CALIFORNIA POTBELLIED PIG ASSOCIATION, Inc.
Your Subtitle text
Home Sharing
Home Sharing with a Pig
This months question is actually a cute story about potbellied pig behavior sent to us by one of our members. It reminded me of the precautions that we all need to keep in mind when sharing our homes with these clever little creatures.
So, sometimes when our piggies are tired they go to the top of the stairs and nap because the heat rises and its comfy. So one of my little angels was gone for a little bit and we figured she was sleeping @ the top of the stairs. Well we were wrong. Chris went up to check and saw her eating something in my brother's room - who swears his door was closed. She saw him, realized she was caught, and ran to hide with a mouth full of food. She was eating a cliff bar! We were glad to get it before she ate much of it and sent her down stairs. Then she snuck up the stairs ninja style. Chris went up again and found another wrapper! Before she was caught she had successfully eaten one w/o us knowing. Sneaky little brat. Then she waited a few moments and again crept up the stairs. Chris again went up to get her but decided to check my brother's room in case she made a mess. To his surprise he found another cliff bar wrapper! There's about 250 calories in each and 27 grams of sugar. She is now acting PSYCHO! She has such a sugar high, she is off the walls. I can't believe he left his door open! Grrrrr. And I can't believe I thought she wasn't causing trouble. Please pass this along to anyone who it could help. So I think I've learned if I catch my pig doing ONE thing wrong, they have probably done at least THREE things wrong. Its going to be an interesting night.
It's like child proofing a home from a smart strong agile mischievous 3 or 4 year old forever. Even if room doors are closed, they can sometimes flex them from a lower corner and get them to pop open. Once they learn a behavior, they never forget it. Your brother should try to keep edible things in closed drawers and off the floor or bed. Of course, pigs can also easily learn to open low drawers and cabinets, even refrigerators. Child locks are still on our lower kitchen cabinets from our first pig, TS, and he died in 1995.
We have had potbellies kill themselves from finding large quantities of salty or less than healthy food. I'm not sure what a "cliff bar" is, but salt and chocolate can be health problems for potbellies.
Also for our purse carrying people out there, don't place your purse on the floor when visiting a home with a potbellied pig. People tend to drop their purse (full of pills, make up and all types of toxic stuff) on the floor and then go off into the yard or where ever for a visit. This has proved fatal. One of our members lost her beloved pig to her boyfriend's caffeine pills, left on a low table.
Good luck with that sugar high.
Chris Christensen
This months question is actually a cute story about potbellied pig behavior sent to us by one of our members. It reminded me of the precautions that we all need to keep in mind when sharing our homes with these clever little creatures.
So, sometimes when our piggies are tired they go to the top of the stairs and nap because the heat rises and its comfy. So one of my little angels was gone for a little bit and we figured she was sleeping @ the top of the stairs. Well we were wrong. Chris went up to check and saw her eating something in my brother's room - who swears his door was closed. She saw him, realized she was caught, and ran to hide with a mouth full of food. She was eating a cliff bar! We were glad to get it before she ate much of it and sent her down stairs. Then she snuck up the stairs ninja style. Chris went up again and found another wrapper! Before she was caught she had successfully eaten one w/o us knowing. Sneaky little brat. Then she waited a few moments and again crept up the stairs. Chris again went up to get her but decided to check my brother's room in case she made a mess. To his surprise he found another cliff bar wrapper! There's about 250 calories in each and 27 grams of sugar. She is now acting PSYCHO! She has such a sugar high, she is off the walls. I can't believe he left his door open! Grrrrr. And I can't believe I thought she wasn't causing trouble. Please pass this along to anyone who it could help. So I think I've learned if I catch my pig doing ONE thing wrong, they have probably done at least THREE things wrong. Its going to be an interesting night.
It's like child proofing a home from a smart strong agile mischievous 3 or 4 year old forever. Even if room doors are closed, they can sometimes flex them from a lower corner and get them to pop open. Once they learn a behavior, they never forget it. Your brother should try to keep edible things in closed drawers and off the floor or bed. Of course, pigs can also easily learn to open low drawers and cabinets, even refrigerators. Child locks are still on our lower kitchen cabinets from our first pig, TS, and he died in 1995.
We have had potbellies kill themselves from finding large quantities of salty or less than healthy food. I'm not sure what a "cliff bar" is, but salt and chocolate can be health problems for potbellies.
Also for our purse carrying people out there, don't place your purse on the floor when visiting a home with a potbellied pig. People tend to drop their purse (full of pills, make up and all types of toxic stuff) on the floor and then go off into the yard or where ever for a visit. This has proved fatal. One of our members lost her beloved pig to her boyfriend's caffeine pills, left on a low table.
Good luck with that sugar high.
Chris Christensen
"...pigs are very beautiful animals. Those who do not think so
do not look at anything with their own eyes but through other people's eyeglasses."
G. K. Chesterton
do not look at anything with their own eyes but through other people's eyeglasses."
G. K. Chesterton