here are some pics of our potbellied pig, Duckie. Duckie is our 4 YO DS pet. We went to a swap on his birthday last fall and my MIL said she would buy him whatever pet he wanted that we would allow. When he looked up at me with those sweet little eyes and said, 'Mommy, I want a pig for my birthday--THIS pig and I'm gonna name him DUCKIE!' I just could NOT tell him no. Yes, I am a sucker but I love my son! Truth be told, he is SO sweet and S-M-A-R-T!! he listens and behaves better than all three of our dogs most of the time. All three of the kidlet's adore him, even the neighbor kids love playing with him. He is currently inside (and housebroken) but will be moving to some new outside digs, soon as we get it all built. I'd love to give him a companion, specifically, a pygmy goat (male, wether) but in all of the research I've done I can't seem to figure out if they would be good companions, anyone out there have any suggestions/ideas? this was from the day we got him, Oct 10. That's Jack (the birthday boy) in the pic, Duckie 'belongs' to him. note how TINY he is... this was a few weeks later, duckie moves SO fast it was hard to get a pic. this was sometimes during winter, ONLY in my house will you ever witness a dog, a pig and a 2 YO sharing a snack of petzels in total harmony! and lastly, here's one 'up close and personal' taken by Jack...
Holy cuteness! Your DS looks SO happy! How big will Duckie get? How long do you expect to have him around (ie:is he a pet forever or a side dish to your eggs at some point?)?
thanks! Jack LOVES his pig and honestly, for being only 4 does a really great job taking care of him too. always makes sure to feed and water him and he plays with him all the time. I actually thought he'd be over him after a couple weeks but nope, as Jack says 'I just can't get enough of that pig!' When we were on vacation in Mexico earlier this year, Jack commented several times on how much he missed duckie and how he wished he could have come with us. sooo sweet! he is even wavering on going to DISNEY b/c duckie would have to stay at home! now THAT is devotion! HAHA duckie is full grown now, his last vet visit (about a month ago) he weighed 68 pounds, he is about 15 inches or so tall so he is quite, um solid. Vet said he is done growing but we do need to make sure we keep his diet in check b/c they can get overweight very easily. Vet also said that of all the potbellies he's ever treated, this one is easily in his top five fav pigs. we just really lucked out with him. funny thing is, we picked him specific b/c he was a little smaller than the other two and they were picking on him, they had bitten his ear just before we picked him up too, poor little guy had a really bloody ear and was just shaking he was so scared. luckily their skin heals very quickly and he was fine after a couple days. LOL, he's a forever pet--would be too small to eat, not to mention i couldn't eat him seeing as what a sweetheart he is. Average lifespan is 15-20 years. He will be moved outside soon though, he is currently chillin in my kitchen area, in a very large crate (he is in it in the last pic posted) when we aren't keeping a close eye on him or have to run out. Only real issue for me with keeping him inside is he is always, ALWAYS hungry--or makes you think he is at least. He will continue to root around everywhere looking for food. no matter how much he's given, he's always on the hunt for more. Our youngest is two and I thought I had my house totally child proofed by the time he came along (#3), oh boy, was I ever wrong. I should rent him out to childproof homes! lol He is absolutely great with the kids and even likes to play with the dogs. loves to follow us around outside too, he comes when he is called--i had no clue how fast a pig could run either. learning all kinds of new things about him.
The vet is right; you need to keep his weight in check. We had neighbors in SC who let theirs get so fat it couldn't even walk. It was sad. He was a cute pig when we first met him and would come right into the house, but eventually he ended up just sitting in the pigsty because he couldn't get around.
I love him and wish to pignap him but I will refrain bc my saint bernard and duckie would destroy my house lol!
goodness sallyF, that poor pig! I do NOT want duckie to end up like that! I really keep tabs on what he eats as I'm home with him all the time (work from home). I also try to keep him really active. He goes outside for several hours a day and spends a lot of it running about our 3 acres. I have noticed he puts on weight more since we had him neutered, almost 15 pounds in the two weeks in between the surgery and follow up! although, we were out of town and had a sitter so I can't speak to how many treats he got during that time! can't really fault the sitter, when he wants to be duckie can be QUITE persistant! mandalina--you are welcome to try to pignap him but you'll have to fight the 4YO for him! LOL good luck with that! HAHA! yeah, saint bernard is a bit bigger than ours, we have two lab/shepard mixes (one of them in one of the pics) and a lab/doberman mix (he's huge but very lanky, like a dobi).
Amazing pet! I always thought they would get MUCH bigger than 65 pounds....but that shows how much I know about pigs. My mom would kill me if I brought a pig home. How old is Duckie?
Quote:well if you let them they WILL get bigger than that. you have to keep close tabs on their food intake b/c they will act hungry ALL the time. we don't have an exact date of birth for him but vet estimated him to be about 8-9 months old. we'll be celebrating his 'birthday' same day as Jack, Oct 10. **posted using my iPhone, please ignore typos.**
Hi All! Just thought I'd post an update on duckie-pig... Duckie has had an exciting summer! He moved into his new digs early in summer and then around the fourth of July he got a playmate--a pygmy goat! They are best of friends and even sleep together in the dog-igloo! It's very cute. Little goat STILL does not have a name though. We've been trying to find something that fits him but nothing has jumped out so far....right now he is called goatie! this HAS to be my all time favorite picture of Duckie, this is SOOOO his personality! Here is a pic of the goat, any suggestions on a name? this picture is has a pretty bad flash glare in it but you can see both of them, all snug in their igloo.
