orphaned piglets

Question
I contacted you last week about my mamma pig who rejected her litter of 9 - the week has been tough and we lost 7 of them (3 of them were under developed)- the two I have left are doing much better - had some diarrhea but the rice cereal and pedialite cleared that up fantastically! One of them has now developed navel ill but is responding to treatment with Penepro - what I'm wondering is if I should treat her sister as well or just wait and see if anything develops? and I'm also wondering if litter training is possible at such a young age(they are 8 days old today)and if so what do I use for litter? will shredded paper work or is dirt better - the plan is to train them to go outside...eventually!
It's amazing how they respond to me and I'm already noticing their individual personalities! I changed their bedding today and they were quite vocal about me taking away their little blankets.
thanks for all of your help!

Answer
Sorry to hear that only two made it. I am guessing that Momma pig went into premature labor, and that's why she rejected them.

Because these babies are so little I would wait and see before taking any further steps.

Yes, it's possible to start litter training now. Shredded newspaper is fine. Some people use only a rubber mat, no litter at all. Avoid kitty litter. For unknown reasons, pigs often try to eat kitty litter. The treated litter is poisonous. The plain clay litter can cause internal blockages.

Pigs learn to go in a specific spot, they don't pay much attention to the kind of litter or a litter box. If a pig learns to use a litter box, and the box is moved 3 ft to the left, the pig will ignore the box and go to the original spot.

But the wrong box will discourage them from using it, and they may ignore it and find another spot. The box needs to be big enough for them to turn around in comfortably, and needs one side cut really low so the piglets do not have to step up to get in. Pigs prefer to go down hill to potty.

So giving them dirt won't help with potty training - but the babies would enjoy playing with a little dirt. In fact, they'll probably take a dirt bath and find a different place to potty! Pigs naturally have their noses in the ground, rooting around a lot, and naturally get important trace minerals from dirt. So it can't hurt to let them play in a little dirt now.

The trick to potty training tiny piglets is to confine them to a fairly small area when no one is with them, so they don't have to go far to reach the box. And, when they are out of their safe space, take them to the potty box often, every hour or two for the first month or so. Piglets don't have much control, they don't know they have to potty until the need is urgent. So they need to be able to get to their box or spot quickly. If the proper potty spot is in the next room, they'll just find a place to potty where they are because they can't hold it long enough to get to the right spot.