Little Piggy won't eat anything but bread! After running away from home her first day here, Ms Piggy finally returned and we stuck her in the basement. Her prior owners said all they had fed her (she's 8 weeks old now) was bread. Well, I gave her some dry and some wet pig food and water. She drinks water like crazy, but won't toch the food. I brough her an extra kaiser roll, and she wolfed that down like she hadn't eaten in days....which is at least true for her first day here, wandering the woods in snow! Just a little while ago I brough her left overs from dinner, macaroni and some carrot peelings. She scarfed down the macaroni....didn't touch the carrots and still hasnt eaten her real food. Seems she's addicted to white flour products. I'm afraid she's gonna starve at this rate. Has anyone ever gotten a pig like this?

-- Sue (sulandherb@aol.com), March 18, 2002

Answers

A pig will not starve itself .Dont worry she will eat.

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@hotmail.com), March 18, 2002.

Just make sure she has plenty of water and dry pig food and she'll be fine.

-- Daryll in NW FLA (twincrk@hotmail.com), March 18, 2002.

If it will ease your mind (and make her transition a little easier), bake her a pig pellet cake. Just use the pig pellets in bread like you would raisins. Or grind them up and use them instead of flour. Or come up with a whole new baked delight for her that is made out of pig pellets. She'll get a taste for them, then maybe she'll adjust more easily.

-- Sheryl in ME (radams@sacoriver.net), March 18, 2002.

Kids that act that way are said to be spoiled rotten. You could probably coin a new phrase 'spoiled pig rotten'.

-- ken (you@surfbest.net), March 18, 2002.

She's spoiled! And you've received the correct information ... she will eat the pellets or grain or whatever type pig feed you're introducing her to. As long as she has plenty of clean water and the food, she will be fine. The longer you feed her bread and/or flour products, the longer it will take her to be "weaned" of them. My suggestion - leave the pig feed and the water and she'll start eating pretty soon. She may squeel and pout some (or a lot), but whe won't starve!

-- Phil in KS (pemccoy@yahoo.com), March 18, 2002.

If you feel pushed to it, tear some bread up into small pieces and spread it through the other pig feed she's supposed to be eating. Stir a few bigger pieces into the top, but make sure she can see the smaller ones scattered though. Daily reduce the bigger pieces, then all pieces (unless you have a low-cost source of old bread).

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), March 19, 2002.

What would happen if all she ever ate was bread? Is that sufficient protein? 2 grams in a 70 calorie slice works out to only 9 percent? Thanks for all your responses. I tried your trick Don....she picked out the bread, pulled it away from the feed bucket and then ate it!

-- Sue (sulandherb@aol.com), March 19, 2002.

Put the bread, her favorite foods, hog pellets, and water in a bucket, mix well, dump in her dish. She will eat.

-- julie (jbritt@ceva.net), March 19, 2002.

Do you have access to some cheap milk (goat?). Mix the pig feed with warm milk to make a soupy mixture and see if she won't eat that. We've never had a pig turn down warm milk yet, and they will generally eat anything dumped in with it. If you have to buy store milk, mix it about half and half with warm water to make it stretch farther. After a few days, cut back on the milk and gradually eliminate it, she should be eating the pig feed ok by then.

-- Lenette (kigervixen@webtv.net), March 19, 2002.