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This Little Piggy Came Home

We are thrilled and delighted to welcome dear little Henry into our family. He’s a micro-mini piglet from Our Little Flock; at 8 weeks old he weighs 6 pounds. I’ve taken lots of fuzzy grainy photos of him, with my iphone. Sometimes it’s just easier with all the many spontaneous moments with Henry. We were all a little nervous about getting a house pig…what have we done? what if he’s awful to live with? After just 6 days with Henry, we are all smitten with this chubby little coarse-haired boy.

Henry’s food and water bowl, along with his litterbox is kept in our shower.
He eats like a pig…no exaggeration. This cannot happen on my kitchen floor.

Henry was litter-trained at 1 week old. He’s some pig!

It only took a couple of days to earn his trust.
He wags his tail and grunts happily when he sees us.

This snout means trouble. It can flip and turn anything over. Pigs have bad eyesight,
but their sense of smell more than makes up for it. Hide your snacks.

Betty and Henry first met through a glass wall. Now they co-exist, not really bothering with each other.

After 2 days, Henry has let us hold him without letting out an ear-piercing scream that would go on for minutes. It was so loud that the kids were sent running for cover. Pig Fact: The sound of a jet engine taking off measures 113 decibels, while a screaming pig measures slightly more at 115 decibels. It’s really that loud. Ouch!

The first couple of days, he was confined to our bathroom. Now on our 6th day, he is running freely around our cottage, inside and out. All the baby gates, playpens and cordoned off areas we had ready for his arrival are no longer necessary. Henry just follows us around, he’s very happy to let himself in and out (through our recently repaired screen door) to do his business. He hasn’t had any accidents inside.

Henry is food obsessed, and we must try our best not to over indulge him…or he will grow into a fat pig (sorry, couldn’t help that one). He will mature to be about 25-30 pounds (update April 8: at 12 months he weighed 48 pounds, at 18 months he weighed 80 lbs!). For breakfast and dinner he gets assorted grains, and for lunch he gets a fruit and vegetable salad. Here’s a short video clip of Henry enjoying his greens and peaches.

Visit this link for more…Living With a Pig, 6 weeks later.