Swine and dandy: Family embraces pet with 'pigonality'

Lisa Young-Carey of 81 West Main St. can tell you how a 5-minute walk with her pot-bellied pig Myrtle can turn into two hours because passers-by ask questions about her unusual pet.

She describes drivers who reverse direction and return to her house to see this "pig on a front lawn with a vest."

The Fire Department, where Young-Carey and her husband, Tim Carey, work as firefighters/EMTs, knows Myrtle.

So do the police, because they have answered neighbors' calls after Myrtle breaks loose from the yard.

"Everyone in the department knows him," Young-Carey said.

Myrtle is named after Myrtle Beach, S.C., where Young-Carey was vacationing last May. At the time, it seemed more convenient and less expensive to pick up Myrtle at a nearby Georgia organization that raises miniature pot-bellied pigs, rather than have him shipped to Massachusetts.

With her husband and two others, she rode the 1,000 miles back to Merrimac holding her 4-week old piglet that then weighed a mere 4 pounds.

Now 77 pounds (and still growing), Myrtle has far exceeded the 35 pounds that Young-Carey was told he would reach. So far, he has outgrown three collars and four jackets.

She feeds him "boatloads of produce," including onions, potatoes and cucumbers. He especially likes carrots. He consumes a whopping 25 pounds of produce each week, along with grain in the form of pig pellets.

Myrtle possesses characteristics that combine typical pet features with not-so-typical pet features. Young-Carey said Myrtle "talks" to her, but he also "talks" to the plants before he "roots" them (a natural instinct to dig with his snout).

She describes how "he goes for rides with me," but she needs to lift him into her truck because his legs are too short to jump in.

Young-Carey says, "He's like having a household watch pig. He looks warm, fuzzy and cuddly, but if he senses any fear in you, it's a done deal. It's his house, and no one's coming in."

She adds, "We've all adapted where we live for him."

He has been house trained, and when he is inside, he spends time in their living room, which has been blocked off with child-proof gates.

She explains, "He's like a kid; he gets into everything. I have pig-proofed the living room." Myrtle has his own bathroom, where he eats his meals.



In spite of their best efforts to integrate Myrtle into their home, Young-Carey has noticed that Myrtle is becoming progressively more aggressive.

Some pigs can become aggressive between 1 and 2 years of age, according to the North American Potbellied Pig Association, and Young-Carey said Myrtle's veterinarian, Dr. Kirk Smith from the Amesbury Animal Hospital, has agreed that "he's a very aggressive pig."

To respond to this behavior, Smith helped her formulate a living plan for Myrtle that would be the "least stressful" on her. This plan involves cutting a hole in their shed, adding hay (for something to root in) and blankets, as well as fencing in a nearby area.

But she is reluctant to move Myrtle outside, in part because she notices that "dealing with the ice, he has anxiety because he slides." But she has observed that when Myrtle has more time outside, "He has a better attitude."

And she acknowledges, "I think everyone in the family would be happier if Myrtle lived outside because he tears things apart and constantly wants to eat."

While Young-Carey believes daughter Allyssa and son Kyle do "enjoy him at certain times," she thinks her family would prefer having a dog instead of a pig.

Her husband jokes, "I told her she couldn't get a dog, so she went and got a pig."

But she insists that her pet has "pigonality" and she appreciates that having Myrtle in her life has been "like a journey. It's like a sitcom. He's a very well-known pig."