pet pigs | jmgoyder

Mathilda’s arrival

by jmgoyder

A hundred or so posts ago, I said I would tell the story of Mathilda’s arrival into our lives. Mathilda is the miniature pig who grew into a non-miniature pig (see November 9, 2011 post), and who now lives on a proper pig farm.

Well, Husband, Son and I brought Mathilda home in a pet container that was only just big enough (she was already larger than anticipated at a few months of age).

So, once we were home, we were, as usual, greeted vociferously by our two miniature dacshunds, Doc and Blaze, who became even more excited when I got the pet container out of the back seat of the car. Mathilda had her backside pressed against the door to this container so all the dogs could see was her funny little tail which they sniffed curiously. Naively, thinking that they would adore their new little/big friend, I opened the door and Mathilda backed out.

Now, looking back, I am sure the dogs were okay with what I believe they assumed was another dog. But when she turned around and they saw her snout, there was a rather horrified pause as the dogs stared, shocked, at this peculiar looking creature and then, whammo, their alarm turned to hatred and, chaos ensued as their whines turned into growls, then high-pitched barking.

I was holding little Mathilda in my arms, trying to calm the dogs and introduce them in a civil way, when she leapt away and sprinted across the paddock with Doc and Blaze after her.

Husband: I don’t think this is going to work.

Son: Mum, you’re an idiot.

Me: Arghhh!

We eventually whistled the dogs back and put them in the ‘naughty corner’, a big, fenced yard we use to contain them when necessary but Mathilda didn’t come back. As you can imagine, I was terribly distraught, and wandered around outside for hours, calling her. The relief when she turned up the next morning was overwhelming!

Of course, months later, when Mathilda had GROWN, the situation was reversed and Doc and Blaze were terrified of her, but all in all, I learned a very important lesson:

Dogs and pigs are not compatible!

Animal

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Vegemite

by jmgoyder

Before replacing my pig passion with birdiness, and before Mathilda experienced her growth spurt, I purchased another little piglet – Vegemite – who happened to be Mathilda’s half-sister. This worked out beautifully because our dogs (two miniature – yes miniature – dachschunds) hated Mathilda, so she was a bit lonely. Mathilda and Vegemite adored each other.

However, it wasn’t long after the above picture was taken that both pigs became bored with simply nibbling grass and began to dig and I mean DIG! For those of you tempted to get a pet pig, let me tell you pigs dig; they dig with their snouts and they dig fast. In the space of a few seconds Mathilda and Vegemite would dig holes the size of small craters. I could have planted a forest if I had wanted to.

So, in the face of Husband’s and Son’s fury, I was forced to put them in the chook pen which, because it was winter and raining, soon became a dam of sorts. When noone was looking, I would let them out to free range with explicit instructions not to dig, but to them a patch of pristine lawn was like a gift, so confining them to the pig pen (the chooks had moved out) became the norm.

And, yes, Vegemite also grew rather big, so when the pig farmer took Mathilda, he also took Vegemite. But their largeness was to their advantage because the first thing the farmer said was “bloody hell, they’re way beyond slaughtering – meat would be too tough – I’ll use them for breeding.” I tried not to appear too shocked because it hadn’t occurred to me that he might want to eat them!

Animal

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It all started with a pig

by jmgoyder

Oh how I adored Mathilda. She was just a teensy bit bigger than the miniature pet piglet I had anticipated. Yes, the breeders were kind enough to show me her parents who were also just a teensy bit bigger than the miniature pigs I’d read about. It was explained to me that there was a slight difference between miniature pigs and pet pigs but I was too smitten to care. Husband, Son and I had travelled three hours to get her, so I ignored Son’s “she’s a bit bigger than the photo in the article you showed me, Mum!” and Husband’s “couldn’t we get a miniature something-else?” and we brought her home. The above picture is of her second day with us (the first day is another story).

Okay, so, after a few months, and several hundreds of kilos of wheat, Mathilda started to look a little on the big side. I didn’t notice, but many of our friends did and would make rather unfortunate comments about her size. “What a cute tea-cup pig you have there” was one of the cruellest, however I learned to laugh these remarks off because, well, she was still Mathilda and I still adored her.

Alas, Mathilda outgrew our pigpen and our garden and became a bit restless so we eventually sold her to a local farmer who had a boar of the same breed (not miniature), so now she is happily frolicking and procreating in proper pig paddocks. But I miss her – my Mathilda.