Mini pig Oscar has started losing his teeth! He started by losing his back teeth, but just yesterday he lost his two front teeth.
Pigs typically lose their “baby” teeth around 12-15 months old, so after Oscar turned a year old, we started watching for signs of him losing a tooth, like increased teething. When Oscar was really young, he liked to grind his teeth when he was feeling content, but he nearly stopped grinding his teeth as he approached one year old. When he started grinding his teeth again, that was our sign that he was teething. Some parents also notice grumpy behavior in their teething pigs but, to be honest, Oscar is pretty naturally grumpy, so we haven’t noticed enough of a difference for that to be a useful symptom. (Sorry, Oscar!)
Although I felt awful knowing that Oscar was dealing with teething pain, I was also a mixture of excited and weirded out by the idea of him losing teeth. On one hand, it’s a sign that our little guy is growing up and gets us closer to being through his teething phase. On the other hand, I’m not used to finding teeth around the house. I also had a bunch of unknowns, like how would he lose his teeth and what would they look like.
I soon got my answer about how Oscar would lose his teeth. For the first tooth, I was walking through the house and just noticed it on the floor next to his food bowl. I was a little sad that I missed him losing his first tooth, but I was excited to have found it. My best guess is that he lost it while eating his dinner since it was so close to his bowl. For his second tooth, he was also eating dinner, but this time he finished his meal, looked up at me, and then just spit out his tooth. After the first two, we’ve had a mix of him spitting teeth out, swallowing them, and us finding them randomly around the house.
Since I’m used to seeing Oscar’s skinny front teeth, I was surprised by how big his back teeth were. It makes sense to me now that I realize his back teeth are larger, but it caught me a bit by surprise at first.
It was only appropriate to celebrate Oscar losing his teeth, so the tooth fairy stopped by for a visit. We got Oscar his very own tooth fairy helper, read him The Night Before the Tooth Fairy
When he woke up, he was so excited because the Tooth Fairy brought him the book he’s been wanting – Prissy & Pop: Big Day Out
He looks pretty silly without his two front teeth but also ridiculously adorable. I’ll be excited once we’re past the teething phase because I hate knowing he’s uncomfortable while he’s growing in new teeth. But, for now, he’s happy with his new book and is hoping the tooth fairy comes back with more surprises as he loses more teeth.
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Our Lewis is going to be 4 this December…it’s hard to believe how the time has flown. I would not trade pet pig parenting for anything! It’s been a dream having him around – he’s a certified member of our family.
We got him at 5 weeks old and we did have to scale some hurdles early on like establishing who is alpha-pig around the house here, potty training, curtailing the nipping and such but the experience having him has been beyond rewarding. He fits in so well here. He loves to spend his time outside grazing in our fenced yard during the day. We live on a golf course and he’s famous around here. All the golfers look for him and call his name as they pass by!
At night he’s most decidedly an indoor pig. He’ll bray at our door when he’s ready to come in. He has a sound for every mood, hunger, frustration (I call it the “old man” groan), greetings (the ha-ha-ha sound when you put your face close to his) and I know them all. He listens to and heeds my directions and understands me like no other animal has before.
One of his favorite things to do is undo the Velcro on my sandals. I’ll strap them on and he’ll come around and undo both, then the cycle begins anew. He loves it.
It just gets better. All of the things you are dealing with will smooth themselves out – I found out that the nipping and head swiping don’t happen as long as you don’t put your face at the same level as theirs – I think they are territorial with that specific airspace. As long as you are above or below their personal space, you can be near them and everything seems to be good in that department.
As you likely know by now, they love routine. That’s fortunate because so do I. Lewis and I have our daily rituals and he’s happiest when we follow them even keeping the time of day when things happen consistent. I think you’ll find if this lifestyle suits you, they will behave a lot better. This took a bit of time to figure out but we found the sweetspot.
I feed him the Mazuri Elder 2x a day and he lets me know when its mealtime, you can set your clock byit 🙂 Otherwise, he gets small morsels of whatever I am cooking or eating – he loves to cook – he’s my sous-chef in the kitchen!
