When is a piggy classed as an OAP

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Claire W

Claire W

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My Eliza will be turning five this November which I am obviously worrying about.

She still acts like she does when she was two but I am aware that she will soon be approaching her 'older' years.

When is a piggy classed as an OAP or does she have a few years until she reaches that yet?
 
Technically, she is a good age for nowadays' piggies - but as long as she is well in herself, Eliza has still got some years in her!
 
I'm sure that I am worrying over nothing. Eliza hasn't ever had any health problems (touches wood) apart from a UTI a few years back and a poorly tummy again, a few years back
 
My Doris is about 6 1/2 and is not doing great but still has fight in her. She's on heart tablets and soon to also be on pain medication for painful stiff joints. She is still happy in herself though and potters about.
 
One of the piggies I grew up with lived to nearly 10 years old; and it was not considered all that special back in the 70ies/80ies before the mass market breeding took over.

One of Freya's and Betty's mates is 9 years old - she was showing no sign of slowing down when she overnighted here on the way to her new home! But piggies like that are a lot rarer now. :))

PS: In case anybody wanted to know - the Reader's Digest's record piggy lived to 14 years!
 
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Wiebke said:
One of the piggies I grew up with lived to nearly 10 years old; and it was not considered all that special back in the 70ies/80ies before the mass market breeding took over.

One of Freya's and Betty's mates is 9 years old - she was showing no sign of slowing down when she overnighted here on the way to her new home! But piggies like that are a lot rarer now. :))

PS: In case anybody wanted to know - the Reader's Digest's record piggy lived to 14 years!
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14 wow :o

I guess so long as a piggy (or any animal for that matter) has a happy and full filling life, there isn't much more we can do.
 
Wiebke said:
One of the piggies I grew up with lived to nearly 10 years old; and it was not considered all that special back in the 70ies/80ies before the mass market breeding took over.

One of Freya's and Betty's mates is 9 years old - she was showing no sign of slowing down when she overnighted here on the way to her new home! But piggies like that are a lot rarer now. :))

PS: In case anybody wanted to know - the Reader's Digest's record piggy lived to 14 years!
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aww wow :-) as bad as it sounds maybe its good that they dont live as long as most pigs end in tiny cages with rubbish food so live alone/kept with rabbits in misery (sorry but this actually is the case for most piggies , you lot on here are great but through facebook, gumtree etc I have seen more bad examples than good and youtube too!)

Id love mine to live forever though :-)
 
My eldest 2 were 8 and their sister was nearly 9 but that was over 20 years ago.
I had Charles who was nearly 6, he passed away about 3 years ago. So now fuzzy is my edest at 3 in august, all my other are under 3 right now.
Nowadays I'd say over 5 is kinda OAP but as long as their happy it's all good :)
 
Poppy was 7 when she died last year, up to then she had been in very good health. She had always been a tiny piggy & when her cage mate died aged 4 we decided that it was unlikely Poppy would live much longer than that & as she was not showing any signs of missing her friend (in fact she actually blossomed as she became more friendly & ate more etc) we kept her as a lone pig until she suddenly became unwell & literally died on the same day suddenly :( We noticed she slept a bit more & was a bit slower than she had been but that was all.

Our previous piggies lived between 3-4 1/2 years old. A bad experience with trying to bond the survivor of our second pair with a rescue piggy meant we decided that Poppy would be better off on her own to see out her days rather than be bullied by another unfamiliar piggy.
 
Rosie is 6ish now, and has never had any health issues until her poorly eye a few weeks ago(which cleared up really quickly)
She doesn't show many signs of slowing down, she does bunny hop from time to time, but now she has three friends to compete with- she zooms around and leaps over the other piggies like a youngster
 
ches is 5 now and maisie 4. i was worried aswell :... but the vet said he doesn't class them as old yet! so that's good! :(|)
 
The piggies I had when I was a child lived to 6 and 8. My eldest at the moment is Piglet who is 6. Apart from mild arthritis in her front paws she's as lively as the other younger ones. She's certainly got a big voice and good hearing. She's the first to start the wheeking off in the morning when she hears me get out of bed (she lives downstairs) and she makes her voice heard, she's wheeks so hard her ears flap!
 
