I don't remember it personally, but I do know that many people kept pigs in the past. Many house deeds of older houses specifically mention that pigs are not allowed to be kept, which I understand stems from the time when it was so common place to have pigs.

I mentioned pigs in relation to family life as I think two posts now have said that they were not part of the family, that is not to say that has always been the case. What I was wondering was as people begin to see pigs as pets again with many people beginning to keep micro pigs, whether it would alter people's attitude towards eating them as a couple of people have said that they do eat them because they were not part of the family - unlike a dog.

Your part in bold I totally agree with of course. As I said in my first post, how the animal has lived and how the animal died is what matters most to me.

Kune Kune pigs spring to mind actually, I was told that they are so friendly as they were once kept free in villages, able to go in and around the homes, of either New Zealand o Australia, on phone so can't back that up, but they are really friendly, so can imagine it being true. Pigs can also be clicker and toilet trained, and play footy too, they really are amazing animals really.

My Sister took Sadie through the bus station a few years ago - No idea why she took the dog to Sheffield... but she did and a couple of Chinese men went past and said Yum Yum - I was horrified when my sister told me..

Also my OH's older brother gave my OH's younger brother an Ostrich Burger, now the younger brother is Autistic and doesn't particularly like trying anything new so no one said anything and after he's eaten it, he was asked if he liked it, he said it was OK then his brother told him he'd juts eaten and Ostrich and he looked really shocked - I don't think he liked the thought of it..

As pets again? Pigs were never kepts as pets. They were kept to fatten up and eat, with the family having a new pig each year. They may have treated them with kindness, but they were never seen as a pet like modern people have - they were insurance to keep you well fed over winter.

To modern times. The problem with micro pigs is they don't stay micro and grow to the weight of a large St Bernard as adults. By that time they are usually given up to a rescue as they have wrecke the house and garden of their hapless owners. I do hope that craze dies out. My Tibetan Mastiff's breeder rescued a kune kune pig, which were once mooted as mini pigs. The poor thing was days from being sent to slaughter. The pig is bigger than the TMs and probably bigger than most people think normal farm pigs are. It would take breeding pigs down to the size of staffies and DEFRA lifting some very strict legislation in place to preven the spread of things like foot and mouth to make pigs popular family pets. I'm not denying they are intelligent and responsive to their owners if kept as pets, but that intelligence makes it about as fair and sensible as keeping a dolphin in your swimming pool or a chimp as a pet. This is why I think pigs kept as farm animals should be treated with dignity and kindness with an eye to their social and other needs. I rarely eat pork for this reason as most is raised horribly intensively.

Actually I've known two who kept pigs as pets, one was a pot belly who lived with her dogs, was toilet trained, and trained to a higher standard then a lot of other dogs, and know of someone who had a pig in her flat with her (ground floor), them two lived in the house with the owners, others have become pets through being brought for food but the owners have got too attached, so live in the bottom of the garden as pets, they may not be popular but to some they are pets.

I never said that I agreed with micro pigs and I also hope that it is a craze that dies out. I've seen a couple of programmes about people who have been sold a micro pigs, which clearly weren't. Fortunately the people in the programmes I saw managed to adapt their homes or find a sanctuary to take them. The more micro pigs that aren't micro pigs that need a home though, it is going to prove more difficult to find alternative homes for them though. I'm sure that some are already being dumped although the programmes I saw did not feature that.

I agree that in the past pets is not really the term for them as they inevitably ended up on the table. As a child my mother's family didn't have pigs, they had numerous chickens. Again these weren't pets, they were also destined for the table, although my grandad used to let my mum treat them as pets. Sadly one of her favourite hens, who she certainly classed as a pet ended up on the table. Something that, some 60 years later, she has never forgiven my grandad for

Yes Chaz I've never known someone who kept a Vietnamese pot belly pig as a pet personally but I know that they are kept as pets by some. They have some at a local animal area (not a sanctuary as such). I think they are fantastic creatures and clearly have great personalities.

Can't show a link but theres a micro pig owner on here, search in the pet forum for Lola the micro pig, the threads by JackieW, I knew I remembered a micropig owner somewhere on the forum!

I think they are quite sweet to look at it, it just worries me how quickly this craze seems to be taking off. The must have new pet that soon falls out of fashion when some end up absolutely huge. Obviously I'm not suggesting all micro pig owners keep them as a fashion item but an animal or a breed becoming popular isn't necessarily a good thing, lets face it.

It's a bit like how backyard chickens have made a bit of a come back over the last few years. They have become very popular to keep again and yet on a chicken forum I go on members are inheriting chickens that people have bought and then discarded. Very sad, particularly when some of those that are no longer wanted are ex battery hens, they've had enough stress in their lives already

I remember at school we visited some old houses in the Cromford area of Derbyshire and each one had a small pig sty in their back garden. I think these houses were lived in but had certain restraints placed on them due to their heritage and one restraint was they had to keep the pig stys.

You can clicker train anything with a CNS, does not mean I would not eat it though!

See Karen Pryor site with fish etc.