Posted by Daniel Brummel, Thu, Feb 15, 2018
Petunia Knows that Healthy Skin = a Happy Pig
Maintaining your mini pig’s skin can turn out to be a more demanding job than many owners realize; however, with proper diet and care, most mini pigs will have perfectly healthy and happy skin.
Climate
One of the biggest factors affecting a pig’s skin is the environment in which they live. Many people who own pigs as pets choose to keep them inside their homes. While this does give the pig a safe and climate-controlled place to live, it can create problems due to the humidity level. Our homes generally have very low levels of humidity. Pair this with an active furnace in the winter, and you have a perfect recipe for mini pig dry skin. Luckily, there are many ways to keep your pig’s skin moisturized including lotions, moisturizing shampoos and oils (e.g., coconut or olive oil).
Diet
Another common reason why pigs may get dry skin is a poor diet. If your pig has a taste for junk food, this can translate to poorer-quality skin. This is easily combated, however, by always making sure your pigs are fed a balanced diet with enough essential vitamins and minerals to encourage healthy skin. If you want to make sure your pig is getting the proper nutrients, Manna Pro® makes a Mini-Pig Skin & Coat supplement.
Parasites
Pigs can also be prone to parasitic skin infections such as mites. These mites can burrow under your pig’s skin and make them terribly itchy, in turn causing them to scratch that itch and further irritate the skin. These infections can come from a variety of parasites and may look very different from one another. If you see your pig scratching themselves, they may have a parasite, and it is best to consult your veterinarian.
Overall, dry pig skin is common and most often very easily remedied by making small changes to their diet or bath schedules or applying lotion. Simple measures such as these should be adequate to help keep your pig’s skin happy, hydrated and healthy!
