PIG DOOR

Question
Hi,
I bought my significant other a pot bellied pig for her birthday last year. She was supposed to only get around 35 lbs. HAHA! She 1 yr. old and probably weighs around 110 lbs. She is trained to go out our dog door but, she is too big to make it through now. I can't seem to find extra wide doors anywhere. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks

Answer
Most pet doors are designed for dogs. Most dogs are slim, even the larger breeds. Most pigs, even heavy ones, can fit through the large or x-l size dog doors. My pigs use a large size dog door. Mine is located in the bottom of the side window for the door, so the size of the pet door is limited by the size of the window. When they started to get a little too round to fit through the door comfortably, I knew they were getting too chubby and put them on a diet.

A quick Google search provided several hits for "Custom Size Pet Doors". These look promising:
www.dogdooors.com
www.twobrospet.com

Another option is a self-closing swinging dutch door. A dutch door is a normal door, split in half. You can open and close either top or bottom half, while the other half stays closed. It might be hard to teach piggy how to pull the door open, so instead of ordinary hinges that allow a door to open one way (in or out), you'd need swinging saloon door style hinges, that will let the door open either way. And a self closing mechanism, like the ones used on most screen doors, to close the door after piggy exits. You can order dutch doors from home improvement stores.

Another option is to build a custom door yourself, or hire someone to build and install one for you. I'd use a professional to install a custom door in a wall or a metal door. Building a pet door in a wooden door is a lot easier. Cut a hole in the door, frame the inside, attach rubber mats or truck mud flaps cut to size, then add molding. In cold climates put one flap on the inside and a second on the outside.