When I was younger I rehomed a 6 year old piggy from the local RSPCA I helped at. We thought as she was an older pig she wouldn't be with us long so we wanted to give her a nice last home and also got her a boyfriend for company. She was with us for about 3 and half more years.
 
I lost my youngest at 16 weeks due to a heart defect and my oldest lived to nearly 6. Unfortunately I think its the same with alot of pets nowadays, overbreeding. It is always heartbreaking though whenever you lose them, but always worse when they haven't had a proper life yet.
 
Claire W said:
I am sorry :( it is always sad when they due young x
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Thanks, it was awful as well because I wasn't expecting it, her breathing was a bit funny so I took her to the vet because I thought she was probably getting some kind of respiratory problem and some antibiotics would fix it. They got me an emergancy appointment with the nurse so she could assess her but she thought she would be fine to wait a couple of hours to see the vet. It was only about an hour and a half though and she took a turn for the worse, she started to go a bit cold and floppy so I rushed her back there to see the vet. He checked her over and said that unfortunately he thought she probably had a hole in her heart and as she was growing bigger it had just become too much for her little body so he recommended she be pts bless her 8...
 
I currently have one piggy who is 8 and one who is 7 1/2. The 8 year old boy is still very active, the 7 1/2 year old lady has lost some weight with her ever increasing age but she's still very active and living a happy life. I also then have 2 piggies who are about 6 1/2 and a couple at 6, again they're all doing pretty well.

Then the rest are 1-2 years. I personally think a lot of it does come down to genetics, I know one girl who had piggies from P@H and they all died before reaching even a year, obviously I'm not saying that will happen to all P@H bought pigs but I don't think it's just a coincidence.
 
I_love_piggies! said:
Thanks, it was awful as well because I wasn't expecting it, her breathing was a bit funny so I took her to the vet because I thought she was probably getting some kind of respiratory problem and some antibiotics would fix it. They got me an emergancy appointment with the nurse so she could assess her but she thought she would be fine to wait a couple of hours to see the vet. It was only about an hour and a half though and she took a turn for the worse, she started to go a bit cold and floppy so I rushed her back there to see the vet. He checked her over and said that unfortunately he thought she probably had a hole in her heart and as she was growing bigger it had just become too much for her little body so he recommended she be pts bless her 8...
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That is sad :( my Connie had on going bladder problems that went on for 5 months. We thought we had finally cracked it and thought she was finally getting better after having a bladder flush and was opened up to see what was happening but she died 5 days later :(
 
katiepops said:
The piggies I had when I was a child lived to 6 and 8. My eldest at the moment is Piglet who is 6. Apart from mild arthritis in her front paws she's as lively as the other younger ones. She's certainly got a big voice and good hearing. She's the first to start the wheeking off in the morning when she hears me get out of bed (she lives downstairs) and she makes her voice heard, she's wheeks so hard her ears flap!
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One of mine does the ear thing! Does he open her mouth an the ears flap in time?! Lol
 
One of my oldest got to 9 years old. He was older though roughly 10-11 I only started counting when I got him and he was fully grown. I was surprised he lasted so long he was forever ill, always something! He was the tamest piggie I've ever known. He was free range in my flat and never pooped on the floor! He had a box tobpoop in and slept in thr curtains!I still miss him dearly.

King David Is my oap now, he's nearly 7. I have noticed he's sleeping more and lets me cuddle him more he still protests a little though!
 
Well my piggy is nearly 7 and i think come monday i will have to have her pts. She has been unwell for a few weeks now and have been to the vets every other day in the past week. She's not been eating hardly anything for the past week and has not pooped for about the same period, very lethargic and miserable. You name it and we have tried it , friday the vet gave her a shot of steroids and something to get her bowels moving and as that has really not made much difference i think the time has come. :(
 
santamonica6 said:
Well my piggy is nearly 7 and i think come monday i will have to have her pts. She has been unwell for a few weeks now and have been to the vets every other day in the past week. She's not been eating hardly anything for the past week and has not pooped for about the same period, very lethargic and miserable. You name it and we have tried it , friday the vet gave her a shot of steroids and something to get her bowels moving and as that has really not made much difference i think the time has come. :(
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I'm so sorry to hear this :( xx
 
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