He did get rather large in size – outgrew both parents but we love him regardless. He’s a great sleeper as well as cuddler. He’s gotten too big to jump into our bed (he used to do that often and sleep with us) so now he has his own setup in our living room complete with thick pillows and blankets. I tuck him in every night as he goes to sleep – he LOVES to sleep and he’s as quiet as a church mouse at night.
He’s really a good boy – does not cause too many problems only once in awhile, he’ll get a hold of a pen or pencil and chew it to ribbons but if we catch him with contraband, he does understand “no.”
I could go on and on about Lewis. I look forward to following your posts and learning more about Oscar. Nice to meet up with a fellow pig-parent! Pigs really get a bad rap – most people out there have no idea what they are missing.
Thank you SO much for this! It’s really helpful to hear from a pig parent who is “ahead” of us since Lewis is almost 4 years. We are at the point where we are in new territory lately, and we’ve had some struggles. I heard from another more experienced pig parent once who said the struggles change as pigs get older, and that’s been absolutely true. We had the bonding/trust issues in the beginning, but those are now far behind us. Then we went through the nipping and biting which MTP helped (not fixed, but helped), and now we are dealing with Oscar charging at guests which he has never done before. He used to always love guests, so this is new for us. We’ll learn how to handle this too, but it’s been a new challenge.
We have good days and challenging ones, so it’s really helpful to hear that things smooth out as they get older. I also do well with routine, so Oscar and I are on the same page there…haha. We recently had contractors and just more people in the house than usual, and I think that’s been hard for Oscar and is likely what started the charging. So, now that things have calmed down, hopefully he’ll get back to his normal (wonderfully grumpy…haha!) self.
I laughed out loud when you talked about Lewis undoing the Velcro on your sandals because Oscar does the EXACT same thing! It’s one of his favorite things to do. He accidentally bit my foot while doing that once so I’m hesitant to let him do it now, but it’s also really quirky and funny. I also really love the ha-ha-ha sound. It’s my absolute favorite of Oscar’s. 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing! I started this blog just to share my experiences and like to help people when I can, but I also try to remind everyone that I’m just a first-time pig parent learning as I go. So, I’m always grateful when other pig parents share their experiences and help us out too. Oscar drives me insane AND I love him to pieces, usually at the same time. 🙂 Feel free to share on here and give advice any time you want!
Sure, I am happy to share. Lewis definitely gets stressed when there are loud noises in the house. This could be anything from a vacuum cleaner, an object falling or anything sudden that startles him. His back hooves start churning and he gets excited (not in a good way). Along with their acute olfactory systems, you’ll come to know that pigs have extremely sensitive hearing.
He can be out in the middle of the yard, I come into the kitchen and he’ll hear something subtle like me clacking the silverware and he’ll come running to the door thinking he’s getting a snack!
The charging guests thing is not one I have experienced with Lewis. He does like feet and shoes when people arrive at the house and early on he did nip at guests but fortunately at the time their shoes were on. There are all sorts of smells that come in from the outside and that is a real treat for them.
Perhaps Oscar is nipping thinking that there might be food involved. I have a feeling that is rooted in (no pun intended) the change of routine with all the contractors and guests about. That’s a consistency buster for pigs and it’s likely why he’s acting up.
The only time that’s tough for us is about 30-45 minutes before mealtime. He starts grunting and making the old man noise. I try to feed him promptly at 6, morning and night and that seems to suit him. I think they operate with the sun so whatever time sundown is, you should try and plan the meal for them. We just had the daylight savings time switchover so I adjusted him from 6:30 to 6 using 15-minute increments over 2 days.
If Oscar is anything like Lewis, all of this unwanted behavior will calm down as he matures and then you’ll be left with all the pros – a sweet, gentle, loving and entertaining companion. They’re not full-grown or fully mature until about age 3 and they remain as toddlers for the rest of their lives which, I think, is a good thing.
We rely on each other, perhaps it’s co-dependency but it seems to work for us.
It’s time to go feed him now 🙂
Thank you!! I have read through your comments several times now and they have helped give me some relief on the challenges we’ve had with Oscar. Also, this is SO helpful to prospective and new pig parents. Just wanted you to know I appreciate you taking the time to write this out and share about Lewis! He and Oscar have a lot in common. 🙂
I ‘m happy to share and answer questions anytime, I love talking about our Lewis.
