How Much? How Much to Feed During Vacation?

[Geneva]

My husband and I are leaving for a trip to Tokyo next week and will be gone for nine days, leaving our four pigs at home alone. We've hired a local pet sitting company to have someone come by once a day while we're going to vacuum up the cage, refill hay/pellets/water and give them food. They usually get fresh veggies twice a day, at breakfast and at dinner. My question is, with the sitter only coming once a day, should we have her give them double the usual amount or just one standard serving?

We've never left them for anything close to this long, so I'm a little nervous about how they'll handle it. It seems like when we leave for a couple nights they go into a "hibernation" mode, since their hay and pellets hardly get touched. I don't know what will happen to their health if they go into that mode for such a long period. We're putting a light and radio on a timer switch so that at least they'll have some music and light to tell them it's daytime and to hopefully keep them more energized.

Any suggestions or tips while on vacation?

 

[Duffinvt]

When I am gone and have a "sitter" come in once daily, I have her feed more than the usual once per day serving, but not double. I do not like to feed any fruits or squishy vegetables that might go bad. If this is a professional company, perhaps they'll take the time to interact with the pigs.

 

[Geneva]

They usually get a romaine heart in the morning and some spring mix in the evening. Maybe I'll have her do a little of each, in that case. 1.5x the usual amount, but not double, since I don't want it going bad. Yeah, I'll ask her to maybe give them a little lap time if she can!

 

[Duffinvt]

Do they get other vegetables? I make bags of salad, and label for each day. I use more of the crunchy vegetables, such as peppers (always) and bits of broccoli stem, celery pieces, a bit more carrot than usual, firm edges of tomato. I do not put in cukes, zucchini or fruit. I've never been gone for 9 days so I assume they'll have to buy fresh food at some point?

 

[Geneva]

Yeah, we're going to give her instructions to go buy more lettuce partway through the trip. We usually give them bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and baby carrots as well. Since we'll be gone so long, we're going to have to show her how to do all of the preparation. I'm a little nervous about it!

 

[Wildcavy]

We do a similar thing as @Duffinvt. We went on vacation for 5 days when we just had Triton and Jumble, and they were in separate c&cs. I had the sitters come twice per day. I portioned out veg into ziplocs and labeled each bag with the pig's name, day of week, and time of day (e.g., Triton, Wed, morning). We put the baggies in a plastic container in the fridge on its own shelf. We didn't put in any fruit or mushy-prone veg.

I put the hay bale in between the pens and put out a "sample" size of what the sitter should put down in the morning and evening, along with instructions on where to put the old hay (we compost). We also labeled each pen with the piggy's name.

It was also hot out when we left, and we showed them where the circuit breakers were in case the circuits tripped and the air conditioning needed to be re-set.

THis was in addition to the usual contact list, which included our info, vet's info, hours the vet is open, and nearest animal emergency hospital.

It might be a little obsessive but we were able to enjoy being away a lot more than otherwise.

 

[PinkBelly]

Sorry to comment on here, but most of the questions I had were already answered on this topic, but just wanted to know any tips if I should leave a radio on or time the T.V. at some point. I don't want my piggies to feel alone.