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Couple's Home Taken Over By 28 Stone Pig They Thought Was Micro-Animal

Couple's Home Taken Over By 28 Stone Pig They Thought Was Micro-Animal

Nigel Graham bought the 'miniature' pig for his wife's birthday as she's allergic to cats and dogs...

Rebecca Shepherd

Rebecca Shepherd

A family's home has been taken over by a 28-stone pig - which they adopted because they thought it was a micro-animal.

Nigel Graham, 57, bought the swine as a birthday present for wife Sam, 48, who is allergic to cats and dogs. What an alternative.

Nigel with Grace the pig.
SWNS

They were told it was a miniature pig that would get no bigger than 70 pounds (five stone) when they brought it home in 2014.

But the beast, called Grace, has grown to a whopping 28 stone and munches her way through £20 ($25) of food every week.

She has now taken over the bottom floor of their three-bedroom cottage in Malvern, Worcestershire, after she refused to sleep in an outside sty.

The hog even has her own pig-flap which Nigel cut into a side door to allow Grace to come and go as she pleases.

Grace lying on her bed in the kitchen.
SWNS

Dad-of-two Nigel said: "I got Grace as a birthday present for my Sam four years ago because she is allergic to cats and dogs.

"The place actually invited you down there to see [the] mother and father and I met Grace who was two weeks old at the time and had to do a course on how to look after her.

"It's a very legitimate business. I went down there, I picked her up and held her and decided to get her. Her parents were about knee high, which is the actual size of a fully grown micro-pig.

"They were fed a couple of pig pellets a day, whereas Grace gets three big meals a day and treats. I think that's contributed to her size, really. Plus she get loads of exercise as well. So she is sturdy and powerful."

The family thought that Grace was a micro-pig.
SWNS

As well as weighing 28 stone, Grace is five feet long and stands around waist high to a human. The hog now sleeps on an orthopaedic mattress in the living room and lounges on the family's sofa when they watch TV.

Nigel, a property developer who lives with wife Sam and their youngest daughter Xena, 29, said: "I've had to put a step from the patio door because she finds it a bit tough to step down from the house into the garden.

"She will go outside, but not if it's raining or it's windy. She's got quite used to her creature comforts and likes to stay cosy. If it's a nice day she will follow me out of the house and obviously when she needs to go to the toilet to do a wee or poo.

"She will hold it in for 19 hours if it's raining. She won't do them in the house she's really good in that respect, she is toilet trained.

"She'll go down the bottom of the garden and she will whinge at the door if she is really dying for one. Pigs are really clean anyway."

Nigel suggests that feeding Grace three big meals a day has contributed to her size.
SWNS

Grace eats three full meals a day as well as pig pellets, fruit and leftovers from the family. Nigel said: "She is quite spoilt and for dinner she will have rice pudding with jelly or tinned peaches or pineapple.

"She's particular though, if it has a bruise or a grub in it or something like that, she won't have it and will turn her nose up at it. She is not interested in carrots anymore, it's just too boring for her. She is very very selective in what she does eat.

"Most pigs are just thankful for whatever they are given but she's been so spoilt with us. It's a bit like a kid, you want to eat stuff that you like, but things you don't like you don't want to eat.

"She has her own food draw in the house. Her food bill is probably around £20 extra a week. She goes through a pig-flap we have down the side of the garden into the bit down the bottom which is decent sized.

"I built her a pen called Grace Land which has an insulated floor, insulated ceiling to make her nice and warm in the winter and cool in the summer. She's only been in there for two nights, so turfing her out there never came about."

Nigel classes Grace as a third daughter. Here she is lying on the sofa.
SWNS

Nigel went on: "We just got too attached to her and she got too attached to lying on the sofa. She's our pet and we love her and I class her as a third daughter to be honest. She's part of the family.

"It's great. She's not like a pig. It's no different than a dog or a cat, in fact she is cleaner than one of my daughters and shows me more love.

"Bacon was my favourite meat, but since Grace has joined the family we don't eat it anymore as it just wouldn't feel right. It's great when people come into our house, not knowing about Grace, as their reactions are priceless."

Featured Image Credit: SWNS

Topics: UK News, News, Funny, Animals