My piggie is urinating while drinking

Question
Dear Helen,
My piggie is house broken and usually has no problem with accidents.  He uses a litter box inside and can access it any time.  Over the past week he has started urinating on his mat where his food is every time he drinks water.

Also, i have noticed in the last day that he drinking much more than he usually drinks.  I know this can be a warning sign for some sicknesses but I don't notice anything else different with his personality or routine.

In advance, thank you so much for you response.

Kind Regards,

Melonie

Answer
It's impossible to make a medical diagnosis over the internet. But I can offer some guesses.

First, does he have unlimited access to water 24/7? If not, that may be the problem. Dehydrated pigs often will not pee until they are able to drink. Then, because they've held it so long, they pee while drinking. The solution here is to make sure he has plenty of water available at all times. If he is spilling a water dish, then try a different dish or give him 2 dishes.

Has his diet changed at all? A binge on salty snacks will make a pig thirsty.

Have you just opened a new bag of food? Things do go wrong in the manufacturing process. If this behavior started at about the same time he started eating from a new bag of food, the food may be the problem. If so, get another bag, and contact the food manufacturer.

Has the weather or his environment changed? In Northern climates, it's getting quite cool. Central heat can really dry out the air, and he will need more water than before.

Piggies sometimes get a little lazy and "pig headed", so another possibility is that he just doesn't feel like getting up to go potty even tho he has to go. So he holds it until he gets up to eat and drink. The action of drinking then makes him pee. In this case the solution is to take him to his litter box before feeding him, and make him stay there until he does his business.

If the problem continues or gets worse or new symptoms develop, he will need to see a vet. There's a list of vets here http://www.petpigs.com/vet_list/map.html