Pot belly pig nose rubbing

Question

Recent pic of our kids  

Alize'   Hello, I adopted a female pot bellied pig a little less than a year ago. She is approximately 40lbs, very healthy weight, and happy. She stays inside most of the time and our home is all hardwood flooring. My first and most important question is regarding a new habit i have noticed. She has been rubbing her nose on the hardwood incessantly, to the point where her nose is squeaking on the floor. She does this is random spots for 15-20 minutes at a time. My worry is that she will damage her nose and cause it to become inflamed or raw. Do you have any input on this?

Next, I feel she is a bit undersized. She is 1.5 feet tall measuring from floor to her back and seems a healthy weight, no ribs showing or rolls, just a big pot belly. My fiance' insists she will not get any bigger, but I am expecting her to reach 100+ pounds. How long will she grow for what might I expect as far as her size.

My last question is feeding her. We kind of estimate on the food and feed her what we seem to be fit. About a cup of greens, a cup or grains, a half cup of nuts, some carrots, and random snacks throughout the day, like small healthy scraps from our meals. Is there a recommended pig feed that will give her the majority of nutrient she needs?

Pictures below!

Thanks so much!

Jordan

Answer
Pigs love to make squeaky noises with their snouts. She's probably snurdling around on the floor in order to make it squeak. You could try distracting her, with noisy toys or a "busy ball". You can buy or make one easily by punching holes in an empty 2-liter soda bottle, and putting a handful of pig pellets in it. Make the holes big enough for a few pellets at a time to pop out at the bottle rolls around.

Pigs grow fairly quickly until they are about 2 years old, then much more slowly until they are four or five. Pigs are much more compact than dogs, so it's hard to compare them. In general, when a pig and dog are the same size, the pig will be double (or more) the dogs weight.

The best clue to your pig's adult size is the size of her parents at age 5. Many breeders breed young, a pig under age 2 can have babies, but is still growing herself.

There's several national brands of pot-bellied pig feed, including Mazuri, Manna Pro, and Champion. What's inside the bag is more important than the name on the outside. Look for recognizable ingredients, like oats. Avoid foods that contain "animal products". Food made for farm hogs is ok in an emergency, but not for long term. Those foods are made for animals that will live for only a few months.

Feeding pigs is more of an art than a science. Each pig is different, and the family environment plays a role, too. The important thing is how the pig looks, and your pig looks just fine.