuse for dirty pigs as they are naturally fastidious.