drinking urine???

Question
Hi, I just rescued three 10-year old female PBPs. I am a first time pig owner and am trying to keep up with the learning curve. My girls are strictly outdoors. They have a nice warm, dry shed with free access to a 50'x50' pen. Today, I was completely disgusted when I saw Sophia walk up behind both Annabelle and Penelope while they were urinating and start drinking the urine as it came out! Is that normal? I am more than a little repulsed by the behavior. I thought that PBP were supposed to be clean! What can I do to make her stop - could it be a vitamin / mineral deficiency? We had a couple of feet of snow two weeks ago so they haven't been able to get out very much - could that be causing it? Please help!

Answer
No, that's not normal behavior, but as you've seen, it can happen. You mention that they were rescued pigs. Often, it's impossible to know exactly what rescued pigs have been through in their lives.

Usually, drinking urine starts when the pig is deprived of water, they get so thirsty they'll drink the urine. And when they are starved they'll eat poop. And then it becomes a habit, even when they are properly cared for.

Usually when a pig has a nutritional deficiency they tend to eat things, like dirt or walls or excrement, rather than drinking urine. But, anything is possible and a nutritional deficiency could be contributing to a bad habit.

Also, urine is warm. Pigs like warm water in cold weather, if their water is nearly frozen the warm urine might be more appealing from the pigs point of view, especially if she was once forced to drink urine to survive.

Still another possibility is that one or both pigs are in heat. Pigs in heat do all sorts of strange things, each pig is a little different.

To discourage this behavior I'd start by giving them warm water to drink, and perhaps moistening their pellets with warm water also. If she tries this again, distract her, but do not give her a treat or any sort of reward! Just distract her. An ordinary multi-vitamin with iron tablet daily will help correct any nutritional deficiencies.

If these pigs are still intact, keep a close eye on them for any signs of urinary or reproductive tract infections or intestinal discomfort. Older female pigs are prone to develop large uterine tumors. Spaying is the only way to cure and prevent this. Spays are harder on older pigs, but it's much safer to spay a healthy, older pig than an older pig sick with tumors.