Porkchop had his very own column in The Real Story,

a weekly newspaper in Columbus, MS for several months. 

Late one afternoon, while browsing on Facebook, I came across the cutest photo of three tiny, baby pot-bellied pigs. I had always wanted one and knew we didn't need one at the time, but was too curious to see these adorable babies; so, I made an appointment to go look at them that afternoon. That's all it took — I immediately fell in love. The next afternoon, my husband and I picked up our new little pink, spotted "baby," a 4-day-old male pot-bellied pig. We named him Porkchop (Jimmie Dean was another option), but Porkchop seemed to fit him better.

Porkchop was supposed to feed from a bottle — using "Ultra24" milk replacement — but he would have none of it, for me. After consulting with Heather (the angel that brought Porkchop into my life) and Pam (a fellow animal-lover that I can never repay for her help, in the beginning), we agreed that Porkchop would spend a day with Pam, learning how to drink from a bottle. That night, he still wouldn't take the bottle from me, so he got to spend one more day with Pam. That's all it took — he was a PRO by that afternoon. He would, most likely, still be drinking from a bottle, except we had another adjustment ahead — dry food. Porkchop made it through the withdrawal stages (as did I, again, in large part thanks to Heather) and now has a steady diet (stressing the word DIET) of pot-bellied pig food and veggies. He also does very well at using a litter box (or outside) and harassing our three dogs and three cats. There is never a dull moment in our house!

I have had pets all my life, and have never had one that is as entertaining, and just plain goofy and fun, as Porkchop is. Bottle-feeding Porkchop from 4 (well, 6) days old sure has made a huge impact on our "relationship." Porkchop comes to work with me every day, rides in the truck, goes outside with the dogs, and even learned how to sit this past weekend. I'm sure he thinks that I'm his "Mom," because he is my "baby." This was never more evident than today.

Today, for the first time, Porkchop had to go to "daycare" without me (or anyone else). I walked him over to my uncle's house, to stay in the dog pen for several hours, while we met with a consultant at work. As he followed me into the pen (he follows me everywhere — we even play hide-and-seek on our bathroom breaks) he had no idea that he was going to be left on his own. I poured him a bowl of feed, made sure he had water, and as he was exploring his new (temporary) digs, I walked out and latched the gate. As I was walking across the field back to work, I saw his little pink body come up to the gate, and then I heard it… the cry that broke my heart. I can only compare it to what I would experience if I were dropping a human child off for the first day of school. I don't know who was more upset — Porkchop, that his "Mama" was leaving him all by himself; or me, leaving my "baby" crying for me. It very seriously, nearly drove me to tears! We both did fine, of course; I was greeted with a very happy little "grunt, grunt, grunt" when I picked him back up after work.

Porkchop is currently lying on his living room bed, playing with Lexi and Toby (pit bulls), and making sure that we're aware that he is here (and always hungry), just in case we decide to get up and pour him some more feed. He sure is a rotten pig; but, I wouldn't trade him for the world. He does something entertaining every day and I hope to be able to share some of that with you! Stay tuned; hopefully, more Pig Tales will appear in future issues!