I do have a funny update to share. It’s starting to get cold here and Lewis has found his way back into our bed with us!
To give some background, we have a high king-size bed which is at least 3 1/2′ from our bedroom floor to the top of the mattress. Early on, when Lewis was a piglet, my wife and I used to have him sleep between us. He was always seeking warmth, even during the summer months.
As he grew in age and size, the frequency of his visits to our bed diminished and he started getting used to his pig bed and also sleeping in my son’s bed – depending on his mood, he’ll go to either place. We got to a point when he stopped coming to our bed altogether.
Now fully grown, I figure he’s about 125 lbs. around 4′ long and 3’ high – the size of a large dog. Over the weekend, it got down into the 40s and he came in from the cold so I lit the fireplace for him and put one of his beds there. He loves camping out in front of the fire when it’s cold out. I cannot overemphasize this more – pigs love fireplaces in the winter months!
So that night, he woke up sometime during the wee hours and came into our room clucking. I could tell he wanted something because I understand his tones. I asked him to “show me” and instead of leading me out of the room which he usually does (to the kitchen for a snack or to go outside for a potty break). He came right up to our bed and much to my surprise, with no running start, jumped straight up onto it!
It had been at least a year since the last time he slept with us and I thought he had just grown too large and heavy to jump up on his own. I can’t lift him up anymore but I am able to give him an “assist” getting down off the bed.
So he slept like a baby between us under the covers with the electric blanket cranked up along with the cushy comforter – let me tell you, he was loving life!
Last night, after he had finished his dinner, we were in the middle of something else. When we went into our bedroom, sure enough, there was our Lewis up on our bed sleeping soundly under the covers! He must have gone in there and jumped right up on his own.
I guess he’s re-discovered the comfort of mom and dad’s bed 🙂 Now I guess he’s got 3 possible places to sleep!
Sorry it has taken me a while to respond to this, but I love this story! I can just imagine how happy Lewis was all warm cuddled with mom and dad and the electric blanket. That sounds like a perfect place for a pig to be! Something tells me he might end up there all winter. 🙂
Hello
It is great to hear from someone who’s pig is older than a few months. It lets us all know what to expect after 1 year old. How big is your pig now and when did he stop growing?
Desiree
Hi Desiree, Lewis reached full stature at around 3 1/2 years. He’s about 3′ long from the scruff of his neck to the beginning of his tail and about 2′ tall. Last time he was weighed at the vet he was about 85 lbs. but that was a while ago so I think he’s over 100 lbs. by now.
I hope this helps and I would be happy to answer any more question you may have.
I love your comments so much. I can feel your love for Lewis, amd it matches my own deep fondness for my Popper. We have a special bond like noone else in our family. I had no idea how social minipigs are. Popper definitely needs his people! He gers grumpy if we leave him in the kitchen too long by himself. I too have begun finding his baby teeth. Stepped on one a few minutes ago, in fact!
I bought my Minnie Juliana (piggie smalls) from an auction at six months old and I have had him for a couple of weeks, almost a months now. I love him very much. I haven’t experienced a lot of problems with him but one major issue I have been dealing with is dry skin. I have taken so much advice on this problem (like coconut oil, mini pools, special creams, etc.) but I would like to see what current pig parents have used to fight this problem.
Hi Brittany, so happy to hear another min-pig owner who truly understands what a joy it is to have one in their midst.
The dry skin thing can be tricky. When you let Piggie Smalls (great name!) outside, make sure to apply sunblock to his head, ears, back and sides where most of his hair grows which will help both with the dry skin and also afford him sun protection which they need, especially if their pigmentation is on the lighter side.
Brush his hair often outside – you’ll see a bunch of skin flakes falling off. This is good for them and they also get used to liking the grooming process.
Also train him early to roll on his side (just rub his belly) and he will do it automatically because they LOVE this.
Start trimming his hooves at his early age so he can get used to it at an early age and it will become “spa time” for you and him. When you trim, use a sharp pair of shears designed for this and CAREFULLY trim a slight amount at a time from the round edge at the front of each hoof. It’s so important not to make this a bad experience or they will never let you do it.
