Buying an Unweaned Baby Pig

In the picture, I was hoping Lil' Pig and the kitten would show baby pig how to drink milk. It didn't work! This was the first day right after we got baby pig home. You can see all the dry skin on her. Most of that is gone, but she still has some dry skin flaking off.

I'm going to start by saying that I do not recommend buying an un-weaned pig or a pig below the age of 6 weeks. Yeah, I know the so-called crazy type of animal lovers will say 8 weeks, and yeah, they are probably right....but 6 weeks is okay too. This post is for new owners who purchased a baby pig under this age. When I first bought Lil' Pig, ALL of the ads for baby Juliana pigs were stating that their pigs were 3 weeks old. I figured this must be common in the pig world. The breeder of Lil' Pig had already got him started lid feeding, so I was easily able to continue that after bringing him home. I never had any problems.

The next baby I got was younger than that! She was a little over a week old. In my mind, I was thinking that I would just bring her home and start her on lid feeding. Well, it doesn't work out that easily. If you plan on buying an un-weaned pig, be warned. You will have to have a lot of patience. I get my milk from Tractor Supply and try to feed the baby. She doesn't eat it and in no way seems interested in trying to. We go out and buy a bottle. Pigs do not just latch onto a bottle of milk and start sucking....LoL They will squeal and scream and you'll have to gently force the nipple into their mouth and hold the mouth gently rubbing it to try and get them to suck. It is no easy task. Personally, I decided the skip the bottle and go with a spoon.

A baby pig will not just start drinking out of a spoon neither. They will not just automatically pick it up. And you have to be super careful as to not give them too much that they choke. It is a process. For the first day, I basically have to open the baby pig's mouth and spoon feed every couple hours. Late on the second day, I start putting the spoonful of milk in front of the baby's face. She licks it on her own finally. I also notice her take a drink of water. I put some warm milk in a lid and she finally starts drinking it. By the next morning (third day), she was completely drinking milk from a lid.

The first day was awful. The baby was getting used to new surroundings and was very whiny. If you left her sight, she'd scream and run after you. By day 3, she is used to everything. Little Pig has even calmed down and loves her company. She don't squeal when you pick her up. Little Pig squealed like crazy when we'd pick him up as a baby. It took awhile for him to stop that. Little Pig has helped a lot with training. The baby follows him in the litter box. Baby pig was easier to litter box train than Lil' Pig by a long shot. I'm so glad we got her! God bless all! I'm out!

P.S. We decided to name baby pig---Peppa.