Owning a pet will eat up the time and resources of any owner but one family apparently has their hands full now that the three pot-bellied pigs they were taking care of suddenly tripled in size, weighing as much as 266 pounds EACH.
Nowadays, there’s almost no part of Kayleigh Thomsen’s home that her pet pigs Winston, Bubba, and Hamlet have taken over.
Watch the video to see the pig pets below.
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Video credit: Rumble
Step-dad Neil Harrison, 59, and mom, Enga Thomsen, 49, first bought Winston for the teenager based on an advertisement for a ‘tea-cup pig.’ However, he wasn’t the pint-sized pet they expected him to be.
Still, the family went on to adopt Bubba in December 2018 and then added Hamlet several months later. And Kayleigh says she wouldn’t give them up despite the mess they make.
She said: “I love having the pigs just roam around the house, especially when they jump up on the sofa to cuddle with us and the dogs.
“The pigs each have their own pen that’s almost like their very own little bedroom.
“We can’t physically bath them as we would with the dogs, so we frequently have to hose them down and dry them off in the garden.
“We’d love to take them out for walks, but you need an extra license for that which we don’t have – plus they hate wearing the harnesses we have for them!”
The three pigs have their own dog-like beds and blankets and sleep inside the house during the night.
Kayleigh added: “I was over the moon when my mom said we were getting another pig at the end of last year.
“I already loved Winston but we wanted to get a friend for him, so that’s when we decided to get Bubba.
“It wasn’t long later we heard about Hamlet needing a home too so we decided to adopt him too.
“It’s honestly like having more dogs – or my stepdad, Neil, says they’re like having toddlers.
“They wake up quite early so when Neil gets up for work, he takes them outside to feed them one by one, then they play outside for the day.
“Then around tea time, they come back in the house for food and a play, before cuddling up with us before they go to sleep for the night.”
Obviously, it’s challenging to take care of three big animals but the family enjoys their company nevertheless. Still, they find themselves often needing to clean up after the pigs who track mud from outside onto the carpets even if their feet are cleaned before entering the house.
Kayleigh added: “People always think it’s really funny when they find out we have three pigs, but to us, it’s just the norm.
“They love chilling out and getting their tummies rubbed – Bubba and Hamlet even do ‘zoomies’ where they randomly sprint around the house for no reason like dogs often do.”
Despite the enjoyment they have at having three pet pigs, they still warn others to be careful when buying a ‘micro’ pig because they can end up taking more than they are prepared for.
Kayleigh said: “If I was to say anything to anyone looking to get a pig, I’d highly recommend they do their research as every pig is different.
“When they’re advertised as micro pigs, it’s sometimes because they’ve been starved to look really small – then when they are cared for and fed properly, they obviously grow to be a standard size pig causing people to not want them anymore.
“We love having our pigs, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t hard work!”
Replaced!