10 days old...Am I doing it right?

Question
QUESTION: we recently got a 10 day old pot belly piglet form our local flea market. The owner said that he had just taken them off the mother and was bottle feeding and bowl feeding them . my husband and I thought they were awfully young to have been taken from there mother but they were taking the bottle great and were eating bread soaked in cows milk. we of course added her to our family. the onlything is that I am not sure I am properly feeding and caring for her. I was told to give her the bottle only three times a day and give her one slice of bread soaked in the milk once per day. She seems happy and is using her litter box great but she squeals everytime we walk past her because she wants to be fed. also i'm not sure but i thought it was goats milk that u should give a piggy. as far as weening her i have no clue of when and how. also one more thing she isn't pooping very much atleast not as much as i would think she would ... should we be worried about this ?thanks again new piggy momma tiffany

ANSWER: Hello,
Well...I will start off by saying that a ten day old piglet is much too young to wean from it mother.
They need at least six weeks with their mother and other siblings not only for the nutritional needs but to learn manners and discipline.
You can use several things to feed your new piglet.
Goats milk is fine but it should be diluted down with water.  One half water works well.
Baby cereal is good to mix in the milk.  I have used Gerber mixed grain
and it works well.  Start off with it watered down well and then as she is eating more out of her dish make it a little thicker.
Make sure she has water available at all times.

The bread doesn't have much nutritional value so I wouldn't even go there.
You should get a Starter chow also and make it available at all times to your piglet. She will nose around in it at first and then slowing start to eat it.
The best Starter chow I have found is the Royal Dandie Starter Chow.  It has everything your piglet will need to be healthy. You can go to royaldandie.com and find it on their product page.  She can eat that for about six months and then can change to the Adult Chow.  They also have a wonderful Vit/Min supplement that is just the best. You just sprinkle it over the dry feed once per day and that's it.
You can also put a small amount in her wet food if she isn't eating the dry food yet.
I hope this helps!


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------


our piggy Bean   QUESTION: so we should go with goats milk not cows milk and as far as the starter chow and vit/min i will get it today. also what about her using the restroom should we be worried if she doesn't poop alot? How often should we feed her the bottle and is there a certain amount of time she should stay on the bottle? Thank you for your time and just fyi we did do a lil research on piggies b4 we added one to our family but with this piggy she is just so young we r not sure so i'm glad there are people like you. Thanks so much have a blessed day tiffany

Answer
I can't tell you exactly how many times a day she should go potty but she should be peeing often.  As far as bowel movements she will have more when she eats more solid foods.
As long as she is using her litter box often and isn't acting like she is straining she is probably just fine.
If she is eating milk out of a dish well you can take away the bottle and just feed her in a dish.  You can free feed her at this age but don't let the milk in the dish sit too long without changing it so bacteria won't grow in it.   Room temperature is perfect.
Take care,
Patty