Are You Considering Getting A Pot Belly Pig As A Pet?

Once this tea cup size piglet matures, it will weigh in at 100 to 200 pounds.

 Are you ready for that?

This Piglet And It's Future Is Up To You.

If you are considering getting a pet miniature pig, make sure you have  accurate information so neither your or that sweet little thing won't have to deal with the trauma of having to get rid of it sometime down the road.

There are many unscrupulous pig breeders who claim they have perfected a way to breed a miniature pig that won't exceed 35 to 50 pounds at maturity.  They will usually also tell you that you will have to be sure to keep it on a strict diet so it doesn't grow too large.  That happens to be their out, for if you do feed that baby according to their directions, it will be stunted, and have internal organ problems and if it does survive long enough to make it thought the first year, it will have all kinds of health problems. If someone who is sharp enough to realize the pig actually needs more to eat, and they go ahead and feed the piglet a more reasonable diet, and it gets larger than the breeder said it would, they will say you didn't feed it according to their directions, and it's all your fault you pig got too large.

These were very tine when they were born, and the young ones will get at least
as large as the Pot Belly Pig they are standing next to.

Keep this in mind: Your pig will grow according to it's genes. Underfeeding it will only produce a malnourished pig that is too thin, and won't even look like a normal Pot Belly Pig.  A pig is a pig, and  a Pot Belly Pig is supposed to have a pot belly, and be reasonably rounded in body, not obese so that it is so heavy that it has trouble getting up and down, but comfortably rounded. You see pictures on this site as well as other pig rescue sites that show pigs in all shapes and sizes, as well as some that are so morbidly obese that they must be put on carefully controlled diets to help save them from being completely crippled, and unable to even move around.  Even these morbidly obese pigs still have to eat enough to survive, and not be starving. Just as weight loss for people takes time and some exercise, so it does with a pig as well.

Slowly, it will regain mobility and energy, and as long as the damage hasn't already been done to it's joints, it should recover pretty well, if not entirely.

Before you do buy a pig from a breeder, first check with a veterinarian in your area that takes care of Pot Belly or other breeds of miniature pigs.  Any qualified vet will know what kind of diet your pig will need, as well as the vaccinations required to prevent pneumonia, rabies, and Parvovirus, as well.