Pot Belly Pig questions

[WendyCFL]

I read that pigs will "blow out" their hair a few times a year, but our old pig never did (light colored pink/white), whereas our new one - black - is losing her hair and skin is flaky. Is this normal? I'm feeding them flax seed oil and daily vitamins.
Also - the new one needs her hooves trimmed, and although she loves belly rubs, forget it when i try and take something to her feet! She's about 5-6yrs old, and I doubt her old home ever trimmed her feet. Thanks for any advice!

 

[redhen]

I took mine to the vet for feet trimming last year..
I may try it myself this year(cause all the vet used was dog toe nail trimmers)... when they lay down for belly rubs thay are pretty mellow... not sure if it will work though..i may end up in a battle with them.

As for the hair..yep... mine have been blowing their coats since they became outside piggys.. then it grows back in over the summer.
Flaky skin.. yep... mine too. Not much you can do for them except rub lotion into their skin.
Maybe a bath will help with baby shampoo or something..?
Have they been treated, in case they have mites?

*come to think of it..my white pig hasent blown her coat yet either.... interesting!*

 

[Skyesrocket]

I have black pots and white pots. I noticed the same thing about the hair. My white pots haven't shed yet and the one has pretty long hair. You might notice the dry skin more on the black pigs because the flakes stick out more against the black.
I used show sheen for horses on my pigs for flaky skin and it worked pretty good.
If she will drink it give her a couple of cans of beer before hoof trimming. One of the pig rescues used to recommend benadryl and beer before trimming. Give it a little time to hit her then let her stand in grass with a bowl of food in front of her. Trim the hooves while she is standing on the soft ground. You might only get one or two trimmed at a time.
I also saw where a rescue would do what they called a "piggy roll". Where a person would sit and put their arms around the pig and pull it onto it's back against the person. I never tried it because I couldn't get anyone to try to roll a drunk pig onto it's back.

You might be able to find a video of it on utube.
Good Luck! I have hooves here that need to be trimmed. Two of my girls will let me trim theirs during belly rubs. But only one or two at a time. I started playing around with their feet while I was giving them belly rubs to get them used to me handling the feet.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
LMAO!! Rolling around with a drunk pig!! Bwhahahhahahah!

NOw i must try that...

 

[WendyCFL]

hmmm... if the vet who my husband asked to come out later this week can't manage, then I might just try the beer trick! One for her and two for me, at least one of us will be mellow!

 

[1987MJ]

Use bottled beer. My girl can wrap her lips around the bottle and can dry a 12 oz bottle in about 3 seconds flat!! it does seem to mellow her out some but I've not tried to do any trimming.