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Sarah has always loved animals but especially horses. She works at an animal rescue in the Miami area and that's how she was introduced to pigs and became obsessed with pigs also. The rescue she works at has a very strict vetting process for finding their rescues a good home. There is no time limit on how long animals can stay at the rescue so they are able to take their time and find a great home for each animal. That is how she got Oliver. Early January of 2023 Sarah was leaving work and her boss said she needed to go pick up a little pig. The next day when Sarah came into work she saw a tiny cute little baby pig and she thought he was so cute. The vet estimated him to be 2 to 3 weeks old. That time of year they can have some cold snaps in Miami so she offered to take him home so he could stay warm. Sarah put pee pads down in her room because she noticed in the stall that he would use a corner to go to the bathroom. So in her house he picked the corner he wanted to use and that's the one he stuck to. Sarah remembers being scared because the whole 24 hours she had him he hadn’t pooped. The minute she took him outside he pooped. She had it in her mind that she would just foster him. But at night she wanted to take him home because she didn't want him to be alone. There were a lot of people that wanted him but Sarah's boss was determined to not just place him anywhere. Sarah had him for 2 months and her boss had found a sanctuary that would take him but Sarah decided that now she wanted to keep him. She was able to adopt him and he has been with her ever since.

Sarah tells us about Oliver and what his personality is like. She brings him with her to work every day so he is such a great pig and they have a great routine together. She tells us about how he is at the ranch that she goes to every day.

Sarah tells us about how things went when she first brought Oliver home with her and how he trained so fast so early on. She also tells us how Oliver is with her kids. We compare the hierarchy in the pig world and the horse world and how similar in that aspect.

The biggest challenge Sarah has faced is trying to find an apartment that would work with her about having a pet pig even though he is registered as an emotional support animal. She tells us that her favorite part of having a pet pig is her relationship with him. He is just as important to her as he children. She loves that he is with her all the time and he feels like he was made for her family.

The one piece of advice that she would give to someone who wants a pet pig is, pigs are an easy pet if you have the time and resources for them but they take a lot of work. They need a lot of attention and they need outside time. They are amazing pets to have.

Sarah’s Links:

instagram.com/oliverpiggy2023/

Autumn’s Links:

Website:

https://www.autumnacresminipetpigs.com/

Email:

Autumn@autumnacresminipetpigs.com

Educational Membership Group:

https://www.autumnacresminipetpigs.com/support-group-subscription/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/autumnacresminipetpigs/

Facebook:

HTTP://Facebook.com/autumnacresminipetpigs

Mighty Networks:

https://autumn-acres-mini-pet-pigs.mn.co/share/EPW2Ie5isMX4T0Ve

YouTube:

https://youtube.com/channel/UCGue5Kp5AwOXkReCGPUyImA

Stan Store:

https://stan.store/autumnacresminipetpigs

Newsletter:

http://eepurl.com/hDNizT

Happy Spring! It has been a beautiful spring in Ohio so far, but it has been very wet and muddy. That got me thinking about how much mud everyone is going to have in their house right now, due to their pig going out to go potty or for eating or whatever. So I wanted to talk about how we can handle the rain when our pig doesn't want to go outside to go potty and the mud that they are going to be bringing into the house. How can we keep some of that mess outside? First of all, when it comes to rain, many pigs do not want to go outside in the rain. We need to be proactive to get our pigs to be motivated to always go outside. One way we can do this is to feed them their meals outside as long as the weather isn't extreme. Food is close to every pig's heart so if the weather isn't their favorite they may hesitate but they will still go outside. Something else that you can do is use really good treats to reward them for going outside. Going out in the rain is a hard thing for a pig so buy good treats to reward them well for doing hard things. If you start when your pig is young you can teach them to let you put a little jacket on them. It will keep the rain off of them so it's not as cold. I also have a space outside that is movable and has a little roof on it so once they get to that they won't have rain on them.

When it comes to mud, I like to make sure that they are on fresh grass every morning and move it throughout the day so they aren't knee deep in mud. We also put straw down in muddy places so the pigs don't sink into the mud. We also put gravel or wood chips down in places that get really muddy on our farm. Some pigs love to walk through the mud and others hate to walk through mud. I keep a small tub filled with warm water in front of the door that they walk into the house through. I put a few Cheerios in the tub so they also clean off their snouts. They will walk through the warm water and will get most of the water off their hooves and legs. I try to keep their crates and blankets clean so their blankets aren't caked in mud. This will help with the constant buildup of dirt and mud that happens in the spring.

Autumn’s Links:

Website:

https://www.autumnacresminipetpigs.com/

Email:

Autumn@autumnacresminipetpigs.com

Educational Membership Group:

https://www.autumnacresminipetpigs.com/support-group-subscription/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/autumnacresminipetpigs/

Facebook:

HTTP://Facebook.com/autumnacresminipetpigs

Mighty Networks:

https://autumn-acres-mini-pet-pigs.mn.co/share/EPW2Ie5isMX4T0Ve

YouTube:

https://youtube.com/channel/UCGue5Kp5AwOXkReCGPUyImA

Stan Store:

https://stan.store/autumnacresminipetpigs

Newsletter:

http://eepurl.com/hDNizT

Maribeth gives us an update on how the pigs are doing and how Tree Family Party Piggies is coming along. The reason I really wanted to invite Maribeth back to the show is because she had an experience with her pigs that was very scary and I wanted her to be able to share that with everyone because we can all learn from her experience.

Maribeth and her pigs were coming back from a senior service that ended up totaling her car. There was a lot of damage but she is very grateful that neither herself or the pigs were hurt because she was traveling safely with the pigs. They have always had their pigs travel in the cargo or luggage portion of their vehicle and the pigs are always in a secured hard or soft sided crate. They were traveling in hard sided crates the day of the accident. The reason they are in a crate is because it really protects them from ejection or being severely injured. They have room to turn around in their crate but they are not able to just roam in the vehicle. The most trauma that the pigs experienced was having to be transferred from the crashed vehicle to a new vehicle after the accident. The pigs recovered great because they thankfully had no injuries and were laying down in their crates when the accident happened. She explained that she thinks getting the pigs back into their routine as soon as possible is what helped them the most.

Maribeth's number one takeaway from this experience is that safely traveling in a crate in the cargo compartment of the vehicle saved her pigs from health issues, harm, death and was only mildly traumatizing to them. She also believes that the way she talked to them kept everyone calm throughout the process. I am so grateful she was able to share this experience with us, so we all can learn from it and keep our piggies safe.

Autumn’s Links:

Website:

https://www.autumnacresminipetpigs.com/

Email:

Autumn@autumnacresminipetpigs.com

Educational Membership Group:

https://www.autumnacresminipetpigs.com/support-group-subscription/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/autumnacresminipetpigs/

Facebook:

HTTP://Facebook.com/autumnacresminipetpigs

Mighty Networks:

https://autumn-acres-mini-pet-pigs.mn.co/share/EPW2Ie5isMX4T0Ve

YouTube:

https://youtube.com/channel/UCGue5Kp5AwOXkReCGPUyImA

Stan Store:

https://stan.store/autumnacresminipetpigs

Newsletter:

http://eepurl.com/hDNiz