It’s a bittersweet day in our house! Oscar outgrew his very first crate. I’ve been putting off buying Oscar a new crate because I didn’t want to admit he had outgrown his baby crate. Also, I couldn’t find a larger crate with doors on the top and the front, and I loved the top-opening feature of his first crate.
Oscar’s old crate was getting too small for him though, so I finally gave in and bought him a new one. This one is much roomier, and he can relax, stretch out, and twirl around in it. It took him a few hours to adjust to his new crate, but now he seems happy in it.
Oscar’s new crate is a little bigger than he needs right now since it fits 30-50 pounds, but he is doing well with potty training so I’m not worried about the extra space. Also, I’m sure he’ll grow into it quickly enough! We’ll use his crate as his bed for a bit longer until we’re confident he’s fully potty trained, and then he can just sleep in his own little bed going forward. I know he’ll be excited when that day arrives!
I had been crating my pig and she makes a huge mess pooping and weeing. She is 14weeks. I tried both inside and out and she still will do it anywhere if I take my eye off her. If I pen her in the bathroom once she has used potty once she won’t use it again and does it on the floor. Help
Hi Jodie! I can give you a few ideas of things to try in case you haven’t yet. One thought is that her crate might be too big. You really just want her crate big enough that she has space to turn around so that she can’t go potty in one area of her crate and still have space to hang out in the other part. If that’s the case and her crate is too big, there are crate dividers that you can insert to make the crate smaller and then move the insert back as she grows. Another thought is to make sure you’re completely getting the scent out in spots where she has gone potty where she shouldn’t be going. I highly recommend using a good pet cleaner with an enzyme cleaner in it. Sometimes the pet can still smell the accident even when we think the scent is gone, and they will continue going in that spot as long as it still smells. Pigs are really guilty of doing this, so it’s important to scrub the areas down with an enzyme cleaner. In cases where it is just a few spots, sometimes putting a piece of furniture over the spot helps because it keeps them from going back to the same spot. Lastly, when Oscar was that age, he went potty about every hour or two (if we were lucky), so it felt like we were constantly taking him out. If you’re trying for outside potty training, make sure you’re taking her out frequently. For Oscar, he often wouldn’t go when we would take him out, but then when he did have to go, he couldn’t hold it and hopefully we were outside when that happened. They don’t have full control of their bladders until they are about 9 months old, so when it’s time to go, they don’t have much time before they will go. So, for indoors, make sure she’s close enough to her potty box that she can get there quickly when she needs to go and of course make sure her litter box is clean since that will make them go outside their litter box as well. You might be doing many of those things already, but hopefully something in there will give you an idea to try. Hope that helps!
Charlotte always poops and weeing in car too. After I takin her potty. Any way I can train her in car. She gets car sick too. Ideas please.
Part of the pottying in the car might just be because she’s not completely potty trained yet, as you mentioned in your last comment. So, once she’s fully potty trained, that might improve. That being said, some pigs just ride better in cars than others. Some are, ahem, nervous poopers in the car, and owners have a hard time traveling with them. So, it’s possible she will get better with that as she gets older, but it’s also possible that she’s just one of the nervous travelers. As for car sickness, we just experienced that with Oscar for the first time a few weeks ago. After hearing from a veterinarian, we learned that it’s really common for pigs to get car sick. Our solution, per the vet’s recommendation, was to travel with him in the morning before he had eaten to keep his stomach more settled. Luckily, we had the flexibility to get up early in the morning and Oscar handled not having breakfast better than we thought. We made it back home without him getting sick, and we fed him as soon as we were home. So, if you need to travel with Charlotte on a short trip to the veterinarian or somewhere like that, you might try crating her for the bathroom issues and also making an early morning appointment, if possible, and waiting until after the appointment to feed her to reduce her car sickness. I know that not feeding them “on time” brings about a whole bag of other issues (the screaming…), but you’ll have to weigh the pros and cons on that if she’s continuing to get car sick. Hopefully she gets better in the car as she gets older!
Hi just needing some advice about getting our 5 week old Lulu settled & sleeping through night. I have read that piglets sleep in crates but Lulu would totally freak if we put her in one. I was thinking of putting her bed & blankets in the shower. What do you think?