Any of These Pigs Is Best To Have As Pets

Pigs are gaining immense popularity as pets these days. While pigs are clean animals and typically do not have a body odor because they possess very few sweat glands which are not effective at controlling the body temperature as those of humans. It is important to know that the feces and waste of pig smells a lot. In fact, it smells way worse than the horse or cow manure. In other words, expect a few complaints from the next-door neighbors. Pigs are also very vocal animals that express themselves in not so calm tones.

Some aspects of the urban environment are not compatible with keeping pet pigs. While, in some ways, pigs are similar to dogs since they can be house-trained, they still have some peculiar needs that are difficult to meet in a home setting.

Most individuals today do not know the fact that pigs do not sweat, they have very sensitive skin which can easily get attacked by insect bites and other parasites as well as getting sunburnt. That is why most pigs love staying in the water or swimming in the mud since it actually cools them off on hot days, and acts as an insect repellent, sunscreen, and skin conditioner, as pigs are prone to dry, flaky skin.

Generally speaking since pigs do not smell, they do not really need to be bathed on a daily basis, all that needs to be done is to keep maintaining their hygiene and keeping their habitat clean by removing waste and feces that might lie around.

However, pigs living together with humans in the house must be kept clean regularly. When they are allowed to go out for a short while, these animals will immediately find their way to roll in mud or swim in pools or even defecate and urinate in the bathtub or kiddie pool just as pigs living wildly will go to streams to pass out feces and rub themselves with it to prevent predators from noticing them.

Best Pig To Have As A Pet

Types of pigs that make for great pets include :

#1. Vietnamese Potbellied Pig

Potbellied pigs are believed to have their origins from Vietnam is a domestic pig easily identified by their stout stature with short legs and round body that hangs low. Pigs in general are highly intelligent creatures and contrary to popular beliefs or opinions about these animals, they are actually very clean especially when brought up and trained in that way. They also do not have any form of body odor since they have very few sweat glands which do not even produce sweat.

Having a weight of about  60-110 pounds when fully mature or as adults and a height of 12-20 inches, these animals have been discovered to live as long as 15-20 years. Having a potbellied pig as a pet is no different from having a dog as a pet, this is so true most especially in terms of their intelligence, playfulness, ability to scatter things around the house, training them on how to use the litter, and so on. The only trick involved in training a pig is that the earlier the training begins, the better. If their training begins as babies, it is much easier for them to pick up fast and it stays with them for the rest of their life and they are easily trainable at that stage, but training an adult potbellied pig is not so easy.

#2. Kunekune

These pigs are also pot-bellied but called Potbellied-sized kunekune pigs and are naturally friendly animals and and make wonderful pets. Do not be deceived tho, because these pigs might look as small in size as piglets, but when they become mature adults, their size increases greatly.

#3. Juliana

Also known as the painted mini pig, this mixed breed of pig is said to originate from Europe which was developed through a selective breeding program to enhance its smaller size, temperament, and intelligence. The physical morphology of this breed is small to medium ears, a slight potbelly, short hair swept back, and a short straight tail. They have a very gentle disposition and love to play. Having a height of about 13-18 inches and they typically weight ranging from 30 pounds to about a hundred.

#4. Pygmy Hog

While this breed of pig has almost become nonexistent, there is another breed called the American Guinea Hog which is larger and used mainly for meat, and the two breeds should not be confused or mistaken for each other. The pygmy hog has a smaller size and makes for a great pet if available.

#5. Ossabaw Pig

These are also known as feral pigs with a wild and untamed demeanor since it is born on the wild or became wild after escaping from where it was being kept. These pigs are among the last set of pig breeds to have been domesticated and were introduced to humans by the colonists who settled in Georgia, possibly by the Spanish as food alone and not to keep as pets. Ossabaw pigs have long snouts, heavy coats, and pricked ears. They have excellent temperaments, are very lively and extremely intelligent since they come from the wild.

They are very friendly and easy to train and usually bond well with all members of the family including other pets. Having a life span of close to 15  years or more, this pig maintains a height of 40 to 90 pounds in the wild but get to an alarming size of 200 to 300 pounds. They also have a height of 14- 20 inches and have a variety of colors ranging from grey to blue and red as well as spotted colors like black and white or striped colors of red with black or black and white and red.

#6. Yucatan Pig

With roots deep from Mexico and Central America These pigs originated in Mexico and Central America, these pigs are unique and different from other pigs because they possess straight backs without pot bellies, their snouts are quite short, sparse coats on their skin, and a very gentle demeanor. Since their skins are very similar to those of humans they are often used in chemical and clinical laboratories to test for things related to the skin.

Other pigs that nake for great pets include:

  • The Gottingen mini pig
  • American Landrace
  • Hanford
  • Sinclair

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.