Fostering while having 2 boars.

[Isla&Steve]

Hey, we’ve had our boys for around 7 months and are fully into the swing of piggy parenting, we have become aware of quite a few local rescues that need help with fostering, we were thinking about volunteering, we are just wondering if it’s a good idea with our two boys, obviously they will have separate cages but we wouldn’t want sounds or smells to effect Kuzco and Kronk’s relationship potentially as we have read that it could happen, also we are unsure whether they would be able to have floor time together or not (obviously only if we foster boars as our boys aren’t neutered), has anyone done something similar or know if it is possible without causing pigs unnecessary stress?

 

[fournakedpigs]

That’s so sweet that you want to add more piggies to your life, even just temporarily. The best bet, to add the least amount of stress on your pair, would be to foster boar pigs and not allow them any contact or floor time together.

Unfortunately, because pigs are hierarchical herd animals, they don’t really understand the concept of “play dates.” They just know someone’s gotta be the dominant pig, and they’ll work to figure that out, and then the play date ends, and now they have to work out hierarchy again within the pair, which often causes boar bonds to break.

Adding sows to the mix may upset their bond if they can see/smell/hear them, but it all depends on how much space and separation you have between cages. Boars in the same room shouldn’t bother them, though!