Tea Cup Pigs

California Potbellied Pig Association, Inc

At info@CPPA4Pigs.org we get many emails from potential potbellied pig owners wanting to know about reasons to get or not get a potbellied pig as a life companion. This is an answer written by one of our board members to a person who was interested in one of those tiny pigs he had seen on a morning TV show.

Tea Cup Pigs

I was shocked when I saw the tea cup pigs on a major morning show. I watched with interest to see if they would ever show an adult, and of course they didn't. Those pigs are just like any other breed of small pigs, only to get the variety of colors she threw in a bigger breed of small pig, bigger than pot bellies.

Small or miniature pigs are called that because farm pig breeds grow up to be 800 to 1200 lbs. Farm pigs are 200 lbs at 6-8 months, that is when most are sold for pork. Miniature pigs don't usually reach that size ever. They are 1/4 the size of farm pigs, so they call them miniature. It took me a long time to get that too. We thought our first pig was going to be 55 lbs. max. He was about that big at one year, but by year three he was 210. We put him on a diet, and he lived his next 14 years at 190. We loved every bit of him, but it takes lots of energy and patience to care for an intelligent animal of that size. And believe me they are intelligent, it is amazing what he taught us to do, more than we ever taught him. He was a great buddy, we were able to travel with him, take him for walks, have him interact with our family and friends at parties, etc. But he also hurt a few stupid people that thought they could tease him, so it was up to us to be always vigilant.

We currently have an almost three year old and a 14 year old pig. They weigh about 160 each. We are not the best parents when it comes to feeding. The three year old started out as a very cute 6 lb piglet. She is so attached to us it is almost impossible for us to be away from her because we feel the same way about both of our girls.

You are right, they are much smarter and cleaner than dogs, but that comes with some unique problems that need to be carefully considered.

Thank you for writing to us.

Holly Sears, CPPA

"Heaven help us now if hogs had kept all five fingers."

L. Watson