Pot bellied pig in heat

Question
Hello, I have a 2 and a half year old female pot bellied pig. about every 3 weeks she comes into heat. She gets very mean and jumps on us and digs her nose into the back of our legs. What can we do to stop her from coming into heat? Or even make her not as mean!
       Thanks

Answer
Spaying is the only practical solution. She will not go into heat, and her risk of reproductive cancer will be slashed to zero.

When she comes into heat, her horemones drive her to behave like this. She is not being mean, in fact, it's quite the opposite. When she jumps on your or digs at your legs, she's trying to get you to mate with her.

Some pigs also forget their potty training when they are in heat. It is NOT their fault - they simply can not help themselves.

Age is not a big issue in spaying, but weight is. It's harder to put overweight pigs under, harder for the vet to get to the necessary organs, and it's harder for the pig to recover from the drugs.

Intact female pigs tend to develop massive uterine tumors. It happens equally in pigs that have had litters and those that have not. Some of these tumors weigh 30+ lb or more. It's far less risky to spay a healthy 2-1/2 year old pig, than to spay a 12 year old with a tumor.

There's a list of vets who see pot-bellied pigs here. If there are no local vets on the list, contact the closest one to you, they may be able to recommend someone near you. http://www.petpigs.com/vet_location.html