Question
Elmer at 14 days old
Greetings from Arizona!I just bought a "mini" pot bellie pig last week from out of town (Craigslist ad).He is now 17 days old.And he was also the runt of the litter.When I got him he was no bigger than the size of a soda can.Once we were home, it took about 2 days to finally get him to drink his goat milk from a dish.Since then, I have been adding about 1 tsp of babys rice cereal to it and he slurps it up. No problems now with his eating.He is full of energy and starting to put on some weight (he was very thin when I first got him).My question is this:Someone I know, a friend whom I got my 1st pot bellie from almost 5 mo. ago, says he needs an iron shot.And she also wants to neuter him, but we were waiting until he was "stronger".But Ive been doing alot of research online, and it says they can get their iron from rooting around in some (clean) dirt.I dont know who to listen to now!Im so confused!I also read where giving an iron shot could trigger diarreha.And i know that could be really bad.I take him outside everyday to play in the grass and dirt for about 10 minutes, otherwise if im not holding him ( lol ) he is in his playpen.Ive also been keeping him warm with his blankies and a big stuffed teddy bear.I noticed that everyday that goes by,he is getting more alert and spirited-more so than my 1st pot bellie.He seems to be doing great thus far.When can I consider him "out of the woods"?Everywhere I read it says runts usually dont survive.Thanks for your help.
AnswerGood for you for taking on the challenge of hand raising this baby!
Runts almost never survive when left with mom and siblings. In the wild, predators quickly take the runts. In domesticated settings, the runts don't have the strength to fight for enough food, or they succumb to internal birth defects. Taken indoors and raised inside with constant care, runts can and do thrive.
If your piglet makes it to 3 weeks and seems healthy, alert and active, chances are you're both home free!
Pigs have their noses in the dirt all the time, and absorb a number of nutrients that way, including iron and selenium. In some places, the soil has little or no iron or selenium, rooting in soil like this will not provide the needed nutrients. So if you want to be absolutely certain your piggie is getting these nutrients, let him root around in a small mound of potting soil (the kind with NO fertilizer or plant food!)
Sows milk is very low in iron, so piglets confined to factories and such where they do not have any contact with dirt are usually iron deficient and automatically given a supplement shot at birth. This is why some people think shots are required.
It's easy to overdose on iron and selenium, and overdoses are fatal, so I would not even think about iron shots unless the piglet has a blood test that shows anemia, or he exhibits the symptoms of anemia, including lethargy.
In the next few days I suggest adding more and more rice cereal to the goat milk, and starting to mix in start pot-bellied pig pellets. Piglets will do fine on solid foods alone by age 4 or 5 weeks, but because your baby is a runt I'd continue offering the goat milk along with solid foods for the full 8 weeks that a pot-bellied piglet usually nurses.
Also, I'd start getting the piglet used to a harness. The earlier a harness is introduced, the more the piglet will accept it. It's much easier to teach the baby piglet good habits right from the start, than to force an older pig to unlearn bad habits.
Male pot-bellied piglets can be fertile as young as 8 weeks!! Because your baby is a runt, I'd make an appointment with the vet for evaluation at 8 or 9 weeks old, to decide if your piglet is ready for neutering or if it would be better to wait awhile. Earlier is better, but size is also an issue. I'd leave that decision up to the vet who is doing the surgery.
Finally, I recommend the book Pot-Bellied Pig Behavior and Training by Priscilla Valentine. She really understands pigs and how they think. It's available from Amazon.com or her site www.valentinesperformingpigs.com
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