My turn to post an interview with a fellow furry friend! And I’ve asked Twinkie, an American piggy, who first had some negligent humans to take care of him. But now he’s in good hands, fortunately! So, let’s start.

Spock: Dear Twinkie, please tell us something about you. Where were you born?

Twinkie: I was born to a breeder around January or February 2014, and sold to a pet store in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. A nice family from California bought me from the pet store when I was a few months young. No one knew if I was a boy or girl, so the family just called me Twinkie.

Spock: Hmmm, pet shop! I feel you, bro. But how you got your current humans?

Twinkie: My humans met me at a Super Bowl party earlier this year hosted by the California. (A Super Bowl is not a huge serving of veggies, but an American game where big guys try to hit the person holding a football. Yeah, weird, I know. Humans.) Anyway, the momma human was very sad when she saw me. I had no hidey, no hay, no water, no veggies. I did have a cat sitting on top of my cage and kids who were playing rough with me – when they remembered me. My human momma asked the kids for my name, and two of the three kids could not name me.

Two days later, my human momma asked my old humans if she could have me as a friend to her two older boars. The old family was very happy to let me leave. On the day I left, only the human dad came out to say bye to me. None of the kids said bye to me. They did not notice I was gone for several days. From my old house, my new human momma, her son, and his friend took me to the vet, where I was told I was in great shape. This made my new family very happy.

Twinkie and his human momma

Spock: Oh, poor you! Tell me more about the period when you were neglected? How did affect you? (Maybe other humans will learn something from your story…)

Twinkie: When I was with my old humans, I was scared a lot, so I just stood and froze in a corner of my cage since I didn’t have a hidey. Why was I scared? Well, the cat sat on top of my cage and stared at me. That was not nice. The kids were rough with me, but didn’t know my name. And, the family dog howled all the time. My new humans did not care much for the dog howling during the Super Bowl, especially my human momma. She is a football fan, and she could not hear the announcers over the howling in the house. I was a very nervous piggy when I met my new humans. Once I got to my new family, I was able to relax without worrying about a cat or dog eating me or a teenager being rough with me. It is nice to hear people call me by my name. I feel like a member of a family now.

Spock: Nice of your new humans. By the way, have you managed to train them well? What do you apreciate in them?

Twinkie: My humans really love me. I had to bite my human mom one time because she was giving me so many kisses and hugs that I could not move. I bit her in the hand. She now knows to only give me a few kisses. My human teenager told me that the human mom always tries to hug him, but he runs away from her. Sometimes. My human mom knows that when I climb the walls in my cage in the morning, she has to bring me food before I wheek and wake up my human dad and the human teenager (although the human teenager sleeps through thunderstorms, so maybe my wheeking might not bother him).

And, speaking of food, my humans have been awesome in teaching me about veggies. I never got veggies from my old family. When came home from my first vet visit, the human momma put me in my cage with fresh water, hay, a new hidey, and bamboo hay holders. Then, she put a bowl of green and red stuff in my cage. There wasn’t a lot of food in it. Cilantro and tomatoes were my first treat. I didn’t eat the food at first since I was not used to it. After two or three weeks, I started eating the different veggies she fed me. Now, after six months with my new human family, I eat almost all the veggies they give me. And, sometimes I get a blueberry or strawberry or pear. Um, can someone tell the human momma that I do not like zucchini? She keeps trying to feed me that stuff, and I keep tossing it out of my food bowl (Fluffy taught me how to do that – cool trick). I have gained a little bit of weight from eating all the veggies. I do zoomies so I don’t get too fat from the lettuce, corn, endive, and bell peppers.

Twinkie and some basil

Spock: I get you with the zucchini! Our human also insists with it and we refuse every time. But let’s go on… How about your flat mates? What do you think about them?

