This Little Piggy Ate Roast Beef

By John Elson

You might call it buying a pig in a poke. Fifteen months ago, Ronald and Mary Kalish of Arizona adopted Sir Francis Bacon (Frank, for short) as a pet, and their life has never been quite the same. After supper, when the family gathers around the TV, Frank will squeal and howl if the channel is switched from his favored westerns or cartoons. Come bedtime, there is only one place where he will sleep: on the Kalishes' king-size mattress, snuggled between Mary and Ronald. If reproved, Frank may try to urinate on the offender's foot. Yet, far from feeling hog-tied by their demanding household companion, Mary says of the experience, "I've loved every minute of it."

A pig Frank truly is, but not the ordinary, hefty domestic animal known as Sus scrofa. He is a Vietnamese potbellied porker, a miniature breed on the verge of becoming America's trendiest pet -- at least where zoning laws permit -- and one of its priciest (a well-bred sow reportedly sold for $34,000). About one-tenth the size of the average Hampshire pig, mature potbellies weigh from 70 lbs. to 150 lbs. and stand coffee-table tall. Bright and affectionate, the primarily dark gray or black porkers will happily feed on Purina Lab Mini- Pig Chow Grower, or on almost anything that falls off the dinner table. On the downside, they can outroot gophers in ruining a manicured lawn, and they love to knock telephone receivers off their cradles and poke the touch-tone dials with their sensitive snouts.

Sir Winston Churchill once observed that dogs look up to us, cats look down on us, but pigs treat us as equals. Mary Kalish tends to agree. "A pig is more like having another family member than a pet," she says. Indeed, the historic relationship of man and pig, dating back nearly 2 million years, is complex. Such phrases as pig out, pigheaded and hog fat suggest distaste for an ungainly critter that spends most of its time wallowing in muck. (Pigs have few sweat glands and need mud -- or preferably, clean water -- to protect themselves from heat stroke.) But China's Year of the Pig represents prosperity, and pigs have been linked with deities in many cultures.

Despite their reputation as dirt lovers, pigs have generally good sanitary habits. Potbellies can be housebroken faster than most dogs, which is one reason they make tolerable house pets. Leilani Appleyard, a psychotherapist in suburban Rochester, notes that visitors sometimes comment on the absence of house stench after meeting her two-year-old pig Gretel.

The first potbellies arrived in North America in 1985; their U.S. population, according to one estimate, may be as high as 6,000, and breeders at times are hard-pressed to keep up with demand. Two Californians, pig fanciers Kayla Mull and Lorrie Blackburn, have published a paperback guide to the care and feeding of potbellies, and there is even a Pig Hotline (415-879-0061) where owners can get instant answers to porky puzzles.

Some brave swinophiles have taken full-size pigs as pets. In addition to their two Vietnamese potbellies, Raymond Sattler, a Wilmington, N.C., neurosurgeon, and his wife Debbie have a pair of champion Durocs, which currently weigh in at 700 lbs. apiece. It's just one pig-happy family, the doctor reports. "When we come home, it's impossible to watch the pigs and not just chuckle and feel better," says Sattler. "To be sitting in front of a fireplace with a bottle of wine, your wife and a pig is the ultimate in relaxation."

With reporting by Scott Brown/Los Angeles and Elizabeth Rudulph/New York