Latest Celebrity Pet Craze: Tiny Tea-Cup Sized Piglets

Where Paris Hilton once reigned, a new celeb trend has come into force- gone are those teeny tiny Chihuahuas and Yorkie-sized pups neat enough to fit into any self respecting celeb’s handbag. The new celebrity pet craze?

Not quite as high maintenance as the purse-pooch, this new trend wouldn’t take kindly to ribbons in it’s fur- not least as it has none. However, their list of fans are still blue-chip. What with Victoria Beckham and Rupert Grint (aka Ron Weasley) championing these tiny creatures, stardom surely awaits…

Micro-pigs are the new must-have, though with a superstar price tag to match- at £700 a pop and weighing in at 9oz, that’s a massive £78 per ounce!
 
No barn or sty for these special piglets, as they’re more accustomed to the life of luxury in their owners homes, as Jane Croft, a breeder at the Little Pig Farm in Christ Church, Cambridgeshire, England, explains “They are so intelligent, and they are so much fun,” she says. “They will lay with you in the evening and watch TV, they love their belly scratched and they are very, very loving.”

The pig breeder breeds a mixture of Gloucester Old Spots, Tamworth and pot-bellied pigs to tiny proportions. However, as with all animals, what was once tiny and cute will soon grow, with these miniature creatures reaching between 40 and 65 pounds at full development, standing at around a foot tall.

An ABC news journalist visited Croft’s own pet mini-piglets (who share her home with a dog and a cat), and described herself as astonished as she watched one of them sit on command. Apparently they’re quiet, clean and non-allergenic. They can even be toilet trained.

But as these pets grow, will the novelty wear off? Much like puppies and kittens at Christmas, there is a fear that when these animals grow out of the ‘cute teacup’ stage, they’ll be abandoned, particularly if this is indeed a new pet ‘fad’. With a hefty £700 price tag it’s not just anyone who can buy their own bundle of piglet sized delight- the hope being that those willing to part with such a great amount of money for a ‘Babe’ of their own will have thought their new pet through thoroughly before doing so.