[Gpdd] GPDD--misc--best place to go

[DEB GANLEY]

Hi, Debbie--I hate to disappoint you, but 5 year olds (no matter how responsible they may be) are way too young to have pigs as pets.  They have very fragile bones & one little slip--like a 5 year old getting up from the floor with a GP& accidently dropping them --can kill them.  A younger child certainly wouldn't mean it, but Gp's bones are very light so that they can change directions in the wild if they need to get away from a prey animal (hawk, owl, etc)--even a big hug from a young child can do them in.  

We adopted our first pig from our local Humane when my daughter was about 10 years old--& I still wouldn't let her hold Potter without my constant supervision.   Pet stores will bill GP's as the perfect pet for young children but they're wrong, & usually give bad feeding & care advice--the biggest reason so many pigs die at a young age is because small children are allowed to have them as pets, & that parents are given bad advice by the stores.  Kids also lose interest very quickly, parents have to take care of the pet after that, & that's a prime reason many pigs end up in shelters & euthanized.  As a friend of mine has on her House Rabbit Society site "they're not Disney tapes or boxes of cereal--children WILL get tired of the animal & the parents will wind up taking care of them"   I'm paraphrasing--but it does happen.  

Please think twice, & then again, about it--i know you mean it in the best possible way--but please wait a few years till your girls get older.   Deb, Potter, Molly & Emma