Possibly un-weaned piglet?

Piggly Wiggly πŸ–

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So as many of you know. I was going to get a potbelly piglet. Well I got him, today! So come to find out he has only been weaned for two days. I found this out when I got home from picking him up. So I wasn't to worried, until he wouldn't eat. He would eat pelts if I held them with my index finger and thumb, but that was it. Btw he is drinking water fine. Now I'm kinda worried that he isn't fully weaned. So I have two questions. One is it just first day in a new home jitters or is he not fully weaned. And two if he still needs milk can I give him cows milk? Thank you anything is helpful!
 

Alaskan

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I would call the person you bought him from, and keep feeding him whatever he had been eating.

Maybe she was soaking the pellets with milk.... or water....or?????

It is best to not have a drastic feed change.
 

Piggly Wiggly πŸ–

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I would call the person you bought him from, and keep feeding him whatever he had been eating.

Maybe she was soaking the pellets with milk.... or water....or?????

It is best to not have a drastic feed change.
I am feeding him the same pellets she had. She gave me a freezer bag full, and directions on how to feed him. We have been doing just that. I even tried giving him pellets mixed with yogurt (plain Greek yogurt) he still didn't eat it.
 

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I am feeding him the same pellets she had. She gave me a freezer bag full, and directions on how to feed him. We have been doing just that. I even tried giving him pellets mixed with yogurt (plain Greek yogurt) he still didn't eat it.
Had she fed the pellets mixed with yogurt?

If he eats them from your fingers, I would do that for a few days, hoping that once he settles in better he will eat better.
 

Piggly Wiggly πŸ–

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Had she fed the pellets mixed with yogurt?

If he eats them from your fingers, I would do that for a few days, hoping that once he settles in better he will eat better.
Ok thank you. She told us he liked yogurt. So after several failed attemps of feeding him regular pellets we tried them mixed.
 

secuono

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He is 7 and a half eight weeks.
They can be weaned then.
Mine were eating solids like...well, like piggies early on.
It might be the stress. If he's not willing to eat tomorrow, I'd start to worry a bit.
But they were outside, hay, grass, pig feed available. Come squealing and running when I brought the feed over. Little soda can sized piggy stampede.
 

farmerjan

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Weaned 2 days is NOT FULLY WEANED. That is simply being separated from sow for 2 days.... so you are going to deal with him and the stress of bringing him home.... and being totally separated from any all other pigs so lack of company....and not knowing just how much he was actually eating to get his nutrition than to be "supplementing milk with the pellets." Fully weaned means he is not getting any milk from nursing the sow and being totally dependent on outside food.....2 days is not enough to get his gut tract fully acclimated to not having any access to nursing the sow.

Yes that is old enough to be weaned.... but it depends on how much he was eating..... and to be truly weaned it is usually a minimum of 1week, more like 2 weeks; and they have to be eating a greater percentage of solid feed than wanting milk. I guess follow the breeders suggestions, because that is where you are going to have to trust what they are telling you to do. A pig will eat more when it is in a familiar situation... then when removed from all familiar things, places, and companions, it will be an adjustment. Being fully weaned would have been easier on it to make the other adjustments.

I would be careful to add cows milk to the diet since it is different than pigs milk from the sow.... If he has been eating yogurt that would be better as in more familiar...and more digestible in the gut tract.
 

Simpleterrier

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You should probably find a lactating sow and put her on a milk stand and milk her then bottle feed him. I hear wild sows are the best they have the highest probiotics in their milk. Depending on which state u live in you might be able to just walk around and find a wild one. Make sure u put lotion on your hands wild sows don't like chapped hands.
 
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