Aging and Feeding Young Pot Belly Pig

Question
I have rescued a baby pot belly pig.  The owner says he is 8 months old, but I'm not sure if I can believe that.  Do you have any guidelines on how to age him?  What can I feed him?  Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Answer
A vet can tell the age of a piglet by the teeth and appearance of the feet, and other factors. A lot depends on the pigs previous environment too. For example, a pig kept indoors on carpeting will have extremely long feet for their age. A vet will know this by looking at the pig, the alignment of the leg and the foot.

If you are not sure you believe the previous owner, I suggest getting piggy to a vet for a check up. Or if you know what vet the previous owner used, you could contact them, and get the full medical file. If you don't have a vet, there's a list of vets that see pot-bellied pigs at www.farec.org

Pot-bellied piglets should gain about 1 lb per week until nearly a year old, but a starved or overfed piglet will naturally be under or over weight, and not all pigs grow at the same steady pace. If you can see bones protruding, piggy is too thin and needs to gain weight, and will be underweight for their age. If piggy has a triple chin or basketball belly, they need to loose a bit (or at least stop gaining) and will be overweight for their age. A healthy 8 month old piglet should be in the 28 - 36 lb range.

Is the piggy a boy or girl? Intact or spayed? An 8 month old intact male will hump. A lot. As in, all the time. He will have obvious "junk". He will foam at the mouth and emit and odor that female pigs adore, but most humans find unpleasant. He will obviously have tusks, probably protruding from his lip. An 8 week old intact male will be humping and maybe smell a little.

Most females come into their first heat at about 6 months. An intact 8 month old female pig will come into heat usually every 3 to 4 weeks (unless she is already pregnant).

Young piglets, under 12 weeks, often display a constant rooting behavior on people, stuffed animals, etc. This is a natural part of nursing behavior. As they root on Moms belly, she makes more milk. This drops off dramatically at about 12 weeks and is usually gone completely by 6 months.

A healthy 8 month old piglet will be full of energy. They will still have a young, cute look but they will have lost the "babyish" look.

The best food is pot-bellied pig pellets. All the major brands are good. The rule of thumb for a healthy piglet is 1/2 cup of food per 15 lb of pig, divided into two meals. A 32 lb pig should be getting a little more than 1 cup of food per day. Supplement this with veggies and grazing time outside. Remember to count training treats when figuring out how much food piggy is getting daily. If piggy needs to gain weight, increase the amount of pellets, if piggy needs to maintain, decrease the pellets.