This spring, I met my first Juliana pig. I’m a sucker for any kind of animal, and when I saw this cute little pig, I just had to have my husband pull over and stop the car.

The Juliana is a miniature pig, weighing between 25-65 pounds. The one I met was 2 years old and may have weighed 30 pounds. She looked to be about the size of one of my Corgis, but with longer legs. I thought she was much cuter than the few Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs I’ve seen.

I had a nice chat with the owner and found out that these intelligent little animals can be house-trained, either to go outdoors, or to use a litter box. This little piggy had her own litter box, as well as a comfy soft bed indoors.

The Juliana always has spots, and this pig was gray with lovely round black spots. She had coarse hair all over, and a cute straight tail, with a tuft of blond hair on the end. These pigs have a bit longer muzzle than the pot-bellied pig, as well as having a more svelte figure, generally.

The Juliana Pig Association and Registry, julianapig.com/ was formed in 2012 to provide a place for registering purebred Juliana pigs and also to supply information to people who might want to own a pig as a pet. The advantage to getting a registered pig from a reputable breeder is much the same as the advantages to getting a dog from a reputable breeder (with the emphasis on reputable). Many people have thought they were buying a miniature pig, only to have the pig grow to 200 pounds or more. The Juliana is a true miniature, so you know it will stay small for it’s entire life span of 15-20 years.

The JPAR has a code of ethics that each breeder promises to follow, including explaining to people that the pigs take three years to mature, that the piglets should be sold with a spay/neuter agreement, and that the pigs will be socialized. Each breeder must agree to take back any pig they have bred for any reason. I was happy to see that qualification. Just as with reputable dog breeders, this ensures that the animal will always have a home and not end up in a shelter if the owners can no longer care for it.

If you decide that you’d like to share your home with a miniature pig, make sure that you can legally own one where you live. In many places, there’s a restriction on farm animals, and even a miniature pig may fall into that category. Also, many small animal veterinarians won’t treat a pig, so you’ll need a veterinarian that specializes in farm animals. They don’t need a lot of medical care, but they do need their hooves trimmed three to four times a year.

A quick check online showed that most breeders charged about $1,200 for a pig. This price generally included spaying or neutering, and shipping. Some pigs had a lower price, but didn’t include shipping.

You can feed your pig commercial pig chow, or you can make your own food. At the Juliana Pig Association and Registry, they also list how to feed your pig homemade meals. I never realized that pigs ate grass until I met this one, wearing her attractive red harness, carefully tethered and munching grass as fast as she could. To keep your pig happy, it should always have hay or grass to snack on between meals. And, if your pig will be an indoor pet, it will still need a couple of hours outdoors each day.

Your pig wouldn’t have to live in the house, of course, but you can’t just leave a Juliana in a pen and walk away. There needs to be proper shelter for winter. The Juliana is covered in coarse hair, but it’s not a nice, thick fur coat, so their house needs to be properly insulated and, in summer, there must be a place where the pig can cool down. Pigs don’t have a very efficient cooling system, so in hot weather they need access to water, or to a nice, cool mud hole. Summer or winter, they need access to fresh water all the time.

It’s not likely that I’ll be trading in my Corgis for a pig, or even adding a pig to the family, but it’s always fun to learn more about animals, and that little Juliana was a real cutie.