How to Keep a Skinny Pig Warm

Pigs are famous for their ability to cool themselves while wallowing in wet, muddy patches. Keeping a skinny pig warm in inclement weather is an equally important part of caring for your animal. A young pig or a pig with too little fat can have great difficulty regulating its body temperature, which can lead to severe illness or death. Providing adequate housing and supplemental heat in winter can go a long way to prevent frostbitten pigs.

Things You'll Need

  • Housing with solid sides
  • Clean hay bedding
  • Heat lamp
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Instructions

    • 1

      Provide the pig with a house that has solid sides. Utilize a vacant box stall in your barn or build a pig hut that will house a few pigs, so that the skinny pig can have company.

    • 2

      Bed the pig housing at least 6 inches deep with clean, dry hay. Check the weather regularly and add hay bedding any time the weather threatens to go below freezing. Older pigs can easily handle temperatures down to about 55 degrees, but piglets or adolescent pigs require more heat.

    • 3

      Hang a heat lamp in one corner of your pig's housing. Choose the location carefully, so that the pig cannot reach it and knock it into the hay. Ensure that the heat lamp is secure because unsecured heat lamps are often responsible for winter barn fires.

    • 4

      Encourage your pig to stay indoors as much as possible on very cold days by bringing it food and warm water, instead of making it go outside to drink cold water and eat cold food from the community trough.

    • 5

      Add a sibling or friend to the pig's warm house if your skinny pig is still cold. The second, friendly pig will share body heat with the skinny pig, while it keeps the skinny pig company.