When I bathe Lewis, which is not that often as he stays pretty clean, after his bath (which consists of pouring lukewarm water on him outside, lathering him with shampoo and then rinsing), I apply some baby oil to his skin which also helps. I hope these tips work for you. Check in anytime you want with questions. Lewis is now 6 years old so I have some experience with pig ownership!
Wow!! I had no idea they lose their baby teeth. My vet (Chris P. Bacon ‘ s daddy) said that Renly will be “blowing his coat” soon, but nothing about teeth. Seriously, Oscar is so stinking cute with those bottom teeth sticking out!!! I LOVE PRISSY AND POP! I also follow them on Twitter. What a wonderful gift the tooth fairy left for Oscar! What a lucky, loved piggy! ❤❤
We love Prissy and Pop too, and their book is awesome! Oscar already has their Christmas book on his wish list…haha. Yeah, the teeth thing is an interesting experience. It’s a bit embarrassing to admit, but I get really proud of Oscar when he loses his teeth. That feels really strange, but it’s true. 🙂 Although, I also feel badly for him because his teeth and gums have to hurt. Remembering that helps me to be a bit easier on his behavior when he’s teething because I know he’s uncomfortable.
I love that your vet is Chris P. Bacon’s daddy! Oscar is on his second coat blowing of the year. It’s not a big deal but makes cleaning difficult. When Oscar is blowing his coat, I just relax about cleaning the floors because it’s pretty pointless until he stops losing hair. But, once it’s done, he doesn’t shed much in between those times. Also, I brush him quite a bit and sometimes take him outside and pull gently on his hair (especially on his mohawk) to help pull them out. I’ve read that blowing their coats can be uncomfortable (I think just prickly and itchy) for them and that helping gently pull the hairs out makes it less uncomfortable. Sounds like Renly is a lucky, loved piggy too! 🙂
Aww, his funny mouth looks even cuter with his bottom teeth missing. I only have a few of Elmer’s teeth, but only the molars. I think he swallowed the rest.
Haha…I agree. He definitely looks even cuter with his bottom teeth missing. He’s going to look so silly when we’re down to one tooth on the bottom. 🙂 I think it’s pretty normal when they swallow them like Elmer did. We’ve caught Oscar chewing on a few before he swallows them, and then it’s always a panic to try to get him to spit it out. We try to offer him food trades and anything we think we’ll work, but ultimately he decides if he wants to trade or not. Lol. 🙂
Awww he looks cute. Thanks for sharing this. I did not know that they lose their teeth. Mine are not close to that age it but I will pay attention for tooth loss when that time comes. Thank you again for sharing
Thank you! It’s definitely a strange experience when they start losing their teeth. At least you won’t be caught off guard when yours get to that age. 🙂
Hi I am the parent of Dotty,she is 6 months old,I am bit concerned as she is flicking her tounge in out and chewing motion all time ,she is happy and eating , is she teething ,thank you in advance for any help
Nothing to worry about! When she gnashes her teeth and you hear that squeaking sound, it means she is hungry and as we pig owners all know, these little ones are ALWAYS hungry. It will likely subside as she gets through her teething phase.
Welcome to the wonderful and unique world of pig ownership! They are truly wondrous animals.
My husband and became new pig parents a year ago in June 2020. Winston was 6 weeks old when we brought him home. He is still just as precious today as was the day we brought him home. I can admit though I was not prepared for all the challenges we would face in the first year of his life but I also was not prepared to love him so deeply. He is truly something special. And you just can not explain it to someone who has had no interaction with a miniature pig. They are so affectionate on their terms. We went through the biting and some head butting/whipping more so with our friends and guests that come visit not really us. He had been verry loving towards us since day one. For a male (cause everyone warned us about them being aggressive) Winston is as sweet as sugar. He has become our child in the house now that the kids are grown and we love him like a child too. We are still pig parents in training for sure but Winston has done a good job teaching us so far.
I could not agree more! We are well into year 9 with our Lewis and he is definitely a treasured member of our family! As you say, pigs are unique, they are sentient and emotional and have the sweetest personalities (at least Lewis does because we raised him from 5 weeks).
I’ve never had a pet like him or experienced this degree of love and mutual understanding with any other pet. Lewis broke the mold for us and we are blessed to share our lives with him.