Twinkie: Fluffy and Kiwi. I don’t know what to say about them. This makes me a bit sad. The human momma took me from her friend’s house because she did not like the way I was living (the mean kids, howling dog, cat on my cage, and all). But, she also thought she could bond me with her two boars, Kiwi and Fluffy (she adopted them from a class room in June 2013). When she took me home, my humans quarantined me for three weeks in my cage. I got alone time in the playpen and enjoyed being free to run without worrying about a dog or cat getting me. After three weeks, she started bonding me with Kiwi and Fluffy. At first, things went well. After one week of playdates with the “big boars” (that’s what mom calls Kiwi and Fluffy), I moved in with Kiwi and Fluffy into their 2 x 7 c&c cage.

At first, things went well. The three of us got along fine. As I got to know the big boars, I wanted to play with them more and more. Well, they didn’t feel the same way. They did not appreciate my teenage energy and fun spirit. Kiwi really had a problem with me. He would rumble strut and chatter his teeth when I walked by, and finally he would charge at me. At first I let him “win,” but after a while, I needed to defend myself. My humans were always breaking up our fights. A few weeks ago, my human momma found clumps of Kiwi’s black fur in the cage. She was not sure whether Kiwi pulled out his own fur due to stress or if I pulled the fur off of Kiwi during a fight, but she was sure it was time for me to be moved from the big boars.

My old cage was reassembled and it was placed in the kitchen. I was sad for the first few days because I no longer lived in the c&c cage with Kiwi and Fluffy. My humans noticed my sadness and made sure to give me extra healthy treats (an extra piece of fruit, fresh basil) and extra floor time. After living on my own for two weeks, I am doing little zoomies in my cage and enjoying kitchen time with my human momma. I can see her when she is making our salads. I stand up on my back legs and give her “sad eyes,” and she runs over to give me scratchies or an extra treat. I am definitely a good human momma trainer! While my human dad sometimes talks about rehoming me so that I am not alone (something that makes me very, very sad), my human momma has told me she has no intention of letting me go. She might try to rebond me with the big boars when I get older or she just might let me live on my own and enjoy life as a solo pig. All I know is that I am happy no dogs or cats can eat me.

Spock: Veggies! Let me grb a snack, now that you reminded me. 😀 What is your favourite activity? And food?

Twinkie: My favorite activity is spending time in my playpen or free-ranging. I run really fast in big circles in the playpen and I enjoy kitchen floor time. I run back and forth between my human mom and my human teenager. They like it when I run in the kitchen. Fluffy and Kiwi do not like floor time; they stand their like statutes, so the humans really like it when I do zoomies in the kitchen.

Spock: He he! I understand you. I never sit still. Not even when I’m sleeping. 🙂 Tell us something funny about you?

Twinkie: I am the energizer pig, especially compared to Kiwi and Fluffy. My humans like to watch me do zoomies in my playpen, in the kitchen, and on the couch. I do not like to be still for long. There is so much exploring to do! I really like it when my humans scratch me from my nose to the top of my head. I rest my head on ground (the human momma calls this pancaking – is this bad?), close my eyes, and relax. It is one of the few times in the day when I am still.

Spock: And something funny about your humans?

Twinkie: My human dad gives me baby talk, even though I am a teenage pig, and my human momma gives the human teenager baby talk. The human teenager and I think the baby talk is really silly, but if it makes the human dad and human mom happy, we just put up with it. Human parents seem to want their two- and four-legged family members to be babies.

Spock: Anything else interesting?

Twinkie: I am the energizer pig of the family. My humans like to watch me do zoomies in my playpen, in the kitchen, and on the couch. I do not like to be still for long. There is so much exploring to do! I am also the only piggy in the house who likes to sit on my humans’ chests. Kiwi and Fluffy are nice lap pigs; I am a chest pig. Part of the reason I am a chest pick is because it gives me a better view of the TV. My human momma lets me sit on her chest and she gives me scratchies while we watch baseball games and comedies and news together. Yes, I like TV. Does that make me bad?

Spock: Thank you Twinkie for your honesty and for sharing your experience with us. I really hope your story will make some humans think more about their responsibilities when they accept taking care of a furry friend.

Just Twinkie